A Review By Zoe Boulton

  I read the back cover of this book after a customer ordered it in, and so taken with it that I decided to read it myself- but not the customer’s copy I hasten to add. My immediate thought was that it reminded me of The Hunger Games, which is a huge favourite here in Warwick Books. I was surprised to find that this title was published 15 years before the Hunger Games, and I discovered afterwards that it is required school reading in North America.

 The Giver is about an eleven year old boy- Jonas, who lives in the Community. This is a place where everything is safe, where there is no violence or pain, where children grow up in 2 child families, where everybody is allocated a career based on the abilities they demonstrate, where everybody is encouraged to talk about their feelings. As the novel progresses the Community takes on an ever more sinister tone as Jonas is assigned a career that makes him question his world.

 This really is an excellent novel, I read it in an evening. It is a little short in comparison to current dystopian-type children’s and teenage novels, but the shortness of it was quite refreshing. It is extremely sinister in places, it may be a little too upsetting for some children, and the ending is the bravest I have seen in children’s fiction for a long time. Really excellent.