The Giver by Lois Lowry

Publisher- Ember
Publication Date- April 26, 1993
Pages- 179
Series- The Giver Quartet
Awards- Newbery Medal (1994), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Children's Literature (1994), Garden State Book Award for Teen Fiction Grades 6-8 (1996), Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (1996), Grand Canyon Reader Award for Teen Book (1995)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award for Senior (1996), Horn Book Fanfare (1994), New Mexico Land of Enchantment Award (1997)


Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Most of the people I know have read this already, in about 3rd grade. For some reason, I never jumped on the bandwagon. I decided to read this recently because I wanted a short and easy book, so I got it from my state library's eBook program. All I knew was that it was a dystopian.

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. Despite this being in a totally different world, it seemed so real and familiar. It was very different from other dystopian because at first glance, this seems like the ideal world. You don't really see much of a problem. But underneath all of that, it is corrupt. They practice something called Sameness, which is basically where everybody is different in structure, but there is no color and everybody is treated equally. Although I really hope we never have a world like that, it was so real, and I could see everything clearly. Big A+ for world building. 

The characters were all so real. Despite all of them being relatively the same, they all had distinct personalities. I really felt for Jonas, we grew with him. We saw him learning and we could imagine how he felt in all the different situations. That goes for all of the other characters too. Although I didn't agree with a lot of their views, I understood why they acted how they did; it was all they knew. That was how they were taught. They were told how to go about their lives. I keep saying this, but it was all so real.

I'm going to stop talking (typing!) now, and tell you my rating!

My Rating:

If for some reason you have not read this yet, do it! You can get through this in a day, and it is really good!