A Warning Against Soft Fascism

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	• GIVER, THE (Yearling Books) Lois Lowry Yearling, 1999 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 3084 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Warning Against Soft Fascism

This book is, at least in part, a cautionary tale, in the tradition of Brave New World and 1984, about the danger of allowing ourselves and our government to continue slouching toward paternalistic statism. The difference between it and those older and better known stories of dystopic societies is that this one is written for kids.

I found the book to be well written, well paced, and of a length that won't scare off tweens and teens. The development of Jonah was quite well done within the constraints of such a short book (171 pages in the paperback edition I read); he was likable and sufficiently flawed so as to be believable. As for the other characters (excepting The Giver), their lack of development is one of the points.

The Giver does a fine job of giving the reader food for thought and discussion about the inverse relationship between individual liberty and the imposition of outcomes by governments and communities. It's not a one-sided account on that score, however. I often found myself being seduced by the security, safety, and civility that accompanied the depicted totalitarian society. As is typical of good fiction that tells some significant truth, that balance allows the reader to come to a conclusion through seeking and thinking as opposed to having it thrust down his throat; that makes the The Giver's case against soft fascism a strong one.

I do find it a delicious irony that the education establishment, a great friend to the statist movement, has embraced this book.

Some have complained that the book contains some logical inconsistencies. I thought those were minor and they didn't significantly detract from my enjoyment of the book.

There are some mature themes that some parents won't be comfortable with their kids reading about. These include infanticide and senicide, capital punishment for crimes far short of murder and rape, and some fairly oblique sexual themes.

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Fine Children's Book

I bought this book for a child because it was recommended by another child. I read it before sending it and found the vocabulary to be at about an 8th grade level. This is a good book for a child who's of above-average reading ability in grammar school, especially because the topic lends itself to more than one level of meaning; consequently, the child could re-read it in a couple of years and find a different level of connection with the story. I think that children would identify with the plot, i.e. the hero child, and the values the book teaches are of the "Dr.Seuss" variety. I plan on sending it to other children when they're old enough.

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This is A Great Book

The Giver is one of those stories that keeps you involved from start to finish. You spend much of the book trying to figure out where you are, only to discover that the utopia does not exist. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great book to read!

WOW.

If the ultimate goal of book club is to develop deep comprehension and critical thinking skills, then this book is the perfect tool. There is so much for students to pour over in search for meaning. It is unsettling at several different levels, and I would expect a fairly mature book club to find their way into conversation without much prodding from the teacher.

I would not start book club rookies out on this for their first book. I think the group would need to be fairly comfortable with each other and have a high level of trust and acceptance - students (and even teachers!) would need to feel confident to try out ideas without judgement and be able to sort out their thoughts in an open, caring atmosphere.

In my experience, many book club books often have very superficial themes that students grasp and extract connections from. I don't think such books propel them to higher levels of thought and understanding. I often hear something like, "This book is about a brother and sister fighting, and I sometimes fight with my sister too." There just isn't anything for them to take their ideas a step futher. When the book clearly presents thought-provoking themes that students grab onto and want to discuss, it is a wonderful thing. Book clubs are for books that MUST be discussed and CANNOT be read and understood (quite as fully) by yourself. This is exactly the type of book that is made for book club.

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Excellent Book

"The Giver" is a must-read book for both tweens and adults. Lois Lowry delivers a powerful message in a compelling story, which is written in a lively and lovely manner. My 12-year-old son loved it as much as I did. Ms. Lowry has made a note-worthy contribution to modern day literature. Read it! Have your kids read it!

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

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Young adult reading from Yearling books
Essential Reads Grades 4-8

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