“It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.”

From Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

First off, if you saw the movie before you had an opportunity to read the book… I’m sorry. While the movie was entertaining and filled with young and famous actors, it is not the same story that Lois Lowry so beautifully presents between the pages of her book. Jonas lives in a perfect world; there is no sickness or pain or pollution, there’s not even any rude remarks. Jonas has a perfect family and devoted friends, but still he is not happy. It seems to Jonas, and the reader, that something isn’t right, but nobody else seems to notice. When children reach a certain age, they are given a job in a field that will become their adult occupation; while his friends become mechanics, nurses, and food workers, Jonas is placed under the apprenticeship of the Giver. Jonas begins his training with the Giver, and the world opens up in ways he never imagined were possible.

Without giving anything away, this perfect world which Jonas has grown up in is truly far-from-perfect. Everything Jonas knew, or thought, he knew is twisted with pain and struggle as he searches to find out what the truth really is. Lowry writes in a manner that is simple, yet powerful. The literary world is simply laid out at first read, but those same lines hold clues to Jonas future if the reader is willing to take a moment to consider. This story will force the reader to confront issues of right and wrong, ethical and unethical, truth and lies; Jonas and the other characters of the book are faced with the same challenges, but just as it is for us, each one must make his own decisions.