Collins Modern Classics: The Giver

Description

In a perfect world, Jonas begins to see the flaws…

In Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal–winning classic, twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind his fragile community.

THE GIVER is the classic award-winning novel that inspired the dystopian genre and a major motion picture adaptation for 2014 starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes and Taylor Swift.

It is the future. There is no war, no hunger, no pain. No one in the community wants for anything. Everything needed is provided. And at twelve years old, each member of the community has their profession carefully chosen for them by the Committee of Elders.

Twelve-year old Jonas has never thought there was anything wrong with his world. But from the moment he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers that their community is not as perfect as it seems.

It is only with the help of the Giver, that Jonas can find what has been lost. And it is only through his personal courage that Jonas finds the strength to do what is right…

The Giver is the award-winning classic of bravery and adventure that has inspired countless dystopian writers as the forerunner of this genre.

Reviews

“The Giver, a powerful and provocative novel, is sure to keep older children reading and thinking.”— New York Times

“Lowry is once again in top form – raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers.” — Publishers Weekly

“A powerful and provocative novel.” — New York Times

“Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel.” — Kirkus Reviews 

“Lowry is once again in top form raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers.” — Publishers Weekly

“The simplicity and directness of Lowry’s writing force readers to grapple with their own thoughts.” — Booklist

“Lois Lowry has written a fascinating, thoughtful science-fiction novel. The story is skillfully written; the air of disquiet is delicately insinuated. And the theme of balancing the virtues of freedom and security is beautifully presented.” — Horn Book

“The Giver has things to say that cannot be said too often, and I hope there will be many, many young people who will be willing to listen. A warning in narrative form.” — Washington Post

Author Biography

Lois Lowry, author of over thirty novels and twice winner of the Newbery Medal (for The Giver and Number the Stars), was born on the 20th of March 1937 in Hawaii. Her father was an Army dentist and the family lived all over the world. She went to Brown University, but left to get married and a raise a family of four children. She settled in Maine, where she returned to college and received her degree from the University of Southern Maine. She fulfilled a childhood dream when she started writing in the 1970s.

In her books, Lois throws her characters and readers into many thought-provoking situations. She explains that she measures her success as an author by her ability to “help adolescents answer their own questions about life, identity and human relationships.” Long divorced, and now a grandmother of four, today she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her partner, Martin Small, and their Tibetan terrier, Alfie, and spends weekends in their nineteenth-century farmhouse in Maine.