The Giver

Newbery Award winning, The Giver, the first of The Giver quartet, is a dystopian coming of age story that is soon to be adapted into a major motion picture. In Jonas's ordered world, everyone is given a job at age 12, and Jonas is given the prominent position of Receiver of Memory. When he begins his training with the former Receiver of Memory, now the Giver, Jonas gradually gains the collective memories of his society, and learns of emotions and experiences that he's never experienced in his carefully maintained society. It's a lot for any twelve-year old to bear, especially a twelve year old who has been brought up in a community that shuns these things and puts value on "sameness" over all. It only gets worse as he learns the truth behind the utopian facade. Soon, Jonas must decide if he can live in his world or if he would be better off taking his chances in the Elsewhere. While it may not be action-packed, this book is filled with intense emotion and raises a lot of interesting questions about what it means to be human and the price of living in a perfect world. This slim novel packs a lot of intense emotion into its less than 200 pages, but it doesn't try to hit you over the head with its message. Instead, you are pulled into Jonas's head and feelings as he struggles to come to grips with the truth of his world.