The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Copyright 1993

Published by  Dell Laurel-Leaf

Reading Level: Lexile 760L

Mystery, Intrigue, Knowledge, Secrets, Utopia

The Giver is a science fiction book based on the idea of Communism.  It is a novel that will intrigue students and make them think about the society we live in.  In the novel, the main character, Jonas, lives in a place where everybody is assigned a job, a family, and no one is burdened with memeories of the past.  It seems like this is the best life for everyone until Jonas becomes the Receiver of memories and realizes the secrets of his town, as well as what everybody is missing out on.  This is a great book to get children thinking about society and what is best for a community.  This would be a great book for independent reading, then a group discussion to go over the differences between society.

Key Vocabulary:

Supplementary, Ironic, Adherence, Aptitude, Transgression, Nurture, Churn, Aprehensive, Palpable

Teachers, here are some activities and resources for this book:

Pre Reading Activity:

• Have students create a short story describing their "perfect" society and what would be included in it.  Encourage them to write about how history would help the community grow and what aspects of the society we live in now they would keep or change.

During Reading:

• Discuss symbols from the novel (such as the apple, colors, hair style for each age, etc.) then have students make up their own symbol for something that they would like to celebrate in their lives.  They can create a symbol, draw it, and write a description of it, then explain to the class why they chose it and what it means to them.

Post Reading:

• This would be a great time to provide differentiation into the lesson and assign a project that gives students the opportunity to choose how they would like to express themselves. Students can discuss the last chapter of the book and form ideas about the ending.  Give students the option to draw or paint the last scene, write another chapter (creating a more clear ending),  compile a soundtrack for different parts of the book, or act out important scenes from the novel.

Web Resources:

• Teacher Cyberguide: This link will provide you with five activities that encourage students to work with different aspects of the novel, such as their own community, society, and memories. 
• A Teacher's Resource: This link splits the novel into five sections of reading and provides activities to connect with the novel, to read, to discuss, to practice, and to express themselves.

Lowry, Lois. The giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.