A Reading Guide to the Giver (Scholastic Bookfiles)

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Society, Not So Perfect
Review: The Giver by Los Lowry was a very clever way to say nothing can be perfect. The book is about Jonas, aboy who lives in a society where there are no choices, color, or feelings. Almost everything is done for them: their jobs are picked by a committee or elders, and their food is delivered by dilvery men, but when Jonas is assigned to be the receiver of memory, a job where you are given memories of love, he runs away to a community with all the things he has been living with out. I enjoyed the book a lot because of its messafe: everything has a flaw. The book taught ne that nothing can be perfect and that I don't want to be perfect. I enjoyed the book to the very end because I enjoyed learning about Jonas' society. I think the most interesting charecteristic of the novel was the ending. The author left you to decide what was going to happen to Jonas. This ending was unusual, so at first, I did not like it because I really wanted to learn what happend to Jonas, but then, i realized what she was doing, and I started to like the ending due to its peculiarity. That is why I am giving it five stars.

Rating:
Summary: The giver
Review: This book was a wonderful story of the future when we have tchnologie to control everything and is one of the best plot that i have read this year. The giver is the perfect book for mid age teens. Louis Lowry does agreat and good job of writing this plot and the setting is so awesome i think that is a cool setting. The future in the story is very sellf explanitory and same with the plot. I Wwould just like to say this is a great book that my middle school class has read this year.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: The book gave me a lot of feeling, and understandment. I feel the book had a lot of meaning. It was hard to understand at first. The characters were great. The setting of the book made me feel that their community was very weird.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver is a wonderful book for ages 10 to about14. This book has such a great plot for midage children. The plot and setting and whole book is so wonderful for mid age children. The giver is really so wonderful the plot is so awesome and the setting is so far into the future it is awesome too!

Rating:
Summary: The Giver: It's time for a boy to learn truth.
Review: Do you sometimes wish you lived in a utopia? do you wish you lived in a world with no poverty, no robbers, no pollution, no color, no love, and no warfare? Well, this story is about a boy named Jonas. Jonas is living in that world, and he thinks he lives like everyone else and has a pretty good lfe. He has a mom, a dad, and a sister, named Lily. He also has friends like Fiona and Asher. During the story, he meets the Giver who shows him how the world used to be when there was love and warfare. He makes Jonas have memories about warfare and love. jonas learns that his life is boring compared to what the world used to be. Jonas meets the Giver during the twelve ceremony whe the 12-year-old kids get their jobs. Jonas is skipped, but at the end of the ceremony , Jonas learns that he is the receiver of the community. Later in the book, Jonas decided that he has to leave the community and go where these memories are real. He brings his half brother, Gabe, with him because if didn't , Gabe would be killed. Gabe is a baby, who no one wants because he doesn't sleep through the night, so the leader of the community is going to release Gabe. Jonas' dad doesn't like this, so he taked the chold and makes Gabe one of his own, but the master says that they were going to release him, and it is out of Jonas' father's hands. Jonas decided to take Gabe and run away. At the end, Jonas gets to a community with color and love. I liked this book, and I recomend it to everyone because it has action and adventure, and it tells you a utopia isn't always a good thing. I though there could have been a better ending. Lowry didn't talk about Jonas' new community and if he liked it or not. I hope she makes another book about his new community. I give this book four out of five stars. I would have given it five stars if she had written a better ending.

Rating:
Summary: A Utopian-Like Society is Not What it Was Cut Out to Be
Review: In The Giver, Jonas, a twelve-year-old boy, discovers the real truth about his utopian-like community. We don't exactly know where this community's setting is, but we do know it has a different environment than ours. It is not like an ordinary living environment like yours and mine. Why? Because Jonas' community has no color, feelings, music, love, or even changes in the weather. In this isolated town, the citizens also do something that is called release, which is when the community kills a person. All is not negative though. For example, one thing the characters get from being a part of this society is not ever having to starve because their food is delivered to the people's homes everyday. This book is about Jonas who learns the truth about his community and wants to break free from it when he sees his father doing something that is not the right thing to do. Then, Jonas realizes that his life is not what he really wants, so he makes a decision that will affect him and the community. One thing you have to think about when you are one of the citizens in this society is. . . Is it worth it to give up things that you might want in your life for things that you need? I, for one, don't think it is worth it to be in this community because there are too many things I would have to give up, and I couldn't handle that. The problem with leaving the community is to separate yourself from this society which is a hard thing to do. Jonas leaves behind friends, and most importantly, the Giver. The Giver is the most important citizen because he is the one who takes away all the memories of the society to make the community perfect. In the end, Jonas gets what he has been waiting for all his life: a life with choices and love, an imperfect society, but basically, a better life. After reading this book, I feel the message is to live the life of your choice as much as you can. This book isn't my favorite kind of book because I like more actions and mystery, but it is well thought out and written, so I give it four stars.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver Takes More Than it Gives
Review: In the story The Giver, a boy, named Jonas, lives in a community that the people think is a utopia, but he learns it is the exact opposite. The community is interesting because everything is chosen and done for you. For example, your job is picked for you by a group of elders, and your bike is given to you at the age of nine. At first, Jonas likes his community very much because everything that is needed is provided, and he has nothing to worry about. Then, he is selected to be the receiver of memory, the person who keeps all the memories from different generations. He goes to the Giver who trains him and soon finds that his world is not so great after all. The conflict in this "utopian" world is that Jonas wants everything his community does not have. He learns that there are things called love, color, and music. He decides he wants to run away and, in the process, breaks most of the community's rules. If Jonas is caught, he will be severely punished. After successfully running away, Jonas is miles down the road from where he began his journey and is struggling to keep moving. Jonas sees a colorful house with people inside who seem to love each other, and he hears what he thinks is music. Lowry leaves you there to make up your own ending. The Giver is very well written, for example, the language that is used is not too advanced but at just the right level for a sixth or seventh grader. However, the book gets into a slump in the very beginning and becomes very boring because there is nothing happening in Jonas' life. Even his escape is not very suspenseful because whenever he is about to be caught, he uses a very dull strategy to get out of the situation. If you're looking for a book with a lot of action and suspense, keep on looking. I would give this book two out of five stars.

Rating:
Summary: What. . .Utopia?
Review: This novel, The Giver, written by Lois Lowry is an exciting, breath-taking book. It is well written, and it keeps you interested with the exciting things that are happening. It is about a 12-year-old boy named Jonas who discovers the true meaning of life. You see, he lives in a community where there is no color or pain. Nobody is left hungry, and everybody is equal. You might think it is a utopia, but the people have to give up a lot. They have no love, no marriage, no originality, and no one can be the slightest bit different. Jonas is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory, who receives the memories of the past before the community went to Sameness, and he alone can experience the pleasure and pain of life. His father is a nurturer who takes care of babies, or so Jonas thinks. Actually, Jonas sees his father kill a baby on video screen! His mother works as a person who enforces laws. Jonas realizes that he lives in no utopia and that he lives in a totally separated society. His society is separated from practically the whole outside world. He realizes that his community is separated from the outside world from the memories he has been receiving from The Giver. He decides he cannot live without colors, pain, or basically a regular world with real love, so he leaves the community and goes "Elsewhere" to live in the pleasure of colors and weather. That is an extremely daring move. You see, in his community, nobody is allowed to leave their homes after dark. Also, he steals food. That is dangerous because the night crew is right there watching him take it! If I were Jonas, I would do the exact same thing he did. I could not imagine living in a society like that one. The Giver is a truly excellent book because the plot is interesting, and the book kept feeding me with more and more information. I recommend it to children ten and over because younger ones might not get or understand the true meaning of the book. I give it 5 STARS!

Rating:
Summary: The Giver, Ana Amazing Book of the Future
Review: The Giver is a great book about a boy named Jonas who lives inan almost perfect community with no future, no choices, and nopain. When Jonas is chosen to be the new receiver of memories, his whole life changes. The community in which Jonas lives is plain and flat, with no hills, and the weather is always the same, with no rain or snow. All the houses are the same. The food and the furnishings are the same. Even the people are the same. Jonas has a father who is a nurturer, one who cares for babies; a mother who is a lawyer, and an eight-year-old sister named Lily, a sometimes-annoying girl, who goes to school. Jonas has two friends: Asher, a mischievous and funny boy, and Fiona, a nice girl whom Jonas likes. There is Gabriel, a little baby boy who has been sleeping at Jonas' house to try and become a part of the community. Last but not least, there is the Giver, the former receiver, whose job is to hold onto the community's memories. He changes Jonas' view of the world, and becomes Jonas' best friend. The Giver teaches Jonas a lot. He helps him to get feelings through memories in order to become the new receiver. He also helps Jonas learn more about the rules and history of the community. One night, the Giver shows Jonas one of the rules of the community called "Releasing." The only thing Jonas knows about releasing is that it is part of his father's job. The Giver has Jonas observe his father perform the procedure on the Giver's television screen. Jonas gets extremely mad when he learns that releasing is basically murder. He is shocked when he sees his father inject a deadly liquid into an infant. After that incident, Jonas is certain that his community is not perfect. He thinks about how no one is allowed to have feelings and make choices. The Giver and Jonas make a plan for Jonas to go to another community so that he and the rest of their community could have a better and different life by having the freedom of choices and feelings. I think this was a really good book because it shows me a new view of the world. For example, it tells me that you shouldn't try to make a perfect world because you will have to give up important things like emotions and being a unique individual. I give this book five stars as a rating because it was well written and very informative and detailed. This book was very exciting, interesting, and fun to read. I recommend it to anyone from ten to adult because I promise you, the book will be a part of you, and you won't be able to put it down once you take a peek behind the cover! Have fun! END

Rating:
Summary: I LOVED it!
Review: I thought it was the worst book in the whole wide world, but after I caught on I started to like it. After my teacher finished reading it he said to give it a grade 1-6 (1 being the worst) I gave it a six!