Chapter Book #3: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry
Illustrator: N/A
Genre: Chapter Book
Sub genre: Modern Fantasy/ science fiction
Theme: Unusual society, government, responsibility
Primary and secondary characters: Jonas and The Giver
Awards: Newbery Medal
Publication Date: 1993
Publishing Company: Houghton Mifflin


This is a chapter book that would be best for older readers that are capable of deep thinking. This book really causes a person to think about the society they live in and what it would be like to have the perfect society. A young boy named Jonas has just that, a perfect society with no pain, no worries, no choices, and the list goes on. Everyone in the community is controlled by what is more or less their government. They government chooses what jobs the people will receive, at what ages the children are to receive certain privileges, and everything else about their lives. The people even have to take pills to keep them from having feelings for someone so that the rulers can match people up. In addition, to make everyone even more the same, everyone is colorblind. Jonas was a typical boy in this society, not knowing what it was really like to feel pain and love, until he was given the job the be the new Giver. Jonas had to go visit The Giver often in order to receive information of the life the community came from. Jonas is soon able to see color, feel emotions, and recall all the horrible events in the past. Jonas is required to keep this information to himself and not to pass through the communities boundaries so that all the memories will only be with him. By the end of the book Jonas knows he has to do something to make the people realize everything they are missing by living in such a 'perfect' society. Will Jonas choose to protect the people from the pain or let everyone experience life? Everyone has to read the book to find out!

A teacher could really use this book to help children evaluate the possibility of being able to live in a 'perfect' society. A teacher could pose questions such as, "Do you think that this is really a perfect society? Why or why not?" "What would you have done in Jonas' situation as the new Giver?". This book is sure to get everyone thinking.