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Summary: Anne Frank and Me
Review: My Favorite Book. It is amazing. People who think the Holocaust never happened or that Anne Frank's Diary is Fake should read this! Nicole Burns is thrown into the Holocaust, Now she is Jewish and Nicole Bernhardt. As the Holocaust rules her life, family and friends the love in her heart keeps her in good spirits. When even that turns for the worst she keeps trying to go on and help her sick little sister. As she goes on she comes face to face with Anne Frank. Suddenly she's thrown out of the past and into the present. Where she realizes the Holocaust changed everything. She finds so much about herself and about a girl who became a famous writer and broke a million hearts, the one and only Anne Frank. I recomend this for 11 and up. As a rating of 1-5 I'd give it a 7.
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Summary: Great book (The Giver) by lois lowery
Review: ...Jonas's is a twelve-year-old boy living in a perfect futuristic world. There is no fighting, no pain, and no color, everything is completely organized. Everyone is assigned a role in the community at age twelve. Jonas is assigned to receive training from the giver. The giver alone holds all of the memories of the real pain and happiness of life before the governors started the community. But when training begins, things start to get tough. By putting his hands on Jonas's back, the giver can transmit memories. The memories can make Jonas actually feel the pain or live the happiness. Jonas finds out that his father has been lying to him about a baby boy, Gabe, and Jonas is forced to take action. Even in a perfect world like Jonas is in, life can be full of nasty surprises!!! I loved this book. Lois Lowry did a great job of describing all the memories, it was like I was there instead of Jonas. I also liked this book because it was a page-turner. You would be surprised how often I said to my Mom, "just one more chapter, pleease?" At the end of the chapter she always left you hanging, which I personally think is a very good technique.
I'd recommend this book to more experienced readers who like science fiction books. The only reason I was a bit disappointed with it was the very last part. It was one of those endings that the author left you to decide the ending, and I don't really like those types of endings. But all in all The Giver was a splendid, fun book.
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Summary: The Giver
Review: The main character in this book is a 12-year-old boy named Jonas. He lives in a community that knows no feelings, color, illness, poverty...in other words, they all live in a perfect community! In this community, everything is chosen for everyone. The indivuals cannot even choose their own destination! Jonas' destination of Receiver of Memories is chosen for him on his 12th birthday. There is only one Receiver of Memory in the community. His job as Receiver of Memory is to retain memories. You'll understand what is meant by that once you have read the book. This is an excellent book!
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Summary: Intriguing Young Adult/Modern Fantasy Book
Review: This story takes place in a utopia-like society. One of the most unusual elements of the community was that the members were only able to perceive their surroundings in black and white. The central piece of the story was that one person (The Giver) was the sole owner of all past memories and the time had arrived to pass that information along to a successor (Jonas).
The only persons experiencing any form of conflict in the story were Jonas and the Giver. Being without memories, the rest of the society, including the Elders who ran the society, were ignorant of any other way of doing things and were, therefore, content. Jonas was given the ability to see things from new perspectives, taking into account past pleasures and pains. He began to understand different moralities of situations and seriously doubted the way of doing things that he had previously accepted without question.
This book is not necessarily a question of good versus evil, but rather a matter of learning from past experiences. Was the decision of 'sameness' the correct one for their community? Why wasn't euthanization (being released) a question of morality? Were the decisions of doing things for the good of the community really good for the community? And without memories, what was left to compare their lives to?
I don't think that many children who read this story would care to live in that type of society. Middle School students (and I don't think that this book is appropriate for students younger than that) pride themselves on their originality. However, the topics addressed in this book are interesting for any students ready to consider them.
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Summary: A true classic that's NOT JUST FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Review: In this understated masterpiece, Lowry examines the idea that humans could entertain the possibility of giving up love, strife, choice, and all variables in life in exchange for "happiness" (really a sort of placid complacency.) The premise seems unreasonable as the act of love is mechanized, career paths are chosen by a board of elders, and all the pain and joy and memory of society is stuffed into one overloaded brain. The Giver must give this knowledge to the Receiver, "The (New) Chosen One," an astute twelve-year-old boy named Jonas.
In the beginning he never questions his society because he knows no alternative, but he knows he has always been a little different than the other kids. As soon as he is exposed to pain and love he wants to share them with others, but the Giver explains the circumstances of his society and his lonely responsibility. Like members of today's society, Jonas and the Giver must decide whether it is right to continue compromising freedom and choice for security and "happiness." CLEARLY THE ANSWER IS NO!!! Mature juveniles (a paradox?) and even adults can enjoy and learn from this novel. Younger kids can still appreciate the good writing even if the universal concepts don't yet click. Spread the word!
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Summary: The Giver
Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry, was a refreshing change in reality. This young adult novel is about a boy named Jonas, who lives in a "perfect" world. But soon Jonas finds out the world is not so perfect. I liked this story, it was fun and easy reading. The Giver allows a person to leap into their imagination and see the world in a different way. I recommend this book for young and old readers. The Giver is a unique and powerful novel.
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Summary: Communism to the extreme
Review: In my opinion, "The Giver" was an excellent book. It dealt with a future that is both frightening in its reality and illuminating in the way their society is run. Dealing with the story of a growing boy who is about to face his life's job for the first time, Jonas is chosen for the most respected job. He is the Receiver of Memories, who remembers everything of the history of the race so that the general public doesn't have to. They live in a world without color, emotion, or choice of any kind - they are even given pills to prevent sexual urges. Lois Lowry combines the idea of communism to the extreme with the idea that even a twelve-year-old child can change society if he so chooses in a story that makes you appreciate how horrible a life like that could be in comparison to all of the choices we make today.
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Summary: Great story, ending leaves much to be desired
Review: I read this story in order to prepare for when I have my class read it. I thought the story was well done and very rivoting, that is, until the ending. The story goes along fine until the last chapter and it seems like Lowry just got tired and wanted to finish it off without having to really develop it. It was quite abrupt and disappointing. I know that the author wants to leave the ending open, the reader comes up with their own conclusion. But I think she was wrong with leaving it so ambiguous. Even when she was given the Newbery award she refused to clarify the ending. This is not the kind of thought provoking ending I want to give middle school students. I believe they will find it disturbing and feel cheated (as I did) at leaving it unresolved. I read "Gathering Blue" and felt much better after having read that book. Lowry did state in and interview that she sees the ending (in The Giver)as optimistic ... I can't take ambiguity! I need closure! The book would have deserved a 5, except for the ending.
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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.
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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.
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