"The Giver"

     I've heard people refer to The Giver by Lois Lowry as "Brave New World for kids".  This was a book that I very much enjoyed.  As in the style of Brave New World, this story takes place somewhere in the future.  And also as in Brave New World fashion, this one is a bit of a trip.

     It's all about a young boy, Jonas, living in this futuristic (and slightly strict) society.  When the children of this society reach a certain age, they are assigned jobs that they must then go off and begin to study.  It's very similar to when kids would apprentice masters of a certain trade in the past.  Jonas is assigned the future job of the "Receiver of Memory".  It is through this job that Jonas begins to receive memories of things that were eliminated from his utopian society (sadness, war, famine, etc.).  I am not going to give any more of it away, but overall it is a very easy read with a very heavy message.

I give it 4 out of 5 Wildes.