This original, adolescent classic by Lois Lowry is interesting just as much for its message as it is for its story. Set in an unnamed and fictional community that has known nothing but order and routine, the story centers on a twelve year-old boy named Jonas, whose perceptions of the world broaden as he is exposed to what life was like before the community reached perfection. It is an old, wise man-- known only as "The Giver"-- who introduced this knowledge to Jonas and who is charged with preparing Jonas to become the new "Giver" and so take on all the memories of the past, so that the rest of society does not have to. By unwillingly taking on this responsibility-- he was chosen for the role-- Jonas thus becomes somewhat of a messiah to the community, saving them from remembering the true extent of human depravity and suffering that has been locked away in history. In fact, Lowry uses her work as commentary on topics as broad as the utopian ideal, human feelings, r...