The Giver by Lois Lowry

Like most students, I can recall reading The Giver in 5th or 6th grade. Since then I've heard and read, on several occasions, about how great of a book The Giver is, so I was looking forward to reading it again. As soon as I started to read it again, I remembered that this was the first novel I ever read that was set in the future. Upon beginning to read the book it instantly reminded me of Brave New World, another futuristic utopian style novel that I read a few years ago and immensely enjoyed. I thought it was interesting how in both books people take pills in order to suppress feelings and/or emotions. I think The Giver is an excellent book to get students to think about the structure of society and the impact people's lives have on society. I also found it very interesting that the main character, Jonas, has such a responsibility and a massive burden to shoulder throughout the novel by being chosen the next Receiver. There are some very dark themes and issues in the book, and I think it would work best with grades five and above. For example, the idea of "Releasing" and the extremely disturbing scene of a father killing a baby and then disposing of the body systematically like trash. Overall, I think The Giver is a wonderful novel. I enjoyed it greatly and would certainly recommend it to older readers.