Lois Lowry's The Giver

Science Fiction Novel: The Giver

APA Citation:

Lowry, L. (1993). The giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Professional Resource: Dr. Gross

Age Range: 10-12

Summary:  In this science fiction novel, twelve year old Jonas is tasked with the important job of training to become the Keeper of Memories for his dystopian community.  Through his sessions with the Receiver, Jonas obtains memories of what it was like to feel emotions such as love and longing which have been gleaned from present day society.  Jonas realizes that people have been stripped of free will and must be made to face memories that will stir emotions that they have never felt before in order to lead a life worth living.

Lois Lowry’s novel asks what would happen if human beings stopped being ruled by emotion but led by clinical decisions creating a seemingly perfect society.  When twelve year-old Jonas is selected to become the new Keeper of Memories, he learns from The Giver all that man has given up in order to create a “perfect” community; losing free will and emotion.  This book will meet the information needs of older elementary and middle school children who are criticized daily as being too emotional and perhaps made fun of for their individuality. Young readers will also appreciate the intriguing science fiction nature of this book as they ask themselves whether something like this novel could really happen in real life.

            Lowry’s The Giver was written before the majority of today’s dystopian novels popular in children’s books and young adult literature today.  Part of the reason that these books have snagged so much attention is that the plots of these novels could feasibly come true in the future.  The Giver is set in an unspecified year in the future when elders have stripped society of diversity and emotion, creating an efficient “sameness” which keeps order in society. The preteen years are a time when children are uncertain as to how they should behave to be accepted in society.  This novel would captivate readers in this age group as it shows that sameness and equality are not always assets and that perhaps much would be lacking if differences were stripped away.

            Preteens are also in a period of life when they begin to realize that not all is as it seems.  In this novel, the main character of Jonas realizes this about his society but also about his parents.  He has idealized his parents in his mind as the perfect citizens when, in fact, his father has been authorized to lie about the “releasing” of the newborns he nurtures.  This aspect of the novel meets the information needs of preteens who are facing the own realizations in their own life as well.