The Giver by Lois Lowry

Read for: Leisure
Rating: 4.7

I can see why this book is a modern young adult classic. I think that this would be a really great book to use with seventh or eigth grade students. The story is set in a futuristic, utopian society that has gotten rid of all pain, emotion, and idleness. The main character is a boy named Jonas. Through him and a man called The Giver we learn that only the Giver has all the memories of pain, sorrow, joy, love, war, etc. The Giver gives all of these memories to Jonas.

This would be a good book for writing prompts: What is one of your happiest memories? Aren't we better off without memories of pain or grief? What emotions were left out of the novel? If there was something you could change about our society today, what would it be? How does our society compare to the one portrayed in the book?

The Giver was a pretty easy read and I appreciated the fact that, even though there was a lot of background information on how the society works, the plot still moved quickly and there was a good amount of action. I don't think that students would get bored. My one reservation is that I think young students--especially reluctant readers--would dismiss this as stupid and hard to understand since it is set in the future and in a society that is completely different from our own.