Book Talk Tuesday

When I was in college, I had to take "Reading for Elementary Teachers".  Before this class, I had never really read for pleasure...who has time to read while they are in college?  We were asked to pick a Newbery Award book and teach a lesson to our class.  I picked The Giver by Lois Lowry.  Since then I've read the book about 5 times.  I love it.

So, this past fall, when The Son came out, I was stoked.  But when I went to buy it, the back of it said it was the finale to the The Giver Quartet.  What?  Quartet?  I had no idea that there were two other companion books that were written.  Of course, I had to buy them all, so my one book trip to Barnes and Noble became a 3 book trip.  hehehe

I re-read The Giver and then read the other three books...Gathering Blue, The Messenger and The Son.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Giver (yet again!)...it always brings back memories of some amazing years in college.  But let me tell you, Lowry did not disappoint with the other three books.  They are each as amazingly wonderful and deserve to be read and re-read.  Go out and get all 4 of these books and read them over and over.  You will not be disappointed.

December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man-the man called only the Giver-he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

Strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village's closing and try to convince Seer's daughter to return with him before it's too late. But Forest has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand.

In this novel that unites characters from "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue," Matty, a young member of a utopian community that values honesty, conceals an emerging healing power that he cannot explain or understand.

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive?　 She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice.

Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver,　as well as Gathering Blue　and　Messenger　where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.