The Giver

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Summary: Insight to Communism
Review: Jonas in his perfect world (no poverty, no sickness, no crime, no color, no music, basically communism controls)...goes through some changes. Big changes, not ur ordinary puberty changes. He starts to see things and feel things others dont. I really dont want to spoil the book. REad it! I have read it about 4 times. Great great book!

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Summary: A Good Choice for 6th Grade Required Reading!
Review: Jonas is a 12-year-old boy, although, he is not like you or me. His "community" takes place in the future. In Jonas' community no one can see colors, hear music, or make choices. Everything is peaceful. No one is hungry or sick, or even different. There is only one person in the community who knows how the community came to be. This is The Giver, and young Jonas has been selected to become the next Giver. Soon Jonas and The Giver are the only ones who know about animals, hills, emotions, wars, Christmas, and sled rides in the snow. They are the only ones who know what happens when you are released.

This book is an awkward and often difficult read if you like to read for enjoyment. Lois Lowry's The Giver, however, takes a unique look at the mind of an adolescent put into an adult unique story of mind games and adventure, memories, and fear. Jonas experiences all of these things for the first time and you as the reader get to see what that feels like. As with many tales of future utopias, Jonas's once perfect world becomes a nightmare. Can The Giver help his community understand who they really are? Can Jonas find peace in a place called Elsewhere? Find out in Lois Lowry's The Giver.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: Jonas is a boy who lives in a very strict world. Every thing has it's right time nothing ever goes wrong. This book has a very boring beginning thats why I gave it three stars but after a little it becomes really good. Jonas is assigned to the most honored job in his community(Receiver of Memory) then he will have to face a very hard training where he face happenies and pain. I recommened this book because it will make you think a little and it is still very intresting. Just don't give up at the beginning because it is boring. Just keep on reading.

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Summary: Great Book to Read Into
Review: Jonas is a kid that seems to have a normal life. However as he starts to grow older he realizes that his town isn't all that great. He notices differences that he's never seen before. His perfect little town seems to come to start losing its appeal when he learns more about the "outside." This is a great book for children to read, and a great book for older kids to look into the "hidden" meanings. I encourage people of all ages to read it.
-MM, Sunapee High School.

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Summary: TheGiver: a must-read book!
Review: Jonas is a young boy about to start the rest of his life in a world that has no feelings, color, nothing to make things separate from everything else. There are rules for everything, no words of meaning for anything, and all that is done is to protect the town from the dangers of the way things used to be.

When you are born, you do not have a mother and father with whom you grow up. After birth, you are given a name, and then given to a new family who will raise you. Each year in honor of your birth, a ceremony is held for you and the others in your group. On some ceremonies you are given new clothes, one you a haircut, one a new bicycle, but the most important ceremony of all is the ceremony of 12. The ceremony of 12 is very special, for that is when you find out what job you will be given to have as long as you work. (When you are growing up, before the ceremony of 12, you begin to volunteer at a job site that interests you, and that could help determine your life long job.)

The elders in the town all live in a home until they are released. No one knows what it is like or what happens at a release, and no one talks about anyone being released.

Some of the elders are in charge of assigning the 12's their jobs. So at the ceremony of 12's, going through the numbers of the children, Jonas waited to be called on. For some time now he had been wondering and worrying about what his job would be, and noticing some strange things happening to him that he could not explain, but would later find out, that had to do with his job. When Jonas' turn came to receive his job, everyone fell silent as he was passed. His number had not been called. All through the rest of the ceremony Jonas wondered what could have happened. How could they have passed him? But his question was answered soon enough. When the ceremony ended, an announcement was made that one of the numbers had been passed. Not forgotten, but passed for a reason. Jonas was then called to the stage like all the other numbers had been, and was told that the job he was about to receive was the most important job of all. Jonas was to be the new Receiver. His training would start soon and his duties were not to be spoken of. He had a new set of rules to follow now. The Receiver was to spend his training hours with the old Receiver, also called the Giver. The Giver was very old and would soon be released. But before he can be released he must give all of his memories, good and bad, to the Receiver. The Receiver's job then came into affect. He was to hold all the memories for the entire town, so that they wouldn't have mixed feelings and not know what to do. It was his job to protect the town from having the feelings they never had before.

The Giver is a great book that portrays the life of a young boy having to reach adulthood quickly, experience true pain and happiness, and meet all the challenges thrown his way. To meet the responsibilities as the Receiver, to follow all the new rules, to receive all the memories, to protect the town from the memories, and the journey that lies ahead for Jonas to be able to do all that he must, and to also change the town in a way that could ruin everything or make it a better place, the way it once was long ago.

Rating:
Summary: Shared Remembrance
Review: Jonas is a young boy that is growing up in a plain community. There is no color and people get released from the community for little reasons that we would find weird. Jonas is anticipating his twelfth ceremony; it is so exiting to him. He is given the task of being the new receiver. At first he is scared about it because he doesn't know what to expect of it. After a while he is more comfortable with his assignment. He sees what life use to be like and he wishes that it could go back to the old ways instead of having sameness. He wants to have color instead of black and white. There is a little baby by the name of Gabriel and he could not sleep on his own so he gets to stay with Jonas' family. One day while Gabriel was being noisy and upset Jonas accidentally gave him one of his memories and it seemed to sooth the little boy. After that he did it to calm him down and his parents would let Gabriel sleep in the room with Jonas because he would sleep easier. Jonas was sick of living in the community and he wanted to get away and find something else, something that existed else where, where they played music and had color.
He learned what it really meant to get released from the community and he didn't like it at all. In the community they could not have identical twins. The smallest one of them would be released from the community. Since the baby's arm did not have big enough veins, a shot was put into it's forehead and it's body would go limp. This was going to happen to Gabriel because he would not sleep though the night. Jonas loved Gabriel, also known as Gabe and he didn't want that to happen to him. The Giver decided that he would help Jonas to get away from the community, but Jonas knew that he would never be able to come back again. They traveled for what seemed like forever and they were running out of food. The weather started to change and it got bitterly cold, with lots of snow falling down. They had to use the memory of warmth to survive. Helicopters were out looking for him and the baby but they soon gave up on it. Jonas and Gabe found a sled on top of a hill and they hopped onto it with all the strength that they had left. They flew down the hill and when they reached the bottom they found a house with lights all around. People were gathered around and there was music playing. Jonas thought that maybe he heard laughter and music from the community that he just left but he figured that it was probably just an echo from the house that they just had found.
I really found that the book was very interesting to me. The only thing that I did not like was how the people were released from the community. Other than that it was good. There are not that many books that I can really get into. I would not want to live the way that they lived in the book, but they did not know any better. It was the way that things had been for a long time and they were use to it. It is definitely a book that I would recommend that people should read.

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Summary: The One and Only; The Giver
Review: Jonas is a young boy who is twelve years of age. Jonas lives in an utopian society where everything has the characteristic of being the same. The Elders of the community, who act as dictators, assign Jonas the position The Receiver. Jonas is instructed to receive memories of ancient civilizations from The Giver. Jonas receives memories of pain, love, hunger, war, color, and fear. These things have never been felt by Jonas or anyone except The Giver before. Upon realizing that he is living in a wonderland of sameness, Jonas plots to run away from the community in hopes of arriving at at place where "real" life exists. Enduring through the hard journey of escape, Jonas experinces these feelings first hand. Lois Lowery does a fantastic job of illustrating a world with no feelings. The Giver flows smoothly and is a easy reader but beware, after reading it you will never look at the feelings we have the same way.

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Summary: The Perfect World--Or is it?
Review: Jonas is a young boy who lives in an utopian/cultic communitty. It is a world with no pain and suffering but also without compassion. It may seem like the perfect world, but it's not. There whole lives are chosen for them by elders: who to marry, what child they will have, what they can be, etc. When Jonas is selected to be The Giver, he is taken to an old man who teaches him the evil in the world, and also the good side. Now Jonas must chose between a world of peace without freedom or a world with choice. I think this is an excellent book because it makes you think about how lucky we are to chose our own destiny. However, as I read this book, I began to think of how people take our freedom for granted. I highly recommend this book to the young and old.

Rating:
Summary: The Giver
Review: Jonas is a young, eleven year old boy. He lives in what is typically referred to as a Utopia. In this society, everything appears to be perfect and no one has any problems. Every December, during the "Ceremonies," the "Children of Twelve" receive their assignments, or jobs in their community. Jonas is chosen to be the next "Receiver of Memory." This is the highest position in his community and he must learn everything from "The Giver," who holds all of the world's memories. Jonas goes through a difficult journey, learning some things that change his life forever.

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry was an enjoyable book and I would recommend it. It expresses a different type of life, far different from the one we know today. The community of people in "The Giver" do not get to experience life in the way that we do, and it gives more meaning to life. They do not get to experience all the things that make people who they are, such as love, pain, feelings and emotions. They cannot even see things in color. The only person who has all of these abilities is the "Receiver of Memory." This book may seem a little strange at times, but that is what makes it so interesting. It captivates the reader and brings you into a different world. This book has a wonderful, creative storyline that requires one to use their imagination. It brings you into the book and makes you feel like one of the characters. It lets you see into the characters frame of mind and allows the reader to visualize what it must be like to live a life of such conformity.

I would give this book four stars out of five. There were some minor things that I was confused about, but otherwise it was an excellent book. Although it is mostly read by young children, it is a great book for any age. I would definitely recommend "The Giver."

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Summary: The Perfect Community
Review: Jonas is almost twelve. Being twelve is a big event in his community. When he turns twelve he will be assigned his role at a Ceremony. Jonas's community does this in ordedr to create a sense of structure and utopia, a perfect world with no war, pain, or fear. However, in addition to this no one is allowed to feel emotion or make choices for themselves. Everything is given to them, even a husband or wife and children.

Jonas's big day arrives when his name is about to be called and his role discovered, but the strangest thing happens, his name has been skipped. Never in all the ceremonies hes watched has anyone ever been skipped. Jonaswent on to discover that he had reacieved a very special job, The Reciever of Memory. The person who recieves all the emotion of the real world so noone else has to. Read this book to figure out how Jonas handles his new role in the community. This book is a great one for those who enjoy suspense. Its immpossible to put this book down!