Anne Arundel County Public Library discussion

It's the new year! January is the month when lots of book awards are announced including the Newbery Award for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The Giver by Lois Lowry won the award 20 years ago in 1994 and we will be reading and talking about it all month. Join us!

Has everyone had time to at least get started reading?
Let's start talking about the book! What are your initial reactions?

In Jonas’s community, every person and his or her experiences are precisely the same. What advantages might “Sameness” yield for contemporary communities? Is the loss of diversity worthwhile?

Happy book chatting!

Haven't read The Giver yet? Take a look at this list of Newbery Medal winners and chime in with your favorite:
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/...

AACPL wrote: "Haven't read The Giver yet? Take a look at this list of Newbery Medal winners and chime in with your favorite...

To be honest, there aren't many Newbery Medal winners of which I'm overly fond; the award is not intended for "didactic content" (Newbery Medal terms and criteria, ala.org) but I've personally found that winners are often a bit pedagogical.

However, I positively loved the 2009 winner The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. With the 'coming of age' motif couched in the language of fairy tales complete with ghosts and werewolves, I found it infinitely more palpable. When he's not being unabashedly gross (a style which has turned me off to some of his adult novels,) Gaiman has knack for forming these beautiful, mellifluous sentences; his storytelling is impeccable. I fell in love with the unique cast of characters; I cried like a baby and, amazingly, didn't feel like I was being emotionally manipulated.

The Graveyard Book is my favorite Newbery Medalist, and probably one of my favorite books ever. It is certainly the kind of book I would have liked to read as a child.

AACPL wrote: "It's the new year! January is the month when lots of book awards are announced including the Newbery Award for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The Giver by..."

I just started reading "The Giver" and I am really enjoying it! I don't know how the story will turn, but I view the community and family "sameness" as not only a loss of diversity, but a loss of free choice.

I hope that we get to find out what happened to the previous receiver...

Kelly wrote: "To be honest, there aren't many Newbery Medal winners of which I'm overly fond; the award is not intended for "didactic content" (Newbery Medal terms and criteria, ala.org) but I've personally found that winners are often a bit pedagogical."

I agree with Kelly. The Giver is actually one of my least favorite "required reading" books of all time, even though most of my family enjoyed it! Since I've already read it, I'm not reading it right now, so I'll reserve further comment until the group has made more progress in the book.

It will interesting to see what they do with the movie. I enjoyed the book, felt myself struggling against the constraints of the society just in the reading.

Kristin wrote: "It will interesting to see what they do with the movie. I enjoyed the book, felt myself struggling against the constraints of the society just in the reading."

I'd heard rumor of a movie, but don't know any specifics. When will there be a movie of it?

Here is the Internet Movie Database Information about the movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435651/

Looks like it's currently slated for an August release!

Any thoughts on the casting?

It's been such a long time since I've read "The Giver" but it was one of my favorites. I could see a few advantages with the 'Sameness' but the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Life would be so boring, I think it would be almost not worth it.
I didn't know that they were making a movie! huh. Everything is being made into a movie anymore.

*I'm going to have to go back and re-read it again soon.

I'm excited for the movie and think they did a great job at casting. I'm really looking forward to Jeff Bridges' interpretation of The Giver. I loved this book and all of the books in the series.

Just finished The Giver. I enjoyed the book and thought it was an interesting concept. My neighbor read it for school last summer and had been raving about it. I passed the book on to my daughter who I think will enjoy it and the movie looks like it will be fun. I may pick the other books up in the "quartet" for quick in-between book reads.
I think they did a great job with the casting. I'm curious to see how the movie actually goes.

Here's another interesting question to think about. Why do you think the title of this book is "The Giver" and not "The Receiver"? Do you think "The Receiver" would be better?

I think Giver is a better title, especially if you're a Christian like I am---we are taught tis better to give than receive---also Receiver sounds more like a football term. Sameness like this book is not a good thing---it's worse than Communist China! Especially the part about Releasing babies---reminded me of partial-birth abortions. Sameness is good if you enjoy being a human android. The ending of this book seemed to suggest that Jonas & Gabriel froze to death & went to heaven. This book gave me nightmares---it's hard for me to read books like this anymore---I suppose it's because I'm a victim & survivor-so-far of The Great Recession. But it is a well-written engrossing page-turner (like a cross between "Fahrenheit 451", "Soylent Green", "Pleasantville", 1984). As for the movie the guy who's playing Jonas is grown & too old for the part of a 12 year old boy.

Also, I'm planning on reading the 0ther 3 books in The Giver Quartet: Gathering Blue, Messenger, Son. But not anytime soon.

Thanks everyone for chatting about this book! If you enjoyed The Giver you might want to check out this list from Goodreads that looks at what other books were enjoyed by people who liked The Giver. Happy Reading!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/simila...

it's been some years since I last read "The Giver," but I did like it and recommend it. I actually like "Gathering Blue" better, but "Messenger" falls short. I haven't read "Son," evidence that I have fallen away from my J and YA reading in recent years.
I agree with Gail that "The Giver" brings to mind partial-birth abortion, as well as euthanasia and other controversial, uncomfortable themes. As with most Newbery- winning books, "The Giver" is a bit heavy in a thought-provoking, conscience-prodding manner, but I like the fact that I am nudged out of my comfort zone and forced to ponder these themes.
As for the ending (today begins February and I'm late to the discussion, so I assume everyone has finished the book), I admire the way Lowry keeps it open for interpretation. I did not, however, respect my daughter's 8th-grade teacher's pronouncement years ago that Jonas and the little boy die at the end. She stated it as fact--a very narrow view, I felt, of a scene that was rich with possibilities.
Thank you all for the enjoyable discussion. I look forward to the movie!

It has been quite a few years since I've read the Giver by Lois Lowery; but I do remember the powerful impact of the main character learning that he must hold the memories good and bad for his society. I hope that the movie encourages more people to read the book. It is a great read and I'm glad to see it on the reading list for middle school. Looking forward to seeing the movie and re-reading the book!

My daughter had me watch the trailer to the movie last night. It comes out August 15 and she's super excited to see it…even though it looks like they added a lot to the movie that didn't exist in the book.