The Giver by Lois Lowry

By -

What a great book! Targeted at young adults, it's about a young boy in a utopian society. This is, I think, the third time I've read it (for a book club this time), and it was still good. Some of the surprises were still chilling and horrific, even when I knew what was coming, or maybe partly because I did know what was coming.

There are apparently a couple of companion books to this one, not exactly sequels but somehow associated. They are Messenger and Gathering Blue. I'm looking forward to reading them, especially after an article in Reason magazine recently, which was about children's literature with libertarian themes.

Comments

  1. IvyTuesday, August 01, 2006 5:32:00 AM

    Mom listened to this on her trip to Utah. She loved it, but agreed that it was probably wasted on Justin cuz he's too young (fifth grade). Why don't teachers think of that? I don't think they even discussed it much in class, which is pretty dumb since, with these kids being "too young" for the book, they needed extra discussion. I have discussed it with him some, though. He still says he didn't like the book. I believe his turning point (from liking to NOT liking the book) was when he read about Jonah's dad "releasing" the smaller of the twin babies. I don't blame Justin. A great book, but for an older youth or for adults.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ErinWednesday, August 02, 2006 8:59:00 AM

    It's crazy to have fifth graders read The Giver and then not discuss it with them. It really is way too serious for that age, unless you want to also talk about why Nazis did what they did to Jews and how they justified it. That's one way you could look at parts of The Giver. Justin might like The White Mountains series by John Christopher. There's a trilogy that starts with The White Mountains and a prequel called When the Tripods Came. It's about a future society when aliens have invaded earth and control people's minds after a certain age. The main character figures out what's going on before he reaches that age and tries to escape. Jon read it when he was young, and we both ready it recently (as adults, anyway, which is to say, not that recently). They are full of adventure but also address some of the themes commonly addressed by books that describe societies that seem perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ivyMonday, August 14, 2006 9:52:00 PM

    We are reading this for our next book club book in September.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JustisTuesday, September 23, 2008 3:54:00 PM

    this book is great! I'm only a 5th grader and I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. puzziSunday, October 26, 2008 11:57:00 AM

    I love it

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

By -
What a fun book to read. We read this for book club and then watched the movie (which wasn't necessary since we've all seen it so many times we were quoting the whole thing). It is better to know from the beginning that Goldman wrote it all, there is no S. Morgenstern. You feel less duped. I thought it was really obvious that Goldman is the true author (his humor is the same throughout, there's no way the language is from the era Goldman claims it is from), but, I do remember thinking it really was an abridgment when I read it in high school or junior high. And a lot of the ladies at book club didn't know the whole thing is fake either. Some decided they didn't like the book just because they felt deceived by the author. It is so funny though. And you get all this background information about Inigo, Fezzik and Buttercup. I love the way he tries to place the book in time... "This was before Europe," then later he talks about Paris. Also, when he describes...
Read more

Arrested Development, Season One (2003)

By -
I really enjoyed this and even started to feel a little addicted to it by the end. I like watching TV shows on DVD—it’s great to have no commercials and to be able to watch as many episodes as you want. Although this can also be detrimental if you watch six or eight episodes and find it’s 1:00 am when you finally force yourself to stop. Anyway, “Arrested Development” is very funny. All of the characters are hilarious and well-acted, and one of them rides a Segue! Shouldn’t more people be making fun of Segues? I’m looking forward to seeing the second season, but I don’t know if we can bring ourselves to buy it. We like to leach off of other people for our DVD needs, especially when it comes to TV shows.
Read more

No shortage

By -
Image
Two things we don't seem to have a shortage of in our area at the moment. Orange juice (at Winco in Idaho Falls): I was really taken aback by the wall of orange juice options. And grateful! The other thing we're not currently lacking is baby chickens (15 baby hens about a week or two old, in our front yard):
Read more