The Giver by Lois Lowry

How do you feel if you are living in a community that has eliminated all hardships, such as pain, fear, war and hatred?

The Giver by Lois Dowry

Introduction:

The book I highly recommend for children to read is “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. I first encountered this book when I was in elementary school and when I first looked at the title page, I was curious about why there is an image of an elderly man on the book cover and why the title is called “The Giver.” My first impression was that the story’s protagonist must be this elderly man, and at first, I did not find the cover appealing and doubted this book would be interesting. However, as I was reading it, I was utterly wrong, and I enjoyed the book and the message it conveyed.

Synopsis of the Book:

The story begins with a young boy named Jonas, who lives in a society with no crime, pain, or sadness, and everyone is treated the same. In addition, everything was chosen for you, such as your jobs, family, and partner. Jonas thought he was living in a perfect society until one day, during his Ceremony of Twelve, the elders gave him his occupation and let him become an adult community member. He was different from his peers and got the occupation as the receiver of memory, a figure who receives all the memories from the past and avoids letting the community make past mistakes. Jonas learned many new things from the current receiver of memory; however, he slowly realized his community was not as perfect as it seemed.

Why I love this book and recommendations: 

I love this book because it makes me reflect on the society we live in today and also makes me appreciate the things we have in life, even if it is negative. They make us learn about what it means to be human and how we can learn from our mistakes in life. I recommend reading this book aloud to grades 6+, as an independent book for grades 6+ and as a novel study for grades 6-10.

3 thoughts on “The Giver by Lois Lowry

  1. Thank you for this book review. I am familiar with the cover but have never read this novel before. Your synopsis made this book very appealing and intriguing. I am also curious to learn more about why the cover art includes an elderly man if the novel is centred around a young boy.

  2. I agree that this book contains opportunities to reflect on our own society and what it might mean to be human. I think this book is a great opportunity to show students the concept that different societies may function differently than their own.

  3. Hey thanks for your recommendation. I have heard of this book before from a number of different people but I never have had a chance to read it. It seems like a very interesting book and based on your synopsis I can see several interesting conversations and debates occurring as a result from this book. I feel like this book would be a wonderful read with a class. I will put this on my reading reading list. Thank you for the recommendation………. Jan JI 152

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