The Giver

Rating:
Summary: A Community with too much Control
Review: A Review by Jason

The Giver is about a young boy named Jonas who lives in a "community" with his mother, father and little sister Lilly. Jonas is eleven and turns twelve during the course of the book. Every year the community has a ceremony of 12 where the children who will be turning 12 for that year will get the assignment for the job they will do for the rest of their lives in the community. Jonas is assigned as the giver, and finds out that his assignment is the most important in the community.

This book is an easy read for most people who in 6th grade or above but it is a book that I enjoyed from front to back. This book seems to be very well written and flows very naturally with very few unnecessary words or information, everything seems to tie into something that previously happened so you are always gathering new information about something you may not have gotten earlier in the book. The only thing I did not lie about this book was the ending, I think Jonas could have handled the situation that was eventually the end of the book better than what he did. I like how Lois Lowry describes how important the ceremony of twelve is and how Jonas and the rest of his peers have many apprehensions just before the ceremony, "the entire community attended the ceremony each year. For the parents, it meant two days holiday from work; they sat together in the huge hall. Children sat with their groups until the went, one by one, to the stage."

I would recommend this book for any person that likes a science fiction book about what the future might be like for us. This book is about a 6th grade reading level but it can be read by 4th and 5th graders without much trouble. This is a great book and an interesting one about what our future might be like.

Rating:
Summary: "The Giver"
Review: This book is very interesting and detailed. To begin with, it is about a boy who lives in a large city that is colorless and the same in temperature year round. When you are 12 years old your job in life is decided for you. There are family units with 2 children (1girl and boy). There are no real grades but ages that you learn by. Everybody in this city turns a different age in December. If twins are born and are both the same genders they weigh them and see which one is smaller and kill it. It is called the Giver because the boy becomes it. A Giver is a person that takes all the memories from years and years over time. Then when you turn old they put you in the old house. When you're too old they kill you. In this book he finds memories and color. He also finds what the world is really like outside of the town. Louis Lowery is one my favorite authors.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: I loved this book! Even though I have never been one to read Science Fiction or Fantasy, I can't wait to share this book with students! The 'open-ended' conclusion will make wonderful discussion questions. We will all probably write our own endings. Lois Lowry writes about a young boy named Jonas who lives in a 'perfect' society. There are no decisions to be made, no hatred, no war, no memories and...no love. When Jonas turns 12 he becomes the "Receiver" of all memories and feelings. What an interesting story unfurls from there! I would highly recommend this book for any mature young adult readers (and for us "oldies", too).

Rating:
Summary: Book Needs Help
Review: This book needs serious help. Lois Lowry started out with a good idea but turned it into an oversentimental, childlike sci-fi wannabe. Plus, it has a similar plot to another one of her books, Gathering Blue. An author can't make money off of two books that have an almost exact plot, except with different character names. I was told that Gathering Blue is a COMPANION, but note that it was never said it was a prequel, sequel, or even book in the series. Take a breath of fresh air and read something else.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: The book I am reviewing is The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book is about a boy named Jonus who lives in a community. I don't know where Jonus's community is because there is little description in the book. It could be anywhere. Jonus is a boy who is like an ordinary boy until he meets the Giver. But Jonus's community is very strange. They can't see color and at a certain age you get released. Some people in the community think releasing is a good thing. Also each family is only allowed to have a boy child and a girl child. Jonus can't understand things about his community but there's one who can. The Giver. The Giver is a wise old man who can see memories that others can't. But not all memories are good such as sunburn and breaking your leg. Jonus learns lots from the Giver and even receives some memories. Jonus becomes a whole new person because of the Giver. For example'
Jonus gets tougher and wiser than he was earlier in the book. In this book I don't think there is a time period. It could be in the future or the past. If you're looking for an adventure book and a thrilling book, pick The Giver. I like the whole book except the ending because I did not think the book should end that way. I learned that our world is a lot better than Jonus's community. Lois Lowry has also written Gathering Blue, and lots of other great stories. I think Lois Lowry likes writing adventure books and science fiction ones.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver
By: Lois Lowry
Reviewed By: Jason Yeh
Per. 2

This book is about a community where Jonas lives and Jonas life. The community was normal and everything was Sameness. They had the annual ceremonies which celebrated the aging of children and selection of new jobs for the Twelves. Jonas spent his volunteer hours as an Eleven at many different places. When the day of Jona's ceremony finally begins, everything goes by slowly until all the Elevens were Twelves and started working. The headperson skipped Jonas number and gave the rest jobs. The citizens figured out and started wondering. The headperson apologizes and tells Jonas that he was going to be given the job as next receiver of memory which was a highly honored job. When his job began, Jonas met the current receiver and became friends with him very quickly.
The next few weeks, Jonas learned much information from the Giver. He received memories of pleasant things at first, but the Giver knew that it was his job to transfer pain to him.
He transferred light memories of pain and finally transferred a great pain to Jonas, "poverty." Jonas lives this life until the day he ran away with a newborn, Gabriel, who was about to be released. With the help of the Giver, Jonas escaped to another community. With few memories, he and Gabriel traveled many miles to try and reach another community. Finally, hey hear some music in the distance and knew they had reached their goal.
My favorite part of the book was when Jonas received the memories. He was forced to bear with the pain but was relieved with a dose of happiness, love, and warmth. Receiving the memories seemed exciting and unexpecting. He didn't know how much pain he would receive.
I enjoyed this book because it was very tense and had a good plot line to it. "JONAS, JONAS, JONAS, JONAS." This quote explains how the community was accepting the selection of Jonas as the next receiver. Unfortunately, he doesn't last very long. He decides to run away. "'He lied to me!' sobbed Jonas" This might have been one of the reasons Jonas wanted to run away. Since he was not used to being lied to, Jonas felt angry at his father when he lied to him. Overall, this book was still a wonderful piece of literature.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This book was great. Those that do not think so just do not know a good book when they read one. Lowry's imagination is amazing and I thorougly enjoyed reading this book. It is one of my favorites. I myself am a twenty-year old college student and had to read this for an adolescent literature class. I've seen the book in the past but was never attracted to the cover of it, so I did not give it the chance. However, now that I've read it I've have a new appreciation for it.

Jonas lives in a community where everything seems perfect- no violence, illness, unemployment, etc. Everything has been established so that life is enjoyable and content- yet what it has really created is a world of no emotion and free will. On the day Jonas becomes twelve, he and all of the other children are to get their assignments that will state what they will become in the future- it will train them for professions. However, Jonas is not assigned. Instead he is selected to become the Receiver of Memory and to train with one of the elders of the community. Only called The Giver, this man gives Jonas knowledge, wisdom, and a vision of Elsewhere- the world in which the community has shut itself off.

If you like a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat and a desire to find out what happens next, this book is for you.

Rating:
Summary: boring and stupid
Review: Newberry Awards are most useful for telling a reader which books to avoid. This is an example of a 'book' that wins an award for appealing to literary intelligentsia rather than because it's a 'good read'. There's no sense of wonder, no sense of adventure, but everything is very *PC*.

Go buy "White Fang" or "The Yearling"
Read something by Mercedes Lackey, R. A. Heinlein, H. Beam Piper or David Weber. But for goodness sake, please don't buy this book on the same principle of *not* feeding stray cats. It only encourages them to stick around and reproduce.

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Summary: Simplistic political ideoalogy for fools
Review: This book is simplistic and sounds like it was written by some child. The ideas present within this novel are unformed and not clearly thought out. This book tries to be another 1984 written in the style of Albert Camus' The Stranger, but winds up sounding like the Unabomber's Manifesto written in the style of Dr. Seuss.

Rating:
Summary: Not recommended for children
Review: Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually the 12 year old boy,Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price.

Parents should be cautioned it has detailed murder of an infant and any sane minded parent should not let their children read such a disturbing story I as an adult was shaken by the contents of this book and makes me wonder how Newbery awards are granted ?????