Book
Title: The Giver (The Giver Quartet Book #1)
Author: Lois
Lowry
Publisher: Houghton
Miffin Harcourt
Publish
Date: 07/01/1993
Summary: In
Jonas' society children are watched by the Elders from the time they
are brought into a home. At the Ceremony of Twelve they are given a
job or “their assignment” in the community. There is no suffering
in the community, but also everything good and beautiful is gone.
There is no music, or colors... or love. Spouses and children are assigned. Feelings are non-present. No individual has the
freedom of choice.
When
Jonas is skipped at the Ceremony of Twelve his world is turned upside
down. He learns about things he never knew existed. He see's that his
world needs to change; and he does something about it.
Violence: Jonas
witnesses an elephant killed by poachers. Another elephant hovers
over the dead, mutilated elephant. Jonas also witnesses a war in which
he see's blood and death. After a sled ride Jonas bleeds and vomits. Jonas and a baby are lost in a snowstorm. All of these scenes are mild with little decription.
There is one part in the book that made me shiver. Jonas watches his father inject an unwanted baby with liquid from a needle. The baby cries, then stops moving. Jonas realizes that his father killed the baby. The baby is then put in a box and dropped down a shoot. Jonas is told that his father does not understand what he is doing, he has no feeling and doesn't understand what he's doing.
Sexual Content: Jonas
has a dream about wanting a female classmate to undress so that he
can wash her. When he tells his mother about the dream she says that
“Stirrings” are normal and that he is ready for “the pills”
which will take those feelings away. After feeling what love is like
Jonas decides not to take the pills.
Jonas
and his friends spend some of their required volunteer hours helping
bathe people living in The House of Old. There is nothing sexual
about this part.
My Thoughts: I
love The Giver! We read it as a family read aloud a few years ago and
we all really enjoyed it. I have read it twice since then.
Lois
Lowry is a wonderful writer. After reading The Giver I feel thankful. Thankful that God gave us color, and music, and feelings. Thankful for the freedom to choose who we love, what we do, and how we live. Thankful that anyone can be whoever they want to be.
Final Rating: *****
