Celebrating 19 years of The Giver by Lois Lowry

But let’s shoot back in time to 1993.  I was nine.  The average cost of a gallon of gas was $1.16.  Bill Clinton was President of the United States and the World Trade Center was bombed for the first time.  Windows 3.1 NT was released by Microsoft.  The World Wide Web was born.  And Lois Lowry published The Giver. 

Being the voracious reader that I was at that time, I remember my elementary school librarian, Mrs. Hilda Sanderson, holding back the new book for me and telling me that it was a bit old for me but that I was smart enough to ‘get it’.  I still remember this exact exchange.  I was one of the kids who didn’t get picked to play at recess.  I was stoned, yes stoned, one day for reading on the playground by other students and the teacher, instead of punishing the other students, sent me to the library.  And on that day, I was given a copy of The Giver.  

So I read it and I remember really liking the book and thinking that some of the things in the book, the apple, was really cool and then giving it back to her and telling her that I enjoyed it.  Then, in seventh grade, I picked the book back up and read it again, this time writing a book report.  I still have the report at my Mom’s house (she is one of THOSE parents that has everything I’ve ever sneezed on in a binder in her desk) and that report was titled “Why We Need Different People”.  I went on to say that different people made sure that our world was more fun and that without my friends, who were all very different, my life would be boring.  Really intuitive stuff for a seventh grader?  I even wrote about makeup.  ::rolls eyes::  But, I am still really proud of my title.

So I read The Giver yesterday.  And now, as a 28 year old wife, mother, librarian, and lover of people, I sat back and thought about what a different book this was for me now.  I jotted down several notes, or themes, while I was reading.  One of themes that I noticed was Honor vs. Power and the Struggle for Humanity.  Seriously.  I almost felt as if I was an English lit major again.  Jonas receives the assignment of Receiver of Memories for this entire community.  An assignment which is given so much honor and the position is seen as all powerful, almost God-like, to everyone including Jonas.  Yet, when he starts his training with the Giver, he learns that this power gives him something else…it gives him humanity.  Something that only he and the Giver and those before them have ever witnessed.  And it cripples him.  Instead of empowering him, at first, he is crippled by all of the information and then trusted to keep it all to himself.  

photo courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

There is one scene that I won’t go into immense detail, because I hope you will all re-read or read for the first time this series, but when Jonas witnesses his father’s role in the release of an infant…I cried with Jonas.  I cried because for the first time reading this book (remember 3rd and 7th grade before) that scene was so horrifying and real to me.  Before, I had read it as a fictional story.  Now, I read it and really took into account this act and how much power this community had in keeping the humanity away from the populace.  I closed the book and cried more and almost wept because it made me think to myself at what point do we start trying to make everything so similar and perfect that we start to lose our humanity?  At what point do we stop questioning and just accept things no matter what the cost?  

The reason why Jonas and this story have stood the test of time is because this concept can never be dated.  This story, set in a fictional society, is just as real today as it was in 1993.  The idea that we could approach a point in time where all humanity is lost is a terrifying concept and a concept that Lowry embraced and questioned and made us all question.  And whether you are nine and think that the story was good, twelve and thinking that it’s important to embrace all of our differences, or twenty-eight and weeping alongside the characters, the fact remains that you still learned that you needed to question things.  That it’s important to take a stand.  And that sometimes, that first scary ride downhill on a sled that opens your eyes is worth every second.

Thanks to the amazing marketing teams at Random House Books on Tape & Listening Library and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, we will be giving away a set of The Giver quartet in audio and also in hardcover.  To enter, you must answer the following question listed in the Rafflecopter drawing below in a blog comment AND LEAVE US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS PLEASE!  I’m making you work for this one since the prizes are so awesome!  Be sure to let our awesome sponsors know how much you appreciate them and good luck!

NOTE: Some of you have emailed and said you can’t see the question, so here it is: One of The Giver quartet’s central themes is the importance of memory. If you could pick one event that has happened in your life that you could pass on the memory and emotions evoked, what would you pick and to whom would you pass this feeling? (Please specify if you would prefer the audio or book set…first winner drawn will determine what the second winner receives.) 

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