The Giver

The Giver. ISBN:0-440-23768-8. Lois Lowry. (1993). Newbery Medal. Fantasy. Age 11+ (mild violence and mild sexual references). Teen boy.

This book is about a young boy named Jonas and his experiences from age 11 through age twelve in a futuristic community. This community is based on "sameness" where everything is controlled, and safe, and people do not have to make decisions for themselves. Emotions (called "stirrings") are repressed with pills taken daily once a child turns twelve. When children turn twelve, they go to a ceremony where they are assigned their jobs for the rest of their lives until they become old and are "released" (which Jonas later finds out to be euthanized) from society. Jonas was assigned as the "Receiver" at the ceremony, one of the highest honors. He had special powers and could see beyond what other members of the community could see. He was trained by the "Giver" and was given special privileges. The Giver was to pass on memories he held inside of himself of the truths of how society used to be....with pain, suffering, injustice, violence, poverty, hunger, war, but also color and love. When Jonas begins to realize how shallow and un-free his community has become, he cannot bare living in such circumstances. The Giver helps him "stage" an escape from the community, and he takes with him a baby that is destined to be euthanized because he does not perfectly fit into the society. He chooses to leave a safe, clean, peaceful environment, free of choice, to enter an "elsewhere" environment of the unknown where he can see things for what they are and experience love, joy, fear, pain and loss, and above all, a real family.

This book is a wonderful channel to open up discussions in middle/high school classes on trade offs of freedom. What are you willing to sacrifice for freedom and love? What are some of the difficult choices we would have to make to live in a world of perfect harmony? Would it be as good as it is tempting?

In the classroom, you could use illusions to show how the eye can be fooled and how Jonas and his society may have been tricked into not being able to see color.

In the classroom, you could also use this book to discuss different cultures and groups (like the Amish) and talk about their lifestyles, what are the pros and cons of living in these closed societies? You could break students into groups and have them create their own society, a map, and rules, and what people would have to give up in order for the community to function in the way they intend it to function.