Title: The Giver
Author: Lowry, Lois
Publisher: Random House
Date: 1993
Pages: 179
ISBN: 0-400-23768-8
Genre: Sci-fi
Plot Summary: Jonas is a young boy born into a near Utopian society that prohibits free thought and action. Almost everything seems to be regulated. When he learns that he is to be the receiver of memory, he learns the truth about his community. He opens his eyes and reaps the consequences of knowing the truth.
My Reading Response: This novel is similar in theme to A Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 because it deals with issues that face those who do not conform to society.
The book helps children realize that sometimes it is o.k. to be different. That they can discover that the world can never be perfect and welcoming to all individuals. There will always be outcasts and the world is not fair.
This book is fantasy. It's gripping appeal will bring intrigue to all ages of children. I would prefer to use this book with high school level children, however. This is because the teacher can delve deeply into some difficult issues such as the "love" and the stirrings (things you can't get into with the younger ones.)
If I chose to use this book in my classroom, I would focus on what the children should do if placed in a similar situation.
Pre-Reading Ideas:
Students create a "perfect" community; give it a name, a system of government, a physical description, and an account of how its citizens spend their time. Discuss how that community would change and grow. What roles would history and memories of painful events play in the growth of the community? What would need to be added to our own society in order to make it perfect? What would be lost in this quest for perfection?
How are families defined? Are families the foundations of a society, or are they continually open for new definition.
Post-Reading Ideas:
Have students watch the entire movie by Todd Alcott or clips of it and compare the experiences of Jonas in the movie to those in the book. Be sure to mark similarities and differences and tell how the world created on paper differs from the world created on film.
The releasing of individuals in Jonas' community is a systematic form of euthanasia, practiced on those who do not conform and the elderly. What are the disadvantages and the benefits to a community that accepts such a vision of euthanasia?
Since The Giver ends on an ambiguous note, have your students create stories that end in the same ambiguous manner.
Questions to ask students:
1. What actions would you take in a similar situation, would you conform or be different?
2. What are your views on Euthanasia? Is it wrong to end another human life even if it is painless?
3. Jonas sets out on a journey near the novel's end. Make a plan to travel to a far off land. If you were fleeing, what would you take with you to begin a new life on your new land? What would you take and what would you leave behind? Give reasons for your decisions. This encourages critical thinking skills.
Evaluation and Teaching Notes:
Censorship target: This is definitely a possible censorship target because it deals with euthanasia, suicide, and sexual issues.
This book should be read in the class and at home by the student. That way the teacher can stop in certain areas and hold a discussion if he/she pleases.
There is a movie and an audio book available for this title.