Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993. Print.
Annotation: The day finally arrives when eleven-year-old Jonas, who is anxiously awaiting the Ceremony of Twelve, will receive his Assignment--the assignment that will determine his future. However, there is a different plan for Jonas. He is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory. Life as he knows it is about to change for Jonas—in more ways than he can dream.
Justification for Nomination: Lois Lowry’s The Giver is a science fiction work in which the protagonist, Jonas, lives in a dystopian society where everyone’s every thought and action is monitored and controlled. Brilliantly set in a community where life is completely ordered and emotionless, Lowry presents the readers with a young boy who must come to terms with the idea that he is indeed different from the rest. Not only is his appearance different, he has an extraordinary perceptive ability that very few of the members possess. Lowry uses Jonas’s search for identity and meaning as a springboard to present several prevalent social issues of the time in which the book was written. Among these are euthanasia, infanticide, abortion, and diversity. These issues still exist today. She uses Jonas’s changing from a boy into a young adult to introduce his development of sexuality and his growing independence and the changes that ensue. In a community void of the thoughts, emotions, and actions of humanity as the reader knows it, Jonas must navigate his quest for more knowledge. His encounters with the former Receiver of Memory, who becomes the Giver, open up a whole new world of thoughts, emotions, and memories. Some are painful; some are comforting. Some are happy; some are sad. The more Jonas knows, the more he wants to know. This newly found freedom to experience and learn, to think and feel, is significant to the developing adolescent who is at the same point in his or her life. Jonas must make choices to adapt to his changing life. He must accept his new responsibilities. He must make decisions that will affect the rest of his life and that of others.
Lowry’s ability to weave so much of life into a setting that is void of the very essences of a meaningful existence is highly commendable. Although The Giver is listed as censored, Lowry’s capacity to create a literary work that addresses so many social issues as tastefully and considerately as The Giver does is definitely due equal consideration. The young adult reader is given numerous things to ponder and critically deliberate in this novel. The very idea of the intellectual freedom it evokes deems The Giver worthy of esteemed recognition and nomination for an award.
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