I've been on a Lois Lowry kick these days, so of course I had to read The Giver Quartet. The Giver introduces a world that on the outside looks utopian, but we find out it's actually dystopian. It ends with a boy leaving his government controlled community to find what's outside its borders. He sees a lighted house down a long hill, but readers are left not knowing if it's his imagination as he is dying in the snow or if it's real and he makes it.
Gathering Blue introduces another world and more characters. There is a society where the lame, blind, or just birth marked people are taken to a field to die. Within the society, there is a council who controls the people through manipulation and fear. The protagonist is a young girl who is recently orphaned who ends up living with the council due to her artistic abilities. The book ends with her understanding that her society doesn't have to be like it is and wanting to change it.
The two above worlds meet in Messenger. The boy from The Giver meets up with some characters from Gathering Blue and some the readers finally get some answers to their questions. Human nature becomes more evident in this book. People start trading at a Trade Mart and it turns the community upside down.
Son is the conclusion to the loosely related series. Up until now, I had thought I'd let my 3rd grader read them. However, Son is much darker than the others and so the series really is more appropriate for 5th-6th graders. We see more of the trading that devastated the Village in Messenger. And we see the conclusion where all ends well...a good thing for this series. It's written very well. There are Before, Between, and Beyond sections. And the plot is riveting, even though it's juvenile fiction.
Overall, the themes in the Giver Series are love, sacrifice, strength regardless and maybe because of disabilities, and loss. Perfect series.
No comments:
Post a Comment