OR
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
The Giver (Giver Quartet, Book 1) Kindle Edition
In Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal–winning classic, twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind his fragile community.
Life in the community where Jonas lives is idyllic. Designated birthmothers produce newchildren, who are assigned to appropriate family units. Citizens are assigned their partners and their jobs. No one thinks to ask questions. Everyone obeys. Everyone is the same. Except Jonas.
Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Gradually Jonas learns that power lies in feelings. But when his own power is put to the test—when he must try to save someone he loves—he may not be ready. Is it too soon? Or too late?
Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.
The Giver has become one of the most influential novels of our time. Don't miss the powerful companion novels in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet: Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level7 - 9
- Lexile measure760L
- PublisherClarion Books
- Publication dateApril 26, 1993
- ISBN-109780547345901
- ISBN-13978-0544336261
Customers who bought this item also bought
- The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past.Highlighted by 7,641 Kindle readers
- Two children—one male, one female—to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules.Highlighted by 7,044 Kindle readers
- The children all received their bicycles at Nine; they were not allowed to ride bicycles before then.Highlighted by 6,349 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
The Giver | Gathering Blue | Messenger | Son | Number the Stars | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Customer Reviews |
4.6 out of 5 stars
40,932
|
4.5 out of 5 stars
8,733
|
4.6 out of 5 stars
5,943
|
4.6 out of 5 stars
7,422
|
4.7 out of 5 stars
18,816
|
Price | $11.89$11.89 | $8.99$8.99 | $7.99$7.99 | $7.99$7.99 | $6.95$6.95 |
Discover More Books by Lois Lowry | Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind his fragile community. | Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future. She struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever. | Once a utopian community that prided itself on welcoming strangers, Village will soon be cut off to all outsiders. Matty must deliver the message of Village’s closing and try to convince Seer’s daughter Kira to return with him before it’s too late. | Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. In this thrilling series finale, Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of The Giver. | Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggles almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. |
Anastasia Krupnik | Anastasia Again | Anastasia at Your Service | Anastasia Off Her Rocker | Anastasia on Her Own | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Customer Reviews |
4.5 out of 5 stars
309
|
4.6 out of 5 stars
118
|
4.5 out of 5 stars
91
|
4.6 out of 5 stars
67
|
4.6 out of 5 stars
92
|
Price | $6.99$6.99 | $7.99$7.99 | $6.48$6.48 | $8.99$8.99 | $7.99$7.99 |
Anastasia's tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother. | Twelve-year-old Anastasia is horrified at her family's decision to move from their city apartment to a house in the suburbs. | Twelve-year-old Anastasia has a series of disastrous experiences when, expecting to get a job as a lady's companion, she is hired to be a maid. | Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud nobly aid her. | Her family's new, organized schedule for easy housekeeping makes Anastasia confident that she can run the household while her mother is out of town, until she hits unexpected complications. |
The Willoughbys | On the Horizon | |
---|---|---|
Customer Reviews |
4.6 out of 5 stars
1,154
|
4.7 out of 5 stars
310
|
Price | $13.85$13.85 | $10.69$10.69 |
A delightfully tongue-in-cheek story about parents trying to get rid of their four children and the children who are all too happy to lose their beastly parents and be on their own. | A moving account of the lives lost in two of WWII’s most infamous events: Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Review
"In a departure from her well-known and favorably regarded realistic works, Lowry has written a fascinating, thoughtful science-fiction novel. The story takes place in a nameless, utopian community, at an unidentified future time. Although life seems perfect -- there is no hunger, no disease, no pollution, no fear -- the reader becomes uneasily aware that all is not well. The story is skillfully written; the air of disquiet is delicately insinuated; and the theme of balancing the values of freedom and security is beautifully presented." Horn Book Guide
From the Publisher
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
-- The New York Times
From the Audio Cassette (Unabridged) edition.
About the Author
From the Paperback edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice. He had seen it both times. Squinting toward the sky, he had seen the sleek jet, almost a blur at its high speed, go past, and a second later heard the blast of sound that followed. Then one more time, a moment later, from the opposite direction, the same plane.
At first, he had been only fascinated. He had never seen aircraft so close, for it was against the rules for Pilots to fly over the community. Occasionally, when supplies were delivered by cargo planes to the landing field across the river, the children rode their bicycles to the river bank and watched, intrigued, the unloading and then the takeoff directed to the west, always away from the community.
But the aircraft a year ago had been different. It was not a squat, fat-bellied cargo plane but a needle-nosed single-pilot jet. Jonas, looking around anxiously, had seen others — adults as well as children — stop what they were doing and wait, confused, for an explanation of the frightening event.
Then all of the citizens had been ordered to go into the nearest building and stay there. IMMEDIATELY, the rasping voice through the speakers had said. LEAVE YOUR BICYCLES WHERE THEY ARE.
Instantly, obediently, Jonas had dropped his bike on its side on the path behind his family’s dwelling. He had run indoors and stayed there, alone. His parents were both at work, and his little sister, Lily, was at the Childcare Center where she spent her after-school hours.
Looking through the front window, he had seen no people: none of the busy afternoon crew of Street Cleaners, Landscape Workers, and Food Delivery people who usually populate the community at that time of day. He saw only the abandoned bikes here and there on their sides; an upturned wheel on one was still revolving slowly.
He had been frightened then. The sense of his own community silent, waiting, had made his stomach churn. He had trembled.
But it had been nothing. Within minutes the speakers had crackled again, and the voice, reassuring now and less urgent, had explained that a Pilot-in-Training had misread his navigational instructions and made a wrong turn. Desperately the Pilot had been trying to make his way back before his error was notice.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, HE WILL BE RELEASED, the voice had said, followed by silence. There was an ironic tone to that finally message, as if the Speaker found it amusing; and Jonas had smiled a little, though he knew what a grim statement it had been. For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.
Even the children were scolded if they used the term lightly at play, jeering at a teammate who missed a catch or stumbled in a race. Jonas had done it once, had shouted at his best friend, “That’s it, Asher! You’re released!” when Asher’s clumsy error had lost a match for his team. He had been taken aside for a brief and serious talk by the coach, had hung his head with guilt and embarrassment, and apologized to Asher after the game.
Now, thinking about the feeling of fear as he pedaled home along the river path, he remembered that moment of palpable, stomach-sinking terror when the aircraft had streaked above. It was not what he was feeling now with December approaching. He searched for the right word to describe his own feeling.
Jonas was careful about language. Not like his friend, Asher, who talked too fast and mixed things up, scrambling words and phrases until they were barely recognizable and often very funny.
Jonas grinned, remembering the morning that Asher had dashed into the classroom, late as usual, arriving breathlessly in the middle of the chanting of the morning anthem. When the class took their seats at the conclusion of the patriotic hymn, Asher remained standing to make his public apology as was required.
“I apologize for inconveniencing my learning community.” Asher ran through the standard apology phrase rapidly, still caching his breath. The Instructor and class waited patiently for his explanation. The students had all been grinning, because they had listened to Asher’s explanations so many times before.
“I left home at the correct time but when I was riding along near the hatchery, the crew was separating some salmon. I guess I just got distraught, watching them.
“I apologize to my classmates,” Asher concluded. He smoothed his rumpled tunic and sat down.
“We accept your apology, Asher.” The class recited the standard response in unison. Many of the students were biting their lips to keep from laughing.
“I accept your apology, Asher,” the Instructor said. He was smiling. “And I thank you, because once again you have provided an opportunity for a lesson in language. ‘Distraught’ is too strong an adjective to describe salmon-viewing.” He turned and wrote “distraught” on the instructional board. Beside it he wrote “distracted.”
Jonas, nearing his home now, smiled at the recollection. Thinking, still, as he wheeled his bike into its narrow port beside the door, he realized that frightened was the wrong word to describe his feeling, now that December was almost here. It was too strong an adjective.
He had waited a long time for this special December. Now that it was almost upon him, he wasn’t frightened, but he was…eager, he decided. He was eager for it to come. And he was excited, certainly. All of the Elevens were excited about the event that would be coming so soon.
But there was a little shudder of nervousness when he thought about it, about what might happen.
Apprehensive, Jonas decided. That’s what I am.
“Who wants to be the first tonight, for feelings?” Jonas’s father asked, at the conclusion of their evening meal.
It was one of the rituals, the evening telling of feelings. Sometimes Jonas and his sister, Lily, argued over turns, over who would get to go first. Their parents, of course, were part of the ritual; they, too, told their feelings each evening. But like all parents — all adults — they didn’t fight and wheedle for their turn.
Nor did Jonas, tonight. His feelings were too complicated this evening. He wanted to share them, but he wasn’t eager to begin the process of sifting through his own complicated emotions, even with the help that he knew his parents could give.
“You go, Lily,” he said, seeing his sister, who was much younger — only a Seven — wiggling with impatience in her chair.
“I felt very angry this afternoon, “ Lily announced. “My Childcare group was at the play area, and we had a visiting group of Sevens, and they didn’t obey the rules at all. One of them — a male; I don’t know his name — kept going right to the front of the line for the slide, even though the rest of us were all waiting. I felt so angry at him. I made my hand into a fist, like this.” She held up a clenched fist and the rest of the family smiled at her small defiant gesture.
“Why do you think the visitors didn’t obey the rules?” mother asked.
Lily considered, and shook her head. “I don’t know. They acted like…like…”
“Animals?” Jonas suggested. He laughed.
“That’s right, “ Lily said, laughing too. “Like animals.” Neither child knew what the word meant, exactly, but it was often used to describe someone uneducated or clumsy, someone who didn’t fit in. “Where were the visitors from?” Father asked.
Lily frowned, trying to remember. “Our leader told us, when he make the welcome speech, but I can’t remember. I guess I wasn’t paying attention. It was from another community. They had to leave very early, and they had their midday meal on the bus.”
Mother nodded. “Do you think it’s possible that their rules may be different? And so they simply didn’t know what your play area rules were?”
Lily shrugged, and nodded. “I suppose.”
“You’ve visited other communities, haven’t you?” Jonas asked. “My group has, often.”
Lily nodded again. “When we were Sixes, we went and shared a whole school day with a group of Sixes in their community.”
“How did you feel when you were there?”
Lily frowned. “I felt strange. Because their methods were different. They were learning usages that my group hadn’t learned yet, so we felt stupid.”
Father was listening with interest. “I’m thinking, Lily,” he said, “about the boy who didn’t obey the rules today. Do you think it’s possible that he felt strange and stupid, being in a new place with rules that he didn’t know about?”
Lily pondered that. “Yes,” she said, finally.
“I feel a little sorry for him,” Jonas said, “even though I don’t even know him. I feel sorry for anyone who is in a place where he feels strange and stupid.”
“How do you feel now, Lily?” Father asked. “Still angry?”
“I guess not,” Lily decided. “I guess I feel a little sorry for him. And sorry I made a fist.” She grinned.
Jonas smiled back at his sister. Lily’s feelings were always straightforward, fairly simple, usually easy to resolve. He guessed that his own had been, too, when he was a Seven.
He listened politely, though not very attenti...
From AudioFile
Product details
- ASIN : B003MC5N28
- Publisher : Clarion Books; Reprint, Media Tie In edition (April 26, 1993)
- Publication date : April 26, 1993
- Language : English
- File size : 27124 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 239 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0544336267
- Best Sellers Rank: #11,540 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer. She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. After studying at Brown University, she married, started a family, and turned her attention to writing. She is the author of more than forty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader's Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award. Several books have been adapted to film and stage, and THE GIVER has become an opera. Her newest book, ON THE HORIZON, is a collection of memories and images from Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, and post-war Japan. A mother and grandmother, Ms. Lowry divides her time between Maine and Florida. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com
author interview
A CONVERSATION WITH LOIS LOWRY ABOUT THE GIVER
Q. When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.
Q. What inspired you to write The Giver?
A. Kids always ask what inspired me to write a particular book or how did I get an idea for a particular book, and often it’s very easy to answer that because books like the Anastasia books come from a specific thing; some little event triggers an idea. And some, like Number the Stars, rely on real history. But a book like The Giver is a much more complicated book, and therefore it comes from much more complicated places—and many of them are probably things that I don’t even recognize myself anymore, if I ever did. So it’s not an easy question to answer.
I will say that the whole concept of memory is one that interests me a great deal. I’m not sure why that is, but I’ve always been fascinated by the thought of what memory is and what it does and how it works and what we learn from it. And so I think probably that interest of my own and that particular subject was the origin, one of many, of The Giver.
Q. How did you decide what Jonas should take on his journey?
A. Why does Jonas take what he does on his journey? He doesn’t have much time when he sets out. He originally plans to make the trip farther along in time, and he plans to prepare for it better. But then, because of circumstances, he has to set out in a very hasty fashion. So what he chooses is out of necessity. He takes food because he needs to survive. He takes the bicycle because he needs to hurry and the bike is faster than legs. And he takes the baby because he is going out to create a future. Babies—and children—always represent the future. Jonas takes the baby, Gabriel, because he loves him and wants to save him, but he takes the baby also in order to begin again with a new life.
Q. When you wrote the ending, were you afraid some readers would want more details or did you want to leave the ending open to individual interpretation?
A. Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don’t do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don’t want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds.
Q. Is it an optimistic ending? Does Jonas survive?
A. I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I’m always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don’t think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they’re out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that’s true for the people they left behind as well.
Q. In what way is your book Gathering Blue a companion to The Giver?
A. Gathering Blue postulates a world of the future, as The Giver does. I simply created a different kind of world, one that had regressed instead of leaping forward technologically as the world of The Giver has. It was fascinating to explore the savagery of such a world. I began to feel that maybe it coexisted with Jonas’s world . . . and that therefore Jonas could be a part of it in a tangential way. So there is a reference to a boy with light eyes at the end of Gathering Blue. Originally I thought he could be either Jonas or not, as the reader chose. But since then I have published two more books—Messenger, and Son—which complete The Giver Quartet and make clear that the light-eyed boy is, indeed. Jonas. In the book Son readers will find out what became of all their favorite characters: Jonas, Gabe, and Kira as well, from Gathering Blue. And there are some new characters—most especially Claire, who is fourteen at the beginning of Son— whom I hope they will grow to love.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
It's amazing what The Giver has to offer the children that have read it. It is a book that is, in a way, simple in its complexity. Simple in the aspect that a child can be exposed to it and still understand the basic plot and foundation; Complex in the aspect that an adult can be exposed to it and be able to analyze the true meaning and theme that is hidden beneath its surface. Jonas really questions what individuality truly is. The truth is uncovered to him by the Giver that humans are afraid of being subjected to peculiar situations. When Jonas talks about releasing one of the twins that were recently born with the Giver, he exclaims, “Well, they can't have two identical people around! Think how confusing it would be!" (182). It would be easier for one of the twins to be released then for everyone to be possibly subjected to awkward situations such as mixing up two people that look identical to each other. Another example for this theme would be how everyone is required to accept one another's apologies. The thought behind this is that if someone does not accept your apology, it can lead to future skirmishes. No body likes to be caught in a situation where they are trying to mend a relationship between two people, so it's easier for everyone to be uniform and friendly. It is more comfortable.
Comfortable is a key element in this novel. Lowry does an amazing job of exposing human nature. Everyone hates being singled out, put in awkward situations, and just simply being different. By making everyone uniform, same number of people in the house, we all act the same, wear the same clothes, it minimizes suffering. In no way can suffering be totally and utterly eliminated, there will still be things that irritates people individually. What Lowry enforces through her protagonist Jonas is that if there is minimal suffering, then there is minimal happiness. No one is truly depressed, but no one is truly happy either. When having dinner with his family and everyone was sharing their emotions of the day, Jonas had experienced sadness first hand, and realized that all the “emotions” everyone spoke of during dinner were fleeting feelings that held no true meaning: “But now Jonas had experienced real sadness. He had felt grief. He knew there was no quick comfort for emotions like those” (166). Jonas came to the conclusion that no one truly new what raw emotion was, only himself and the Giver. No body could truly love, hate, or feel sadness. He began to realize how empty his society profoundly was.
In conclusion, this novel was amazing. Lowry does a fantastic job by setting a sober tone for a novel that explores the theme of humanity's natural fear of individuality. Though there is no true physical conflict, the true problem lies within the society itself. While a very good book for adults, it is also a true masterpiece for its intended audience, children. If ever taught in a classroom setting, a fun way to incorporate the book into activities would be for children to pair up into groups and assign them to create a utopia of their own. A way to expand this assignment would be for the children to write their own dystopian fiction with plot, character, and theme. Questions such as: Can there ever be a true utopia? Are humans naturally flawed, leading to the conclusion that all society is imperfect? Can be addressed. This can be also seen as a lesson plan, incorporating other books that are similar to The Giver, such as The City of Ember, written by Jeanne DuPrau, and The Roar, written by Emma Clayton. Both which are dystopian themed novels that are aimed toward children. If students are having difficulty interpreting the text or understanding it two great sites would be: randomhouse or loislowry.com. For teachers who need lesson plans or activities that pair well with the novel these two sites are very informative: englishunitplans or webenglishteacher.com. This book was overall incredible and I'm glad that I was able to read it, even if it is classified as children’s literature!
Works Cited
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.
At its core, "The Giver" serves as a poignant commentary on the dangers of conformity and the erosion of individuality in the face of authoritarian control. Through the lens of the protagonist, Jonas, Lowry masterfully illustrates the perils of a society governed by stringent rules and the suppression of personal freedoms. Jonas's journey from naivety to enlightenment serves as a powerful allegory for the awakening of societal consciousness—a journey many find themselves undertaking in today's world.
The theme of mind control permeates the narrative, serving as a chilling reminder of the dangers inherent in relinquishing critical thought to authority. Lowry's portrayal of a world where emotions are suppressed and individuality is sacrificed at the altar of conformity resonates deeply with contemporary discourse surrounding mass media manipulation and the homogenization of culture.
Furthermore, "The Giver" offers a stark indictment of the tendency to isolate and categorize individuals based on arbitrary criteria. Lowry's depiction of a society where individuals are labeled and compartmentalized speaks volumes about the dangers of reducing human complexity to simplistic labels—a phenomenon all too prevalent in contemporary discourse.
In essence, "The Giver" serves as a mirror reflecting the triumphs and tribulations of modern society. Through its vivid imagery and thought-provoking narrative, Lowry implores readers to question, to challenge, and to resist the forces that seek to mold us into conformity. It is a testament to the enduring power of literature to provoke introspection and inspire change—a timeless masterpiece that continues to resonate with readers across generations.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Mexico on January 8, 2024