THE GIVER By Lois Lowry

Have you ever wondered what lived outside of your world? In The Giver, Jonas lives in a strict society; and everyone has their own role in the community, which is assigned to them by the Chief Elder. In the community, everything is perfect; nobody can mess up because there are no choices to make. When Jonas becomes a twelve with all of the other elevens, he is singled out to be the Receiver, which requires special training from the Giver. Years and years ago, the community decided that ‘Sameness’ was the best for them; that’s why everything is alike. Only the Giver holds the memories that make up our society; pleasure, joy, color, animals, snow, sunlight, and true pain. Jonas’s job is to receive these memories from him so that some day, he can advise the community, just like the Giver does. Jonas realizes that the memories he receives are what make up society in ‘Elsewhere’, and he wants to go there to see it for himself. But when Jonas starts to receive agonizing memories, he understands why this job comes not only with great honor and respect, but also deep pain. Some pains are physical, and some are emotional, but both create such misery that is unexplainable. My favorite part was when Jonas secretly gave away a memory to Gabriel, one of the community’s new-children, to stop him from crying and disturbing him during the night, because Jonas offered to have Gabriel in his room, to give his mother and father a break. Will Jonas stick with the job, or leave his community to suffer?