The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Fiction/Chapter Book/Newberry Award

The Giver is the story of a young boy named Jonas who lives in a futuristic society where everyone is the same. At age 12, Jonas is given the job of Receiver, who is the only person in society who can keep the memories, both good and bad, of the past. Jonas receives the memories from the previous Receiver  whom he calls 'The Giver'. Jonas soon realizes how bland his life is, and how bright it could be. He and the Giver devise a plan to change the society forever. 

This book was one of my favorites when I first read it, I enjoyed it so much that I bought it and still have it. To this day, dystopian novels are my favorite genres of books; Anthem and Hunger Games are two of my favorite books that I've read. I think it's important to expose students to a variety of books so that they are able to determine what they like and don't like, giving them the opportunity to continue to expand their reading. This book is another that I would use for the first three standards on the Reading Literature Standards, specifically drawing inferences from text, determining theme, summarizing text, and describing settings or characters. I would use this book for a full class lesson or in lit circles, because it's another that I feel can appeal to many different interests and reading levels. This book can promote a lot of great discussion, since the world seen in the book is so different than the one we live in.

Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.