Book of the Week: The Giver

Like many of you, I first read Lois Lowry's The Giver in elementary school. I remembered it being the first book that not only transmitted me to another time and place, but also created a whole new set of rules for a different kind of world and society. It was, I see now, my introduction to dystopian fiction. 

Recently, I had noticed several different authors citing The Giver as one of the influential books that shaped them and their work. I was interested in rereading it as an adult and spent an afternoon doing so while my husband sat nearby studying all that sciency stuff he studies in medical school. 

Then, after a show at a school in New Jersey, an eighth grader was talking about how he hates reading, but that his principal had given him a book and he was enjoying it. What was the book? I asked. The Giver! It was pretty neat to tell him I had just reread it and we chatted about it for a few seconds. So then I knew I needed to share it here, as well-- whether you've read it before or this is the first you've heard of it, take my recommendation and go check it out of the library!

The book was inspired by a conversation Lowry had with her son, then serving in the armed forces, who prompted her with questions about why suffering exists in life. Lowry explores the need of pain, pleasure, and emotion by creating what initially seems like a utopian society where each member's language, dreams, actions, and careers are carefully guided and monitored. The main character is 12 year old Jonas. He is anxious to discover what his career assignment will be, but everyone is surprised when he is chosen to be the Receiver--the next elder in the society who will hold the memory of experiences in history that are now withheld from the rest of the community. Memories of color, snow, and even the concept of family. 

After reading it again, I watched a few interviews Lowry gave about her work. I discovered she's actually tackled this topic in three subsequent books, making The Giver a quartet. I've requested them from the library and I can't wait to read them. Something she said in one interview really struck me: "Young people, young readers, believe they can change the world." That inspired me because I remember reading when I was younger and feeling a fire beneath my feet--I felt like I could do something about whatever it was I was reading and learning. I hope that I can tap into that belief and write stories that give that same assurance to young readers today.