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Summary: A Worthy Companion
Review: When my 8th grade English class read The Giver I longed for a sequel. Unfortunately, there was none, but Gathering Blue, I found, was the companion novel to the other. It was the other thing our world could change into. When I learned the main character, an orphan named Kira, was lame, I thought it might be a 'lame', sappy book. But I found it to be as engrossing and original as The Giver, complete with suspense and eye-popping plot twists. The ending will once again make you ponder, and the vividly portrayed characters like Thomas, Matt, and Vandara added to the overall effect. The book was set in a barbaric world of many arguments, where a young, lame, girl is orphaned and her townspeople wish to despose of her. The story is about her going to live at the Council Edifice in the town, and discovering more of her incredible gift of weaving. She is assigned to fix and create parts of the Singers' robe, a robe worn by a man who tells the story of the world to the town at a gathering each year. She meets Thomas, another Council Edifice worker, along with having an enthusiastic friend named Matt who is poor and lives in the village. Through her imaginative writing and deft skill, Lowry has placed another book into stores that is worth reading, and will leave you thinking.
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Summary: Lois Lowry once again enters a futuristic world
Review: Lois Lowry once again enters a futuristic world, much like the one created in the giver but with major differences. This is a world where computers, electricity, and all other forms of technology are forgotton. People have shrunk back to the time where they had to hunt for their own food, and build there own houses. The protagonist of the story Kira, has her life at risk when her mother dies. Most people now see her to be flawed and useless and should be killed for it. SHe's forced to use her special gift in order to save her life. But what she finds out on her mental journey changes her perpective on life itself.This book is thought-provoking and entertaining, especially to those who loved the giver. If you love books about survival, and society this book is for you. I would reccomend this book to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: Gathering Book was a wonderful story of a child growing up in a post-apocolptic dystopia. Though this story has some similarities to the Giver, because while the settings are nearly polar opposites, (an interesting question to ask is, if given choice would you rather live in Jonas's world or in Kira's?) the theme of a special child learning resposiblity are identical in both books. Gathering Blue was on the whole an excellent read, but abrupt and unsatisfying ending and the muliple loose plot threads detracted from the book. The ending lacked any kind of closure that was desperatly needed.
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Summary: read my review!:)
Review: as the reader before me wrote, the ending was a bit dissapointing. but i also feel the possibility that a sequal could be coming. maybe not soon, but it is entirely possible. this was truly a powerful story, and, as in The Giver, it gives an outlook on what the future could look like.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: I started reading this book before I went to bed and I ended up staying up until midnight when I finally decided to go to sleep. The next morning I got the book out and finished it without ever getting out of bed. It was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone ever adults!
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Summary: this could have been a great book...
Review: but i too was really dissapointed by the ending. I wanted to know how Kira actually carried out her mission, now that she had discovered ( but only vaguely ) some of the secrets of her world. It bothered me that the ending leaves all the mysteries of the story up in the air, and so has a sort of fall down for an ending - i turned the page and was shocked to see that the story was over - without resolving all the secrets and the knowledge kira has gained, the book really loses strength. I did read and love The Giver, and this book too had good qualities, but so much of the point of the story was wrapped up in an ending that wasn't there that I can't say this was a great book.
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Summary: Gathering Blue
Review: Imagine a civilization where your past is nonexistant, and your future is to be shaped by nothing more than dreams. Imagine, the taunts of others after being left an orphan, at that, with a crippled leg. Imagine, the frights of meeting your father after much wait, and then, findng that his murder almost came about because of one of the few people you can trust. Imagine... Described here is the future, past, and present of young Kira, who grows up in a world stereotyped against her. Taken in by those who wish to put her magnificent weaving skills to use, she soon finds it no more of a scheme to put together an unrealistic future for the people of earth. Wishing to seek those who really do care for her, Kira is faced with the fact that she cannot survive in the present world without the aid of those who will use her, but without the aid of those who will use her, her mind will once again be free, and her soul free to roam. Having to make the decision between family and survival is one not talked about in Kira's life... she has no guidance to show her the way.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book with a lack of a sufficient ending.
Review: This book had my interests, everything from Kira's struggle for life to her adventures with Thomas and Matt. I truly hated Vandara when she tried to end Kira's life over a little plot of land. The survival-of-the-fittest attitude of the community made the book even more exciting. I feared for Kira when she too feared of her life after her mother's death. All of this was for nothing, because the book was cut short. Sure, she may of thought that she had the answer to the perfect world, but how was she going to do this? It was a shame that we were not told of how this was to be done. Overall, this was a great book, but the ending leaves you out to dry.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, haunting, but the ending..???
Review: What a beautiful novel! The writing is incredible, the hints of mystery will make you race through once, then read again to savor the nuances.. But the ending falls flat. Kira discovers her strengths and learns to value herself despite her flaws, the writing builds up to the climax (stop here if you don't want the ending revealed) of meeting her father, but then she ignores the possibility of further growth by remaining in the village. Why would she want to remain a slave to the villagers? Why not explore her own creative impulses freely in her father's village? The ending is falls flat and begs for a sequel to finish it. Lots of questions left unresolved. (what is her relationship to Thomas? what would she create if left to her own devices? what will she embroider on the empty space of the robe? Why does she not at least give the choice of escaping to Thomas and the new Singer?) Reminded me of a combination of Clan of the Cave Bear and The Secret Garden. Excellent writing, but ending is aggravating!!!
Rating:
Summary: Gathering Blue.....only okay.
Review: Gathering Blue is a great book, and like the Giver, it shows us an alternative future with it's own mysteries and horrible secrets. But instead of a high tech society (the Giver), we are shown a primitive one where individuality is feared and strange people called elders rule. The girl Kira who has a deformed leg should of been killed at birth, but was not due to her mother's protests. Now that her mother is dead she is on her own. Her father was taken by the beasts long ago. The elders unexpectedly give her shelter and she begins a life of luxury. All because of her mysterious (and even magical!?) gift that allows her to make beautiful and intricate designs out of threads. Kira must repair the singer's robe, a robe that has Kira's world's history embroidered on it. First, though she must learn the art of dyes and dyeing threads from the old woman Anabella. As she works on the robe Kira and her friends Thomas the Carver ; Jo the Singer ; and Matt the tyke with his little dog, must unravel the terible truth of their future. I enjoyed Gathering Blue, but it did not earn 5 stars because it was extremely weak on some points. 1) After the story reached it's climax it went all downhill. The ending was rushed to the extreme leaving tons of things up in the air. 2)Alot of things are left unexplained. For example, Lois Lowry hints (and it even Kira suspects) that Anabella's death was no accident, and that she was killed for what she told Kira. But in the mad rush to the ending this is not mentioned at all. 3) The ending was NOT logical. The major secret in the book is not even explained that much. Still....its a good book.
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