a must read!
kids in america probably already read it, since its part of the english program...
but if you havent, its a MUST READ!

The Giver is a soft science fiction novel written by Lois Lowry and published on April 16, 1993. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a utopia and gradually appears more and more dystopic. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. Jonas' society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a move which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor—the Giver—he discovers how shallow his community's life has become.

courtesy of wikipedia.

hehe yeah, i read it last year and i couldn't believe a lot of people didn't understand the ending, its sort of ambiguous, i guess, but i liked it :]

That was the saddest and best book i ever read!!!

We had to sign a permission slip in middle school to be able to read it b/c it deals with euthenasia.

I remember a big deal happing about the book because of that and they wanting to ban it! You can't stop good literature ppl just because it portrays something you don't believe in..... besides.... it's FICTION! F.I.C.T.I.O.N!!!

I swear...... some people just ruin everything for the rest of us!

whats euthenasia? I read it last year (freshman year) and i liked it, but i dunno what that word means :]. Enlighten me oh holy sexe one :]

you know how they kill the babies by injecting them? That's euthenasia... it's giving a letal injection to put people to sleep... permanently!!

WAHHSS, oh noes! *cries*, THATS MEAN AND EVIL DAMMIT!
gah and i g2g, i'm probably gonna sleep at one tonight,m rawr >_<
so much WORKKK >_<

ah...i remember reading that...it was long ago lol joking.
It was so sad i remmeber going how sad and then asking and laways bothering my brother what happening where is he going? type of thing.. all in all it was good. just like Gathering Blue

lol, yup, I read for English 2 years ago, a little foggy on the details...now...lol

I read it AGES ago......... *thinking of it, makes me feel soooooo old*

I was in 7th grade when they made us read it, and we had to get a permission slip signed by our parents to read it. I think i read it like a dozen times..... it was soooooo sad!!! But i couldn't give you specifics now!!!

We read in 8th grade.
A gril in my class cried... but...the ending left me confused....its like you can interperate it however you want....

I read that in 8th grade, pretty interestin, the thing that bothered my about the book was the ending. The funny thing is that, the author would answer everythin about her novels, execpt the one about the ending of her book =\

um... i've read it before, but almost forgot it. if i'm correct isn't the place where the main character was first in so uniform? the same clothing, i mean

omg i read tat book when i was lyk in fourth grade
the society portayed in the novel is so wierd
no one has compassion or feelings
it so sad too

This was the book that sparked my interest into reading more books!!! I just love the story especially Jonas himself!!! That's why I read the whole trilogy starting from the giver to The messenger I just love them so much and I actually found reading it useful in my book report!!!

This is a really really good book.
But I found it to be really sad at times too.
However, the utopia they speak of is definitely falling apart.
So many flaws in it, I would say.