The Giver by Lois Lowry

I have to admit that it has sadly been years since I have read a book for pleasure. Reading becomes a daunting task after being assigned so many text books. Hopefully this class in Adolescent Literature will change that.

That being said I have just finished reading one of my favorite books, The Giver. I first read this book over 14 years ago when I was in the seventh grade and fell in love with it. It was refreshing to read the book again  with a different perspective.

The story is about Jonas, who lives in  a seemingly Utopian society sometime in the distant future. In this community everything runs  smoothly and is almost perfect. There is no crime. Every person is polite and well-mannered (there are actually rules against rudeness.) There is no difference between race or gender and everyone is treated equally.

Jonas lives happily and carefree just as everyone else in the community until his job is selected during the ceremony of Twelves. He is given the most honorable job of the community. However, with this prestige he comes to find that his life and everything that he knows is not what it seems.

With all of the turmoil in our world and the laws enacted to "protect" us from these tragedies, I think this would be a great book to introduce to middle school and high school students. This story is a glimpse of what our future could be. It would open the discussion for students to contemplate how laws and policies that are enacted now can effect their future.

Something that I remember when reading this book in seventh grade is that my teacher asked us to write a continuation of the story because it had an open ending. I wanted so badly to know what happened to Jonas and I found out a few years ago that two more written in the series. Gathering Blue occurs at the same time as The Giver and The Messenger is the final book in the trilogy.

These two books are a must read after you have finished The Giver.

I just found out that there is a fourth book  in this series called The Son. I guess I have another book to read :)