The Giver
I finished Lois Lowry’s The Giver tonight, one of the books I read for Banned Books Week. Honestly, I’m not sure why it’s banned and challenged. Maybe I’ll look into that. It’s a very deep book, though, and I can imagine why it would make some people feel uncomfortable. I would have liked a more solid ending. It’s definitely worth reading, I think, especially in an election year. I’m glad I read it.
Addendum 10/1: A 2000 CNN article about Banned Books Week interviews Lois Lowry and mentions people have challenged The Giver because of violent and sexual passages and the fictional society’s use of infanticide and euthanasia. “It’s difficult to predict what book may prompt a challenge, said Lowry. She remains surprised that ‘The Giver,’ which has no explicit sex or foul language, created such an uproar.” In the article, Lowry sheds some light on what it’s like to be the author of challenged books.
September 30th, 2004 at 10:43 am
I liked the Giver too. I think the main challenges to it were the ususal violence and profanity, perhaps a bit of concern over the euthanasia and upsetting of traditional gender roles. Dystopian novels always seem to draw challenges.
September 30th, 2004 at 11:52 pm
I must have missed the parts with the violence and profanity.
October 1st, 2004 at 9:33 am
Me too… I think that’s the book challenger’s boilerplate complaint.
May 5th, 2005 at 2:18 pm
i read the giver also and i liked it i like all of Lois Lawry’s books. there is another book that is not a sequal but is simular to the giver written by Lois called Gathering Blue. Gathering Blue is about a world in the future but instead of progressing they haved regressed. at the end of the book it mentions a little boy with light eyes that i think is Gabriel. if you liked the giver you will like this one. i am doing a report on the controversy of the giver and at first i thought it should not be banned or challenged but now i think it shouldn’t be banned but it should be read to high school students who will understand it correctly, because if a little kid were to read it they might have nightmares about being released or something,and the might as there parents what stirrings are and their parents might not want them to know yet. well bye!
May 5th, 2005 at 2:31 pm
Thanks for the recommendation, Okie!