The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)

This book is about a boy named Jonas that lives in a community of sameness. He has reached the age of Twelve, where he will be placed in his Assignment, his future career. He is Assigned as The Receiver of Memories for the community. As Jonas gains more memories, he begins to see the flaws in the sameness of the community and ends up understanding the power of choice.

I absolutely loved this book! My sister was a huge fan of this book and always tried to talk me into reading it, but I refused because I thought it was going to be about an old man. (Yes, I was judging a book by its cover.) I am glad that we were assigned this book because I have been missing out on some great literature. I loved the story and how a lot of it was open to interpretation.

I would love to use this book in my classroom. I think it addresses a variety of issues and topics that would be good for students to discuss. I have also heard how a lot of students create their own 'ideal' world of sameness to go along with reading the book.