The Giver--A Gift That Keeps on Giving

I got really excited when I read the blog topic for the week. My first reaction was--I get to write about a book..YES! I spent a lot of time pondering my favorite books, and discovered that an answer to this question wasn't so easy. While I could argue that they were entertaining and thought-provoking, I couldn't really make a case for life-changing.

Next, I thought back to my elementary school reads such as the Garth Brooks biography or The Anne of Green Gables series. Oddly enough Garth Brooks' life story was a pretty interesting read for me at the time, and The Anne books were a pleasant escape. Life changing? No. I was pretty close to just selecting a book and creating a case for it, then I remembered The Giver!

I went to a small elementary school (100 students, K-8). Our librarian was a collector of bookmarks, had character voices for story hour and still read children and young adult books, not just because she was a librarian, but because she genuinely liked them. Mrs. Portner was the ultimate trusted source for book recommendations.

Every week our class would go to the library, where we would engage in exciting activities such as straightening, card cataloging, but more importantly book check-out. Each week I'd ask Mrs. Portner for her recommendations. On one of these particular days in fourth grade she said, "Have you read The Giver? No? Well, you gotta." And so I did.

I think it might have been the whole concept of "sameness" that got me, growing up my favorite book theme was always: be who you are, it's okay to be different, etc..I read this book at a time where fitting in was pretty important to me and everyone around me. This whole concept of all families being the same in structure was intriguing, so was elimination of emotions through pills. A structure that sounded good in theory, but of course was problematic in reality.

I'd say this book changed me because it made me think about the structure of my current society, withholding emotion, etc. On one hand, it would be great to eliminate pain and heartbreak, but at what cost? love? Last year I found a copy of The Giver in a free box. I reread it and I got to say. it's one of those reads that still ring true to adults just as much, if not more so than to children.