Children Literature Overview

I enjoyed this class very much. I read quite a bit as a child but I do not think I ever thought about many of the books that I re-read in this class the way that I do now. After learning about many of the aspect of children's literature, I have a new found respect for those authors. They are extrodinaty writers to be able to have the creativity adn imagination to write a story that will enertain a young child. There are many people that attempt to write for children and I think I have read quite a few of them as well, but the authors that we read in class have definitely have gone above and beyond in making childrens literature what it is today.



I also have to give Dr. Robinson alot of the creit for my enjoyment in this class. She has a very unique personality that made this class really fun. There was never a dull moment with her lectures. I really enjoyed her voices as well!!

Frances Hodgson Burnett

We are about to begin the book The Secret Garden. I read this book for the first time in preperation for this class. I absolutly love it. It is one of new favorites! I thought it would be a nice way to introduce the section of teh class with a little history of the author, Frances Hodgson Burnett. I found this on Wikipedia and thought it was a good bio of her life so I thought I would chare it.



Born Frances Eliza Hodgson in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, her father died in 1854, and the family had to endure poverty and squalor in the Victorian slums of Manchester.



She emigrated to Knoxville, Tennessee in the United States in 1865. The move, which they made at the request of an uncle, made no difference to the family's poverty, but at least they were now living in a better environment. Following the death of her mother in 1867, an 18-year-old Frances was now the head of a family of four younger siblings. She turned to writing to support them all, with a first story published in Godey's Lady's Book in 1868. Soon after she was being published regularly in Godey's, Scribner's Monthly, Peterson's Ladies' Magazine and Harper's Bazaar. Her main writing talent was combining realistic detail of working-class life with a romantic plot.


She married Dr. Swan Burnett of Washington, D.C. in 1873.
Her first novel was published in 1877; That Lass o' Lowrie's was a story of Lancashire life. After moving with her husband to Washington, D.C., Burnett wrote the novels Haworth's (1879), Louisiana (1880), A Fair Barbarian (1881), and Through One Administration (1883), as well as a play, Esmeralda (1881), written with William Gillette. In 1886 she published Little Lord Fauntleroy. It was originally intended as a children's book, but had a great appeal to mothers. It created a fashion of long curls (based on her son Vivian's) and velvet suits with lace collars (based on Oscar Wilde's attire). The book sold more than half a million copies. In 1888 she won a lawsuit in England over the dramatic rights to Little Lord Fauntleroy, establishing a precedent that was incorporated into British copyright law in 1911.


In 1898 she divorced Dr. Burnett. She later re-married, this time to Stephen Townsend (1900), her business manager. Her second marriage would last less than two years, ending in 1902.


Her later works include Sara Crewe (1888) - later rewritten as A Little Princess (1905); The Lady of Quality (1896) - considered one of the best of her plays; and The Secret Garden (1909), the children's novel for which she is probably best known today. The Lost Prince was published in 1915, and The Head of the House of Coombe was published in Canada in 1922. In 1893 she published a memoir of her youth, The One I Knew Best of All. From the mid-1890s she lived mainly in England, and in particular at Great Maytham Hall (from 1897 to 1907) where she really did discover a secret garden, but in 1909 she moved back to the United States, after having become a U.S. citizen in 1905.


After her first son Lionel's death of consumption in 1890, Burnett delved into Spiritualism and apparently found this a great comfort in dealing with her grief (she had previously dabbled in Theosophy, and some of its concepts are worked into The Secret Garden, where a crippled boy thinks he can heal himself through positive thinking and affirmations). During World War I, Burnett put her beliefs about what happens after death into writing with her novella The White People.
Frances Hodgson Burnett lived for the last 17 years of her life in Plandome, New York.[1] She is buried in Roslyn Cemetery nearby, next to her son Vivian. A life-size effigy of Lionel stands at their feet.

Borders on PIctures

I have to admit that I would have never thought to change the border size of a picture like in the book Where the Wild Things Are. I think that is a very cleaver way to show the transformations from one civilized society into the not so civilized one. I see it as if the borders are a more proper way to display a picture. I think of it as if they were framed and put into a gallery. Then as the story progresses we slowly are taken out of the gallery image and into a much different society. The wild thigs would have destoryed a fancy, high class place. It is very intresting how the borders on the pictures change. It is wonderful that we as readers are exposed to visual cue to help us through out the book.

Dr Seuss

I loved reading the Dr Suess series when I was younger. Today I look back and think that they are pretty silly but they kept me enertained as a child and helped to teach me a few things along the way. These books allowed children to be enertained while learing things such as their ABC's and their colors. I can't imagine what this world would be like if children were not able to experience the books that Dr. Seuss wrote. They are a timeless tradition that I am sure will be enjoyed for many generations to come. I found a really cute website called Suessville that has lots of really cool activities for children to enjoy. It even has a section about the book that was recently made into a movie.."Horton Hears a Who!".

Check it out...

http://www.seussville.com/

Peter Rabbit

I found Wednesday's class so intresting. Origionally when I looked at the book, Peter Rabbit, I just saw an extra small children's book about a rabbit. I though that it was really neat that Beatrice Potter made the book the size that she did for a reason. I love the fact that she thought about how little kids would hold it. I don't think I ever really thought about how the pictures made the book what it was. I know that I looked at them as a kid but it really never occured to me why the story flowed so well. Now I know that it is all because of the pictures. I am really glad that I now realize the importance of pictutres and hope that it will make me more aware of them in the furture.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web
By E.B. Lewis

I have always loved this book. I grew up in the country setting so books about animals wee always my favorites. This book show how extradorinary a friend ship can be. I know that many times children look at people that are different from them and refuse the befriend them. I think that this book sshows children that you can have all types of friend no matter what they may look like on the outside. Charlotte and Wilbur's friendship lasted beyond Charlotte's death. I think it is a wonderful lesson for children to learn and practice in thier own daily lives.

I have have to confess that I was Wilbur for Halloween one year as a child too! It seems really sad looking back... but I really loved this book!

Africian American Children Literature

During our peotry unit, we look at a few Africian American authors. I thought it would be intresting to find a list of a few more books that are famous and that are written by black authors.

African-American Voices in Children's Fiction
Compiled by Arrowhead Library System
PICTURE BOOKS
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman. Grace proves she can be the best Peter Pan in spite of classmates telling her she can't because she's female and black.

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard. Susan and Sarah visit their great-great Aunt Flossie to try on her wonderful hats, eat crab cakes for dinner and hear stories of her life. Clarion. 1991.

Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold. A fantasy about a girl who meets Harriet Tubman and a mysterious train in the sky. Crown, 1992.Baby Says by John Steptoe. An ingenious story uses only baby words to describe the playful relationship between an endearing toddler and his long suffering older brother. Lothrop. 1988.

Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco. Winston, Stewart, and their "sister friend" want to buy a special gift for Miss Eula for Easter, but are falsely accused of throwing eggs at the local shopkeeper. A story of intergenerational, interracial friendship and creativity. Philomel, 1992.

Do Like Kyla by Angela Johnson. A young girl spends a winter day imitating her older sister; the book ends with a happy reversal, reflecting the girls' strong relationship. Orchard. 1990.

Everett Anderson's Friend by Lucille Clifton. At first, Everett is disappointed his new neighbor isn't a boy, but he later decides that a girl who can run and win at ball is nice to know after all. Holt.1976.

First Pink Light by Eloise Greenfield. Poignant story celebrates the riches of family life and a child's determination to greet the return of his father at dawn's first light. Black Butterfly. 1991.

The Magic Moonberry Jump Ropes by Dakari Hru. Uncle Zambezi arrives from East Africa with a pair of magic jump ropes for his nieces. Dial. 1995.

A Million Fish...More or Less by Patricia C. McKissack. An original folktale of the Louisiana bayou and a delightful yarn of exaggeration about "the one that got away." Knopf. 1992.

Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack. Mirandy must live up to her boastful promise that the wind will be her partner at the upcoming cakewalk. Knopf. 1988.

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe. Mufaro's two beautiful daughters go before the king who is choosing a wife. Morrow, 1987.

The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci. Blanche gains riches while her greedy sister makes fun of an old witch and is duly rewarded. Dial, 1990.

Scramble

I made a word scrable from som word that I I thought may be difficult for childrne to understand. See if you can sort out the words. The answers are below as well.
Word Scramble
Unscramble the words below:
1. nlbauurm________________
2. srypo________________
3. aersdeiodptn________________
4. eer________________
5. yero________________
6. raohd________________
7. oghrtwu________________
8. iesstwl________________
9. mrernaocnec________________
10. reeldyagn________________
11. noipiexdte________________
12. ielstbmae________________
13. orhedtttl________________
14. lelbcpaipa________________
15. rarhaaeainlpp________________

Answer Key:
1. nlbauurm is laburnum.
2. srypo is prosy.
3. aersdeiodptn is depredations.
4. eer is ere.
5. yero is yore.
6. raohd is hoard.
7. oghrtwu is wrought.
8. iesstwl is witless.
9. mrernaocnec is necromancer.
10. reeldyagn is legendary.
11. noipiexdte is expedition.
12. ielstbmae is estimable.
13. orhedtttl is throttled.
14. lelbcpaipa is applicable.
15. rarhaaeainlpp is paraphernalia.

Books to Teach

Being that I plan to teach middl;e school after graduation, I am always looking at different books and considering which books would be interesting to teach and different ways that they could be taught. I am always open to other people's opinions about which books are the best and which are their favorites. I found a list broke down by catergory that has alot of very good books on it. I think I will bookmark it and use some of them in my teaching career.


Middle School Novels:Fifth through Eighth Grade

Science Fiction/Fantasy:
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Westmark series by Lloyd Alexander
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
The White Mountains, Tripod Series by John Christopher
The Changes Trilogy: The Devil's Children etc., by Peter Dickinson
Weather Eye by Lesley Howarth
The Walking Stones by Mollie Hunter
The Wizard of Earthsea Trilogy and Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin
The House at Nordham Gardens by Penelope Lively
The Last Guru and other PinkwatersLord of the Rings Trilogy by Tolkein

People and Places:
Ganesh by Malcolm Bosse
The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks
Where the Lilies Bloom by Vera and Bill Cleaver
A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas/Ardizzone
White Peak Farm by Berlie Doherty
Spud Sweetgrass by Brian Doyle
The Windmill Summer by Hila Feil
Bilgewater by Jane Gardam
Hero of Lesser Causes by Julie Johnston
Little, Little by M. E. KerrS
habanu Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Staples
The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Historical Fiction/Adventure:
Prairie Songs by Pam Conrad
The Flight of the Sparrows by Buss and Cubias
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Valley of the Broken Cherry Trees by Namioka
The Master Puppeteer by Katherine Paterson
A Handful of Time by Kit Pearson
Queen without Crown by Polland
Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman
Frederich by Conrad RichterT
he Ramsey Scallop by Frances Temple
Viking's Dawn by Henry Treece
The Emporer's Winding Sheet by Jill Paton Walsh

Why Bilbo?

As I read the book The Hobbit, I keep asking myself why any group that has the motives that this particular group had would pick a "person" like Bilbo to basicly lead them. I think that I would have looked around the mountain a little more before I went and mocked on that hobbit hole. Bilbo is such a weird character in the beginnig of the book. He is somewhat of an annoying character in the ways that he is so particular about teh ways that things are arranged. Any man that woories about teh food situation and had such an abundant of clothes is definitly an odd character to me. As I keep reading teh book, however, I am starting to enjoy him more as he blossoms into the character that he ends up being.

Karen's Grandmother

Karen's Grandmother
by Ann M. Martin

I can imagine that every little girl read the books in the Babysitters Club Series. This particular book is about Karen, whose parents are divorced, which causes her to have four grandmothers. Karen then volunteers to go visit the elderly at the nursing home. She then thinks that she has five grandmas. I think that this book is really good in showing morals. Karen has second thoughts about devoting her time to the elderly lady after she finds out that her assigned person is not what she had hoped for. In the end she realizes that all her grandparents are special and that what she was doing for all of them was truly special as well. I would hope that you girls would learn from this book and come to enjoy volunteer work. I would hope that they would find that joy in their work that Karen did.

Lois Lowry

I found this bibliography that Lois Lowery wrote himself. I thought it would be neat to share so enjoy learning more about him!!

http://www.loislowry.com/bio.html

I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow.My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, wherewe have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In MaineI garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read..My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another.

Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday

Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday
by Stephen Manes

I can only imagine how many kids have tried get rich quick scemes that they have read about or seen on TV. I know that I was always trying to make money as a kid...just so that I would have my own money to buy new toys when we went shopping and my mom refused to contribute. I thought this book was really cute. In the book Jason found a book that claimed to help him make four million dollars by the following Thursday. He did a few outragous stunts to complete the events that the book claimed to help him get his money. I thought it was a really fun book, I just hope that the kids reading it did not take it as Jason did. I would have to see kids burying their money or any of the other things that he thought he had to do to make money.

CS Lewis

I am a hug fan of CS Lewis. I fell in love with him when I read the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in school. I ahve read many other books that he wrote and feel like most of them are just as great as the first that I read from his collection. I found an article on Wikipedia that showed all the different types of literature that he produced.

From Wikipedia:

In addition to his scholarly work, Lewis wrote a number of popular novels, including his science fiction Space Trilogy and his fantasy Narnia books, most dealing implicitly with Christian themes such as sin, humanity's fall from grace, and redemption.
The Pilgrim's Regress
Main article: The Pilgrim's Regress
His first novel after becoming a Christian was The Pilgrim's Regress, his take on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress which depicted his own experience with Christianity. The book was critically panned at the time.
In a footnote of the biography D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith 1939 – 1981 by Iain Murray, Murray notes the following: "Lewis is said to have valued ML-J's appreciation and encouragement when the early edition of his Pilgrim's Regress was not selling well. Vincent Lloyd-Jones and Lewis knew each other well, being contemporaries at Oxford. ML-J met the author again and they had a long conversation when they found both themselves on the same boat to Ireland in 1953. On the later occasion, to the question, 'When are you going to write another book?', Lewis replied, 'When I understand the meaning of prayer'" (Murray 1990).
Space Trilogy
Main article: Space Trilogy
His Space Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy novels (also called the Cosmic Trilogy) dealt with what Lewis saw as the then-current dehumanizing trends in modern science fiction. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was apparently written following a conversation with his friend J. R. R. Tolkien about these trends; Lewis agreed to write a "space travel" story and Tolkien a "time travel" one. Tolkien’s story, "The Lost Road", a tale connecting his Middle-earth mythology and the modern world, was never completed. Lewis’s main character of Ransom is based in part on Tolkien, a fact that Tolkien himself alludes to in his Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. The second novel, Perelandra, illustrates a new Garden of Eden, a new Adam and Eve, and a new "serpent figure" to tempt them. The story can be seen as a hypothesis of what could have happened if "our Eve" had resisted more firmly the temptation of the serpent. The last novel in the Trilogy, That Hideous Strength, also contains numerous references to Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth. Many of the ideas presented in the books, particularly in That Hideous Strength, are dramatizations of arguments made more formally in Lewis’ The Abolition of Man.
He began another science fiction novel, The Dark Tower, but it remained unfinished; it is not clear whether it was intended as part of the same series as the completed novels. The manuscript was eventually published in 1977, though controversy arose about its authenticity.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Main article: The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children and is considered a classic of children's literature. Written between 1949 and 1954 and illustrated by Pauline Baynes, the series is Lewis' most popular work having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages (Kelly 2006)(Guthmann 2005). It has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. The series has been published in several different orders, and the preferred reading order for the series is often debated among fans; though Douglas Gresham has stated that Lewis preferred that they be read in "Narnian chronology", not the order in which they were published (Drennan 1999).
The books contain many allusions to Christian ideas which are easily accessible to younger readers; however, the books are not weighty, and can be read for their adventure, colour and richness of ideas alone. Because of this, they have become favourites of children and adults, Christians and non-Christians. In addition to Christian themes, Lewis also borrows characters from Greek and Roman mythology as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales. Lewis reportedly based his depiction of Narnia on the geography and scenery of the Mourne Mountains and "that part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough" (Guardian Unlimited 2005). Lewis cited George MacDonald's Christian fairy tales as an influence in writing the series.
The Chronicles of Narnia present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. In the majority of the books, children from our world find themselves transported to Narnia by a magical portal. Once there, they are quickly involved in setting some wrong to right with the help of the lion Aslan, the central character of the series. Aslan is commonly considered a character resembling God by creating Narnia and always being kind, giving, and just.
Other works
Lewis wrote a number of works on Heaven and Hell. One of these, The Great Divorce, is a short novella in which a few residents of Hell take a bus ride to Heaven, where they are met by people from Earth. The proposition is that they can stay (in which case they can call the place where they had come from “Purgatory”, instead of “Hell”): but many find it not to their taste. The title is a reference to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a concept that Lewis found a "disastrous error" (Lewis 1946, p. vii). This work deliberately echoes two other more famous works with a similar theme: the Divine Comedy of Dante Aligheri, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Another short work, The Screwtape Letters, consists of letters of advice from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood, on the best ways to tempt a particular human and secure his damnation. Lewis’s last novel was Till We Have Faces — he thought of it as his most mature and masterful work of fiction, but it was never a popular success. It is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche from the unusual perspective of Psyche's sister. It is deeply concerned with religious ideas, but the setting is entirely pagan, and the connections with specific Christian beliefs are left implicit.
Before Lewis’s conversion to Christianity, he published two books: Spirits in Bondage, a collection of poems, and Dymer, a single narrative poem. Both were published under the pen name Clive Hamilton.

The Giver

I am looking forward to re-reading the book the Giver. I remember parts of the book from the first time that I read it in elemtary school, but I know that I am missing some key parts of the book. I decided to google the book to try to job my memory. I found this on Wikipedia about the plot...

The novel's setting seems to be a utopia, where all possible steps are taken to eliminate pain and anguish. The people are almost always compliant; families share their dreams and feelings on a daily basis to diffuse emotional buildup. This society remains harmonious by matching up husbands and wives based on compatibility of personality and if there is any sign of feelings the match is denied. There is also a subtle theme of technology having only a minimal role in society; throughout the book, it is taken for granted that Jonas's community is without such technologies as television, or radio, although computers are mentioned at one point. Transportation is mostly limited to bicycles; however, cars and airplanes exist in small numbers.
Part of the novel possibly takes place in December 2065[citation needed].
Lowry describes creating the pain-free world of Jonas' Community in her Newbery Award speech:
I tried to make Jonas's world seem familiar, comfortable, and safe, and I tried to seduce the reader. I seduced myself along the way. It did feel good, that world. I got rid of all the things I fear and dislike; all the violence, poverty, prejudice and injustice, and I even threw in good manners as a way of life because I liked the idea of it.One child has pointed out, in a letter, that the people in Jonas's world didn't even have to do dishes.It was very, very tempting to leave it at that.[1]
As time progresses in the novel, however, it becomes clear that the society has lost contact with the ideas of family and love, at least in the "more complete" sense at which Lowry hints. Children are born to designated "Birthmothers" and then family units can apply for children. If the family unit applies for the maximum allowed number of two, it will always be one boy and one girl. This is to keep the genders even. After family units have served the purpose of raising the children in a stable environment, they cease to exist, the parents going to a communal housing facility for childless adults, and the children becoming involved in their work and starting monogenerational families of their own, forgetting their foster parents who are growing old. The community maintains this process using pills which suppress emotions, mainly romantic love and sexuality, which they refer to as "Stirrings."
All the land near the Community and around the other, similar communities clustered about the nearby river has been flattened to aid agriculture and transportation. A vaguely described system of climate control is used so that the weather remains constant. It is implied that genetic engineering has been used extensively to manipulate human beings so that they physically conform with Sameness.
The Community is run by a Council of Elders that assigns each 12-year-old the job he or she will perform for the rest of his or her life. People are bound by an extensive set of rules touching every aspect of life, which if violated would require a simple but somewhat ceremonious apology. In some cases, violating the rules is "winked at": older siblings invariably teach their younger brothers and sisters how to ride a bicycle before the children are officially permitted to learn the skill. If a member of the community has committed serious infractions three times before, he or she may be punished by "release". "Release" is a thing at which the characters hint throughout the book. Originally, it is thought of as a process where the "released" is sent to live outside of the community, but still in a good place. Eventually, it is revealed to be a system of euthanasia through lethal injection, employed not only as punishment, but also to ensure a monotony of means by which death occurs.
The book is told from a third-person limited point of view. The protagonist, Jonas, is followed as he awaits the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas lives in a standard family unit with his mother (a judge) and father (a "Nurturer"). He is selected to be "Receiver of Memory", because of his unusual "Capacity to See-Beyond", which is an ability to do something unusual, such as see color, which all the other people were genetically changed not to see, or hear music (as in the case of Jonas's mentor). He trains for the position of Receiver by receiving memories from the aged incumbent, known to the community as "The Receiver", and to Jonas as "The Giver", who is burdened by the emotional weight of the memories. These memories are images from the world as it existed before the time called Sameness, "back and back and back", things that no one else in Jonas's world remembers.
Through the Giver, who becomes his teacher and surrogate grandfather, Jonas telepathically receives memories of things eliminated from his world: violence, sadness, and loss, as well as true love, beauty, joy, adventure, animals, and family. Having knowledge of these complex and powerful concepts alienates Jonas from his friends and family, as well as making him more cynical towards his previously sheltered life, as he often discusses with the Giver. Eventually, these revelations prompt Jonas to seek to change the community and return emotion and meaning to the world. He and the Giver plan on doing this by having Jonas leave the community, which would cause all of the memories he was given to be released to the rest of the people, allowing them to feel the powerful emotions that Jonas and the Giver feel.
Meanwhile, Jonas's family temporarily houses a baby named Gabriel, because he is unable to sleep throughout the night and disturbs the other babies in the "Nurturing Center". Jonas learns that unlike the other people in his community, "Gabe" can receive memories from Jonas, which he uses to help calm the baby. Because Gabriel still cannot sleep through the night without crying after the extra year he was given to learn how to sleep soundly, he is now destined to be Released. Desperate, Jonas flees the community with Gabe. At first, the escape seems successful. Soon, however, food runs out and they grow weak. They find a snow covered hill with a sled on top, which Jonas remembers from the first memory he ever Received. He and Gabriel board the sled and go down the hill where they hear singing.
The ending is ambiguous, and Jonas' future and even survival are left unresolved. Their survival is made apparent, however, in Messenger, a sequel novel written much later. The book is recommended for children and adults eight and older.