A Reading Guide to the Giver (Scholastic Bookfiles)

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Summary: What will Jonas do with these memories?
Review: This speculative novel won the 1994 Newbery Medal for best contribution to American children's literature. Apparently, it is one of the most popular books for children (approximately ages ten to thirteen) in the late 1990s. It is about a young boy named Jonas who lives in an unusual future world and is about to turn twelve. In this world, everyone lives in a highly structured Community and each is assigned specific roles. There is no war, no pain, and when one is old and is no longer contributing to the community, they happily are "released," although no one seems to know what that really means. When a young person turns twelve (all turn ages on the same date each year; just like horses do today), there is a big ceremony in which each is assigned their future job at which they become apprenticed. However, Jonas is not assigned to a job. Due to his special insights, compassion, and intelligence, he has been selected to be the new Receiver of Memories. This Receiver is a single individual who has within themselves all of the memories of the past, including memories of true pain, war, passion, family, etc. The older Receiver becomes the Giver and begins to transfer these memories to Jonas. Soon Jonas discovers concepts he never even considered. For example, he discovers color and that the ability to perceive color had been purposedly removed in the distant past. He discovers hills, snow, joy, and pain. And he learns about love. Finally, he discovers what "release" really means. And, he and the Giver must do something about it. Near the end of the novel, Jonas starts a quest to find others with imagination, memories, and passions; others with more humanity.

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Summary: If there were more stars, this book would get them!
Review: I can't say enough about how good this book is. It's so amazing, it's hard to believe. If you don't understand it, read it again. I've read this book 3 times, and I'll probably read it a million more! Advice: READ IT!

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Summary: Creative and Wonderful
Review: I loved this book. It is full of adventure and surprise. It makes me wonder what happened to them, how the community reacted, and when Gabe grew up could he give the memories to others or did he even remember them. I really yearn for a sequel. I'm searching for one now. I also found it interesting because my dad's name is Gabe and it kind of makes me question.

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Summary: The best book I ever read.
Review: I read the Giver a few years ago and I still remember how great it was. I polished it off in about an hour. This kind of book is so rare, that provokes thought and emotion, yet still manages to tell an epic story. I have not found another book out there that impacted my beliefs with the force of The Giver. Bravo!

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Summary: It was chilling and stunning
Review: We are reading the Giver for school. There was a lapse of time where we stopped and I was in so much suspence I had to check the book out from the library. This is one of the best books I've ever read. In comment to the one-star review, this book is very confusing at the beginning and leaves many ends open. But that is a good thing because it really makes you think. There are a lot of shocking surprises in this Utopian community. I recommend this book to anyone that is at least in 8th grade and who really likes to think about what they read. I finished this book stunned. One piece of advise: read this book!

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Summary: I think that it was a very understanding book.
Review: At sometimes it was hard to understand but I liked it. Read this book only if you're 14 or older. Good luck!

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Summary: Simply Beautiful
Review: This book was wonderful. It realy made me think. It's a god book to disscuss with a friend. I did, and it turns out, we all interpreted parts differently. Thats one of the great things about The Giver. It gives you the freedome to think and enjoy. One of the author's best books.

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Summary: This book was exciting and suprising.
Review: The career you choose is chosen for you. When "The Giver", by Louis Lowry, is about a community that has no famine, violence, crime, prejudism, and diseases. In the community where a twelve-year-old boy named Jonas lives, family units are picked out, you have no thoughts, and when you have dreams, you get a pill to make them go away. Jonas wonders what career he'll get and if he'll get the same career as his friend Asher. I sort of liked and disliked this book because of how the people have their careers picked out for them and that when you have dreams, they're controlled by pills that make them go away. What I like about this book is that it's very calm and a very quiet place and you can't get hurt really bad. What I also disliked about this book is that your careers are chosen for you and the families are being chosen. I recomend this book to everybody who likes to read non-fiction books and read very exciting books.

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Summary: This book is exciting and riviting.
Review: The Giver,by Louis Lowry, is about a community wherre there isn't any violence, famine, sickness, or crime. In the community where a twelve year old boy named Jonas lives, the family units are picked out, you don't have any thoughts, and when you dream, they give you a pill to help make it go away. In the community, the career you do is chosen for you. I sort of liked and disliked this book because of how people were being controlled by a council and not having any thoughts and having to control their dreams by taking pills. Also, people are forced to have careers that best suit them. But this is what I like about this book. When you get chosen for your career, you picked for a specific career by the council watching over you and picking out your career when the ceremony occurs for the career you get.

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Summary: Lowry has written a classic.
Review: The Giver is a true classic. I was captured from the first paragraph. My children's literature professor recommeded that all of the elementary education majors read this book. I finished it in two days while studying for finals. The book has since been passed along among my classmates. Each time one of us finish it we express our feelings and show such enthusiasm about it that someone else wants to read it. I would not recommend this book to those of you with no imagination. It does not offer definte closure, but imagination is what reading is. If you want someone to tell you every detail and what happens next then watch T.V. and leave the books to those of us who imagine.