This novel is about a futuristic and utopian society where there is no war, hunger, pain, music or choice - to name a few. The community rules are strict and people's lives are planned out for them. For example, husbands and wives are preselected as well as their children and job assignments. The main character is a 12-year-old boy named Jonas who is given the important job assignment of Receiver of Memories. This is the one person in their community who has access to all the memories of the past. During Jonas' job training with the Giver, he receives memories like snow, sunshine, grandparents, fear and he discovers the truth about his community. Jonas decides that it isn't fair to deprive people of choice and feelings. In the end, he decides to flee and the ending is open to reader interpretation. As a reader, I thought this novel was extremely thought-provoking and I liked that the ending was left open to analyze. This novel was full of rich vocabulary and it's interesting to think about societal concepts like freedom, choice and control. As a teacher, I feel this book would be best for older students and I would have them write the next chapter of the book or create drawings of what they believe the characters and setting look like. Students could also write essays about whether or not they would prefer to live in a society like the novel and why. After reading this novel, the class could create their own "perfect" community with a name, description, government, etc. and explain their choices and thought processes. Is their "perfect" community more similar to the one in the story or theirs in real life?
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