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Literature Circle Guide:

The Giver

by Perdita Finn

New York • Toronto • London • Auckland • Sydney

Mexico City • New Delhi • Hong Kong

S C H O L A S T I C

BPROFESSIONAL OOKS

Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources

Scholastic Inc. grants teachers permission to photocopy the reproducibles from this book for classroomuse. No other part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, orotherwise, without permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to ScholasticProfessional Books, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012-3999.

Guide written by Perdita FinnEdited by Sarah GlasscockCover design by Niloufar Safavieh Interior design by Grafica, Inc. Interior illustrations by Mona Mark

Credits: Jacket cover from THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. Used by permission of Dell Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

Copyright © 2001 by Scholastic Professional Books. All rights reserved.

ISBN 0-439-04391-3

Printed in the U.S.A.


Contents

To the Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Using the Literature Circle Guides in Your Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Setting Up Literature Response Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Good Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

About The Giver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

About the Author: Lois Lowry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Enrichment Readings: The Utopian Novel, The Oral Tradition, The Hero’s Journey . . . . 10

Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Before Reading the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Group Discussion Reproducible: Before Reading the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18





Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 10-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 10-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24







Reproducible: After Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Reproducible: Individual Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Reproducible: Group Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Literature Discussion Evaluation Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

3


4

As a teacher, you naturally want to instill in yourstudents the habits of confident, critical, indepen-dent, and lifelong readers. You hope that evenwhen students are not in school they will seek outbooks on their own, think about and questionwhat they are reading, and share those ideas withfriends. An excellent way to further this goal is byusing literature circles in your classroom.

In a literature circle, students select a book toread as a group. They think and write about it ontheir own in a literature response journal and thendiscuss it together. Both journals and discussionsenable students to respond to a book and developtheir insights into it. They also learn to identifythemes and issues, analyze vocabulary, recognizewriting techniques, and share ideas with eachother—all of which are necessary to meet stateand national standards.

This guide provides the support materials forusing literature circles with Maniac Magee byJerry Spinelli. The reading strategies, discussionquestions, projects, and enrichment readings willalso support a whole class reading of this text orcan be given to enhance the experience of anindividual student reading the book as part of areading workshop.

Literature Circles

A literature circle consists of several students(usually three to five) who agree to read a booktogether and share their observations, questions,and interpretations. Groups may be organizedby reading level or choice of book. Often thesegroups read more than one book together since,as students become more comfortable talkingwith one another, their observations andinsights deepen.

When planning to use literature circles in yourclassroom, it can be helpful to do the following:

A Recommend four or five books from whichstudents can choose. These books might begrouped by theme, genre, or author.

A Allow three or four weeks for students to readeach book. Each of Scholastic’s LiteratureCircle Guides has ten sections as well asenrichment activities and final projects. Even ifstudents are reading different books in theLiterature Circle Guide series, they can bescheduled to finish at the same time.

A Create a daily routine so students can focuson journal writing and discussions.

A Decide whether students will be reading booksin class or for homework. If students do alltheir reading for homework, then allot classtime for sharing journals and discussions. Youcan also alternate silent reading and writingdays in the classroom with discussion groups.

To the Teacher

Read More AboutLiterature Circles

Getting the Most from Literature Groupsby Penny Strube (Scholastic ProfessionalBooks, 1996)

Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels(Stenhouse Publishers, 1994)


5

Using the Literature CircleGuides in Your Classroom

Each guide contains the following sections:

A background information about the authorand book

A enrichment readings relevant to the book

A Literature Response Journal reproducibles

A Group Discussion reproducibles

A Individual and group projects

A Literature Discussion Evaluation Sheet

Background Information andEnrichment Readings

The background information about the author andthe book and the enrichment readings are designedto offer information that will enhance students’understanding of the book. You may choose toassign and discuss these sections before, during, orafter the reading of the book. Because each enrich-ment concludes with questions that invite studentsto connect it to the book, you can use this sectionto inspire students to think and record theirthoughts in the literature response journal.

Literature Response JournalReproducibles

Although these reproducibles are designed for individual students, they should also be used to stimulate and support discussions in literature circles. Each page begins with a reading strategyand follows with several journal topics. At the bot-tom of the page, students select a type of response(question, prediction, observation, or connection)for free-choice writing in their response journals.

◆ Reading StrategiesSince the goal of the literature circle is to empowerlifelong readers, a different reading strategy isintroduced in each section. Not only does thereading strategy allow students to understand thisparticular book better, but it also instills a habit ofmind that will continue to be useful when theyread other books. A question from the LiteratureResponse Journal and the Group Discussion pagesis always tied to the reading strategy.

If everyone in class is reading the same book,you may present the reading strategy as a mini-lesson to the entire class. For literature circles,however, the group of students can read over anddiscuss the strategy together at the start of classand then experiment with the strategy as theyread silently for the rest of the period. You maywant to allow time at the end of class so thegroup can talk about what they noticed as theyread. As an alternative, the literature circle canreview the reading strategy for the next sectionafter they have completed their discussion. Thatnight, students can try out the reading strategyas they read on their own so they will be readyfor the next day’s literature circle discussion.

◆ Literature Response Journal TopicsA literature response journal allows a reader to“converse” with a book. Students write questions,point out things they notice about the story, recallpersonal experiences, and make connections toother texts in their journals. In other words, theyare using writing to explore what they think about the book. See page 7 for tips on how to helpstudents set up their literature response journals.

1. The questions for the literature response journals have no right or wrong answers but are designed to help students look beneath thesurface of the plot and develop a richer connec-tion to the story and its characters.

2. Students can write in their literature responsejournals as soon as they have finished a readingassignment. Again, you may choose to have studentsdo this for homework or make time during class.

3. The literature response journals are an excellenttool for students to use in their literature circles.They can highlight ideas and thoughts in theirjournals that they want to share with the group.

4. When you evaluate students’ journals, consider whether they have completed all theassignments and have responded in depth andthoughtfully. You may want to check each dayto make sure students are keeping up with theassignments. You can read and respond to thejournals at a halfway point (after five entries)and again at the end. Some teachers suggest that students pick out their five best entries for a grade.


6

Group Discussion Reproducibles

These reproducibles are designed for use in litera-ture circles. Each page begins with a series of discussion questions for the group to consider. Amini-lesson on an aspect of the writer’s craftfollows the discussion questions. See page 8 fortips on how to model good discussions for students.

◆ Literature Discussion Questions: In a literature discussion, students experience a bookfrom different points of view. Each reader bringsher or his own unique observations, questions,and associations to the text. When studentsshare their different reading experiences, theyoften come to a wider and deeper understandingthan they would have reached on their own.

The discussion is not an exercise in finding the right answers nor is it a debate. Its goal is to explore the many possible meanings of abook. Be sure to allow enough time for theseconversations to move beyond easy answers—try to schedule 25–35 minutes for each one. In addition, there are important guidelines to ensurethat everyone’s voice is heard.

1. Let students know that participation in theliterature discussion is an important part of theirgrade. You may choose to watch one discussionand grade it. (You can use the LiteratureDiscussion Evaluation Sheet on page 33.)

2. Encourage students to evaluate their ownperformance in discussions using the LiteratureDiscussion Evaluation Sheet. They can assessnot only their own level of involvement but alsohow the group itself has functioned.

3. Help students learn how to talk to one another effectively. After a discussion, help themprocess what worked and what didn’t. Videotapediscussions if possible, and then evaluate themtogether. Let one literature circle watch anotherand provide feedback to it.

4. It can be helpful to have a facilitator for eachdiscussion. The facilitator can keep students frominterrupting each other, help the conversation getback on track when it digresses, and encourageshyer members to contribute. At the end of eachdiscussion, the facilitator can summarize everyone’scontributions and suggest areas for improvement.

5. Designate other roles for group members. Forinstance, a recorder can take notes and/or listquestions for further discussion. A summarizercan open each literature circle meeting by sum-marizing the chapter(s) the group has just read.Encourage students to rotate these roles, as wellas that of the facilitator.

◆ The Writer’s Craft: This section encouragesstudents to look at the writer’s most importanttool—words. It points out new vocabulary, writing techniques, and uses of language. One or two questions invite students to think moredeeply about the book and writing in general.These questions can either become part of the literature circle discussion or be written about instudents’ journals.

Literature Discussion Evaluation Sheet

Both you and your students will benefit fromcompleting these evaluation sheets. You can usethem to assess students’ performance, and asmentioned above, students can evaluate their ownindividual performances, as well as their group’sperformance. The Literature Discussion EvaluationSheet appears on page 33.


7

Setting Up Literature Response Journals

Although some students may already keep literature response journals, others may not knowhow to begin. To discourage students from merelywriting elaborate plot summaries and to encour-age them to use their journals in a meaningfulway, help them focus their responses around thefollowing elements: predictions, observations,questions, and connections.

Have students take time after each assigned section to think about and record their responsesin their journals. Sample responses appear below.

◆ Predictions: Before students read the book,have them study the cover and the jacket copy.Ask if anyone has read any other books by LoisLowry. To begin their literature response journals,tell students to jot down their impressions aboutthe book. As they read, students will continue tomake predictions about what a character mightdo or how the plot might turn. After finishing thebook, students can re-assess their initial predic-tions. Good readers understand that they mustconstantly activate prior knowledge before, dur-ing, and after they read. They adjust their expec-tations and predictions; a book that is completelypredictable is not likely to capture anyone’s inter-est. A student about to read The Giver for the firsttime might predict the following:

The old man on the cover of the book looksboth sad and frightened. I wonder who he isand what he’s really feeling and why. Thebook is science fiction, so I know it’s proba-bly set in the future or in a fantasy placethat’s really different from my surroundings.

◆ Observations: This activity takes placeimmediately after reading begins. In a literatureresponse journal, the reader recalls fresh impres-sions about the characters, setting, and events.Most readers mention details that stand out forthem even if they are not sure what their impor-tance is. For example, a reader might list phrasesthat describe how a character looks or the feelinga setting evokes. Many readers note certainwords, phrases, or passages in a book. Others

note the style of an author’s writing or the voicein which the story is told. A student just startingto read The Giver might write the following:

This book begins in December, and I cansense that Jonas is apprehensive. I think theplace Jonas lives is scary! There are weirdrules and voices over loud speakers thatgive orders. I notice Jonas and his familyreally talk about their feelings. I don’t thinkbeing released is a good thing.

◆ Questions: Point out that good readers don’tnecessarily understand everything they read. Toclarify their uncertainty, they ask questions.Encourage students to identify passages thatconfuse or trouble them and emphasize that theyshouldn’t take anything for granted. Share thefollowing student example:

Do all the families in this place talk abouttheir feelings? Do they all have to gothrough this ritual? Why? What if theydon’t? Why does Jonas have to talk privately with his mother?

◆ Connections: Remind students that onestory often leads to another. When one friendtells a story, the other friend is often inspired totell one, too. The same thing often happenswhen someone reads a book. A characterreminds the reader of a relative, or a situation issimilar to something that happened to him orher. Sometimes a book makes a reader recallother books or movies. These connections can behelpful in revealing some of the deeper meaningsor patterns of a book. The following is an example of a student connection:

For some reason, Jonas’s family reminds meof one of those families on an old televisionshow like “Lassie.” Everybody seems so niceto each other. It doesn’t seem quite real.


8

The Good Discussion

In a good literature discussion, students arealways learning from one another. They listen toone another and respond to what their peershave to say. They share their ideas, questions,and observations. Everyone feels comfortableabout talking, and no one interrupts or putsdown what anyone else says. Students leave agood literature discussion with a new under-standing of the book—and sometimes with newquestions about it. They almost always feel moreengaged by what they have read.

◆ Modeling a Good Discussion: In this era ofcombative and confessional TV talk shows, students often don’t have any idea of what itmeans to talk productively and creatively together. You can help them have a better idea ofwhat a good literature discussion is if you letthem experience one. Select a thought-provokingshort story or poem for students to read, andthen choose a small group to model a discussionof the work for the class.

Explain to participating students that theobjective of the discussion is to explore the textthoroughly and learn from one another.Emphasize that it takes time to learn how tohave a good discussion, and that the first discus-sion may not achieve everything they hope itwill. Duplicate a copy of the LiteratureDiscussion Evaluation Sheet for each student. Go over the helpful and unhelpful contributionsshown on the Literature Discussion EvaluationSheet. Instruct students to fill it out as theywatch the model discussion. Then have thegroup of students hold its discussion while therest of the class observes. Try not to interrupt orcontrol the discussion and remind the studentaudience not to participate. It’s okay if the dis-cussion falters, as this is a learning experience.

Allow 15–20 minutes for the discussion. Whenit is finished, ask each student in the group toreflect out loud about what worked and whatdidn’t. Then have the students who observedshare their impressions. What kinds of com-ments were helpful? How could the group havetalked to each other more productively? You may

want to let another group experiment with a discussion so students can try out what theylearned from the first one.

◆ Assessing Discussions: The following tipswill help students monitor how well their groupis functioning:

1. One person should keep track of all behaviorsby each group member, both helpful and unhelp-ful, during the discussion.

2. At the end of the discussion, each individualshould think about how he or she did. Howmany helpful and unhelpful checks did he or shereceive?

3. The group should look at the LiteratureDiscussion Evaluation Sheet and assess theirperformance as a whole. Were most of thebehaviors helpful? Were any behaviors unhelp-ful? How could the group improve?

“I was wondering if anyone knew . . .”

“I see what you are saying. That reminds me ofsomething that happened earlier in the book.”

“What do you think?”

“Did anyone notice on page 57 that . . .”

“I disagree with you because . . .”

“I agree with you because . . .”

“This reminds me so much of when . . .”

“Do you think this could mean . . .”

“I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.Could you explain it a little more to me?”

“That reminds me of what you were saying yesterday about . . .”

“I just don’t understand this.”

“I love the part that says . . .”

“Here, let me read this paragraph. It’s an example of what I’m talking about.”

In good discussions, you will often hearstudents say the following:


9

About The Giver

The Giver is a book that inspires passionate feel-ings. Many readers have loved it. The book hasbeen praised in reviews and was awarded theNewbery Medal in 1993. Yet The Giver has alsobeen one of the most frequently censored booksin the United States. It has been pulled off libraryshelves and forbidden in schools; it has beencriticized for being too American and notAmerican enough, too hopeless and too hopeful.Author Lois Lowry has said that readers createtheir own book, “bringing to the written wordstheir own experiences, dreams, wishes, pas-sions.” However students relate to it, The Giveris a thought-provoking book.

All writers make use of material from their own

experiences they have drawn from, or the

Lois Lowry’s life, ask students to notice whichissues are important to her and why she might

The Giver.

Lowry describes herself as having been a “solitary child who lived in the world of books.”A middle child with an older sister and ayounger brother, she lived all over the worldbecause her father was in the military. Lowrywas born in Hawaii, spent World War II in hermother’s Pennsylvania hometown, went to junior high in Japan, and then attended highschool in New York City. Even today she loves tovisit new places. Through her travels, Lowry hasexperienced a variety of cultures and the different ways in which people live together.While she had been scribbling down stories andpoems all her life, Lowry didn’t start writingbooks professionally until after the birth of herfour children in the mid-1970s. To date she haswritten over 20 books, including the popularAnastasia series, A Summer to Die (inspired byher young sister’s death from cancer), Numberthe Stars (about the Holocaust), and of course,The Giver.

Lowry writes that “The Giver takes placeagainst the background of yet another very different culture and time. Though broader inscope than my earlier books, it nonethelessspeaks to the same concern: the vital need forhumans to be aware of their interdependence,not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.”

Lois Lowry presently lives in Cambridge,Massachusetts, with her Tibetan terrier Bandit,and spends weekends at an old farmhouse inNew Hampshire. She has two grandchildren andbelieves now more than ever “that our future ashuman beings depends upon caring more, anddoing more, for one another.”

About the Author: Lois Lowry

lives in their work. It may be obvious what

connections may be more subtle or hidden. Asyou share the following information about

have wanted to address them in


10

Enrichment: The Utopian Novel

For thousands of years, writers and philosophershave been imagining how the world might beorganized so people could live together moreharmoniously.

In the sixteenth century, just as the Europeanswere discovering a New World in America, anEnglishman named Thomas More wrote Utopia,a book about an ideal society. Utopia is a wordMore created from two Greek words—eu, whichmeans “not,” and topia,which means “place.” So, lit-erally, utopia means “not aplace.” The word eu can alsomean “good.” More seemsto be saying two things atonce: This is a good place,but it is also no place—itdoesn’t exist. Since the pub-lication of More’s book,utopia has come to mean aplace that is ideal or perfect.

Some of More’s ideas camefrom his reading of theancient Greeks, and one ofthe books he surely read wasPlato’s Republic, written inthe fourth century B.C. InPlato’s ideal state, everyoneshares equally in the com-munity’s wealth, althoughthere are three very differentgroups or classes of people.Workers farm and performvarious trades; Auxiliarieshave military responsibilities; and Guardians ruleand advise everyone else.

In the Republic, Plato explains that he is moreinterested in what is good for the communitythan what is good for the individual. “We areforming a happy state,” Plato writes, “not picking out some few persons to make themalone happy.”

In our own century, however, several writershave raised questions about what living in

such utopias might really be like for the indi-vidual. The dictators of World War II—Hitler,Mussolini, Franco, and Stalin—surely influ-enced George Orwell. Orwell, an Englishman,did not believe that a place where every aspectof life was predetermined by the governmentwould be in any way desirable. In 1984 (pub-lished in 1949), he describes a colorless statecalled Oceania. As in Plato’s Republic, Oceaniahas three classes of society—the Inner Party,the Outer Party, and the Proles. And as inMore’s Utopia, private conversations are notallowed, and communication is monitored and

controlled by ever-presentvideo cameras. “Big BrotherIs Always Watching You”proclaim posters on all thewalls, and the ThoughtPolice can practically readpeople’s minds. In Oceaniano one can be trusted.

Where George Orwellexplored the dangers of polit-ical utopianism, anotherwriter of the same period,Aldous Huxley, looked at theproblems of scientific andtechnological control overpeople’s lives. In Brave NewWorld (published in 1932),he wrote about a frighteningutopia called the World State.

These writers were asinterested in the worlds theylived in as they were in theones they created in theirimaginations. Their bookswere a way of thinking

about what was wrong and what was rightabout their own societies. As students read LoisLowry’s The Giver, they will discover that she isfamiliar with these authors and has been influ-enced by their work. She also has very particularthings to say about our modern world. Whatconcerns Lowry about our society? What doesshe value? Suggest that students list currentissues that are important to them in their litera-ture response journals.


11

Enrichment: The Oral Tradition

Long before there was the written word peopletold stories to one another. The stories theyloved and that mattered to them most were told again and again. Young children memorizedthe stories and told them to their children. Oftenthe most important person in the communitywas the storyteller. That person knew all the sto-ries, the myths and folktales that guided peoplein living their lives, the poems for celebrationsand for funerals, and the jokes and riddles.

Stories were told not only for pleasure but alsofor instruction. As people listened, they learnedabout famous men and women of the past andabout the gods they believed created theirworld. These stories were their history, science,and religion.

In ancient Greece, the storytellers would travelfrom community to community carrying theirharps, often accompanied by a young personwho had been chosen to learn all the storytellerknew. Homer, who composed the Illiad and theOdyssey (the stories of the fall of Troy and thewanderings of Odysseus) was a storyteller. Hemay have combined and added to many existingshort songs and poems to create his epics.

The audience was often involved in the stories,answering questions, calling out their own parts,much as they do in some churches today.Frequently, stories were sung and accompaniedby music. In fact, the Greek word for storyteller,aidos, means “singer.”

In many traditional societies, stories are stillbeing told that have come down from one storyteller to another for over a thousand years.With the accessibility of books and the advent ofelectricity, however, people in modern cultureshave become less interested in and have had lesstime for, the old stories. Still, as jokes get passedaround from one friend to another, and a grand-mother tells her grandchildren once more abouthow her own grandmother came to this country,we maintain our connection to the oral tradition.

Interestingly, Lois Lowry was inspired to writeThe Giver while caring for her father who hadlost much of his long-term memory. She beganto imagine a society in which the past was deliberately forgotten. What would it be like?What happens when we are no longer sittingaround together listening to the old stories? Asstudents read The Giver, have them notice theways the old man is like a traditional storyteller.Also, ask students how and why his role in thecommunity is different.


12

Enrichment: The Hero’s Journey

Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, the great heroes ofGreek mythology fought different monsters—theCyclops, the Minotaur, and Medusa, respective-ly—and returned after many adventures to ruleover different lands. In many ways, however,each hero took the same journey.

In fact, says Joseph Campbell, author of TheHero with a Thousand Faces, if you look at sto-ries from all over the world, you’ll find heroesalways taking the same journey. The details aredifferent, but the basic pattern is the same. Inmythology a pattern that never changes is calledan archetype.

Almost always, from the moment of birth, thehero is marked as different from everybody else.A hero’s parents may be royal or even gods, butusually the hero doesn’t know this, for these arenot the people who raise him or her. Hercules israised by Amphitryton and Alcmene instead ofhis real parents, Zeus and Hera. In the movieStar Wars, Luke Skywalker grows up with hisaunt and uncle.

At some point, however, it becomes clear thatthis young person is destined for greatness. Heor she has special talents that are developedunder the guidance of a mentor. Arthur hadMerlin, and Luke Skywalker had Obi-WanKenobi. Often the hero undergoes great physicaland mental trials. Finally, though, in order toprove himself or herself, the hero must leavethe teacher and set out on a dangerous queston behalf of others.

A quest is literally a search for something.The ancient hero Gilgamesh went lookingfor the secret of immortality. SirGalahad left Arthur’s Round Tablein the hopes of finding the HolyGrail. Quite often the task seemsimpossible. The hero almostalways encounters many diffi-culties and may journey to theunderworld or to death and

back before reaching the goal. Always, the hero’sunique abilities rescue him or her. Hercules has hisstrength, and Odysseus his way with words.

Finally, having achieved the goal, the heroprepares to return home. Often that trip is just ashard as the original quest. Again and again, thehero’s character is tested. Upon return the hero isrewarded and usually becomes a ruler or occu-pies a position of fame and honor.

In literature the hero is almost always a boybecoming a man and assuming a leadership rolein the community. Because women in many traditional societies were not allowed leadershiproles (and were not often the storytellers), thestories are rarely about them. There are somenotable exceptions, however, including Inanna,from the ancient Sumerian stories, who journeysto the underworld to rescue her beloved.

Jonas is, of course, in many ways followingthe traditional path of the hero. Ask students tothink about how his experiences are similar toLuke Skywalker’s, Theseus’s, or Jason’s. Youmay want to suggest that students watch StarWars again or read one of the Greek myths and compare and contrast Jonas with one of these other heroes. How are his conflicts and choices the same? How arethey different?


Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

The GiverBefore Reading the Book

Reading Strategy: Discovering What You Already Know

Take some time to think about this book. What do you already know about it or theauthor? What pops into your mind when you think about the title? You may know morethan you think you do about The Giver and author Lois Lowry. All readers bring theirown prior knowledge to a new book. Spend five minutes writing everything you knowabout this book and its author. Don’t censor yourself. Write as fast as you can.

Writing in Your Literature Response Journal

A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.

1. Look at the picture on the front cover. What does it make you think about? Whatdoes the picture remind you of?

2. Imagine you could create a perfect world. How would it be different from the worldyou live in right now? How would it be the same? Imagine yourself living thereand describe what an ordinary day would be like.

3. Do you have a grandparent or older person to whom you are close? What kind of stories have they told you? Write about some of the memories they have sharedwith you. Do you enjoy hearing their stories? Explain why or why not.

4. Describe one of your most precious memories. Include all the details of that day ormoment that you remember. Try to relive the event as you write about it.

5. Write about a time in your life when things changed. Maybe something happened toyou, such as a move or a divorce. Maybe something shifted inside you, and youlooked at the world around you differently. Describe what happened and how you felt.

B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections about thebook? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.

❒ Prediction ❒ Question ❒ Observation ❒ Connection

Literature Response Journal

13


Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

The GiverBefore Reading the Book

For Your Discussion Group

1. If you have read any other books by Lois Lowry,share your thoughts on them. Tell about the maincharacters, give a brief summary of the plot, andexplain how and why you responded to the book.

2. The Giver is set in a utopia, or a perfect world. If you have read any books (probably science fiction or fantasy) about utopias, tell the group briefly what these worlds were like.

3. As a group, design a perfect world of your own. Start by brainstorming a list of all theproblems in the world today that you would like to fix. Make a list of all the resources andstrengths of our society today, such as antibiotics or electricity, that you would like tokeep. (You may want one group member to be the secretary andwrite down all your ideas.)

4. With your list complete, you can now begin discussing yourperfect world. Consider questions such as the following:

• What would be the best kind of government?• What kind of rules and laws would there be?• What would families be like?• How would children, the sick, and old people be

cared for?• How would disagreements between people be handled?• How would people live together—in cities, in suburbs,

as nomads (wandering groups)?• How would people spend their days?

As a group, you will probably have many different answers to these questions. It is notnecessary that you decide upon one correct answer, but you must listen to each groupmember’s ideas so you can develop a broader, richer understanding of your own.

When you have finished talking about all of these questions and issues, take some timeand write in your notebook about your current ideas of the perfect world. It will probablybe different from what it was before the discussion. Some group members may also wantto draw pictures of their perfect worlds and share them.

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Remember,when you are brain-storming, the goal isto collect as manydifferent ideas aspossible and not tocomment on them.Everybody’s ideasshould be included.


Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

The GiverChapter 1

Reading Strategy: Asking Questions

When you begin reading a book, it is typical to have a lot ofquestions. You might be confused about who the characters areand what is happening. Write down your questions as you read and notice how many ofthem are answered by the end of the chapter. Record unanswered questions in your liter-ature response journal and take them to your discussion group.



1. “It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.”What do you notice about this opening sentence from The Giver? What kind of picture does it produce in your mind? What feeling does this sentence create? What observations can you make about the way this book begins?

2. Notice where Jonas lives. Where does this story take place? What kind of world isit? What can you tell from the first chapter about life in this world? Does it remindyou of anywhere else you’ve read about or experienced?

3. Based on your reading of the first chapter, what do you predict will happen in theupcoming chapters?

B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as youread? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.



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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

The GiverChapter 1


Lois Lowry does not explain exactly how her utopiais organized, but she does provide lots of clues inthis first chapter about what life is like for these people. For instance, she never actually says thereare no animals, but she does offer a conversationthat reveals this information:

“Animals?” Jonas suggested. He laughed.That’s right,” Lily said, laughing too. “Like animals.” Neither child knew whatthe word meant exactly . . .

• Find a short passage that you feel offers clues about the society in which Jonas lives.Share the passage with your group. Working together, use these to make inferencesabout this world.

• Discuss what you think about this vision of utopia so far. Record questions and comments from the group. (You may want to have one person in the group be the recorder.)

• Review your predictions about the book with the group.

Writer’s Craft: Synonyms

In the first chapter Jonas is very careful about the words he uses to describe his feelings.He is not frightened, he realizes at one point, but apprehensive. What is the differencebetween these two words? Think about a time when you felt frightened. How is that feel-ing different from feeling apprehensive? Talk about the differences between these words inyour group.

Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms. Nevertheless, while the mean-ings are close, they are not the same. What other words can your group think of that aresynonyms for the word frightened? Make up sentences using these synonyms. See ifyou can capture the special flavor of each word, as Jonas has done.

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

The GiverChapters 2–4

Reading Strategy: Visualizing

As you read, you are probably beginning to picture in your mind Jonas, his parents, andothers in the community. Take time now to visualize the characters and action so far,bringing the scenes of the story to life in your imagination.



1. How do you visualize Jonas and the rest of the community? Cut out pictures froma magazine of what you think the characters or certain locations look like, or drawcharacters and scenes in your journal as you imagine them.

2. What have you noticed about Jonas’s family? How is it organized? How do peopletreat each other? Think about your own family and other families you know.Describe them. What makes a family in our society? What makes a family inJonas’s community?

3. “ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER TO FEMALES UNDER NINE THAT HAIR RIBBONS ARE TO BE NEATLY TIED AT ALL TIMES.”

Rules govern every aspect of daily life in Jonas’s community. What rules have younoticed as you read, and what do you think about them? How do they remind youof any rules you must follow? What are some of the rules that people in our society are expected to obey? What are the purposes of those rules? How do oursociety’s rules differ from those in Jonas’s society?




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• Select a short passage that you particularly like or findintriguing in chapter 2, 3, or 4. (If more than one member of your group chooses the samepassage, that’s fine. The passage is probably particularly important to the story and worthhearing more than once.)

• Take turns sharing your passages. Spend 2–3 minutes discussing each passage. Keep trackof the time so everyone has a chance to share a passage and add to the discussion.Remember to give yourself time to really listen and appreciate the words of the book.

• After everyone has read a passage, begin your discussion. Talk about how and why youchose these particular passages, what ideas they contain, and why they might be impor-tant. Raise questions and explore possible answers.

• Discuss how these passages have reinforced or changed your predictions about the story.

Writer’s Craft: Context

“It was a minor rule, rather like rudeness, punishable only by gentle chastisement.”

One way to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to look at its context, or theideas or topics being talked about in the same sentence. Clearly, in the above sentence,chastisement has something to do with punishment and the breaking of rules. The chas-tisement is gentle because the rule was minor and unimportant. Based on these clues,what does your group think the word chastisement means?

Have one group member look up the word in a dictionary and read aloud its definition.How close was your definition? Did you understand the general feeling and meaning theauthor wanted to express by using this word?

Find the following words in chapters 2–4, and identify the context clues that help youunderstand the meaning of each word: adherence (chapter 2, p. 12), remorse (chapter 3,p. 23), tabulated (chapter 4, p. 28). Check the dictionary to see how close you are to theactual meanings.

Tip: Good readers do not stop and look up every unfamiliar word. Usually, they try to geta feeling for its meaning from context clues. Only when it seems very important to know aword’s precise meaning, is it necessary to stop reading and look it up.

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________


Reading Strategy: Making Inferences

At this point in the story, you have learned how the families arecreated and what routines they have; how children are educatedand prepared for the future; and what kind of rules people mustfollow. Sometimes, however, what an author does not say can beas powerful as what she or he does say. What hasn’t the authormentioned? What objects, routines, and activities in our lives are noticeably missing fromJonas’s? You might make the following inferences about the fact that there is no televisionin Jonas’s community: the people get no news from the outside world or they have noleisure or free time. List anything else you can think of that is missing from Jonas’s world.



1. Pick one or two items from the list you made for the reading strategy. Why did LoisLowry leave them out? What is she saying about this society by leaving out that item?

2. Jonas cannot stop thinking about what choice the Elders will make for his futurecareer. Do you have any idea yet about what you want to be when you become anadult? What particular talents and interests do you have? What profession makesuse of such skills? If your parents were going to decide your future, which career doyou think they would choose for you? Explain why they would make that choice.Would you agree or disagree with it?

3. Lily is looking forward to becoming a Nine and getting a bike. Have you ever had towait until you were a certain age before you received a specific thing or a privilege?Make a timeline showing the different things and activities that you were allowed todo as you got older.




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• Imagine your group is the Community of Elders decidingwhat Jonas’s future role in life will be. Imagine, too, that youhave been watching him very closely in order to makethis decision. What have you noticed about Jonas?What are his special aptitudes or abilities? Point toJonas’s actions and explain what kind of boy youthink he is. Use those actions to discuss what Jonas’scareer should be.

• Continue to predict what you think will happen next inthe story. Talk about your previous predictions. Has theway in which you make your predictions changed?

Writer’s Craft: Euphemisms

“Those who were released—even as newchildren—were sent Elsewhere and neverreturned to the community.”

Jonas is very precise about the language he uses. He always tries to find just the rightword to describe how he is feeling or what he is thinking. On the other hand, the com-munity itself uses language that is often vague and abstract such as released andElsewhere. Even Jonas himself asks at one point, “Where exactly did Roberto go?”

Words that hide rather than reveal what they are describing are called euphemisms.Euphemisms deliberately keep you from knowing much about what is being discussed.Usually they refer to subjects people don’t really want to talk about, such as death.People may say, for instance, that someone has “passed away.”

Euphemisms are often a way of being polite, but they can also be dangerous. As GeorgeOrwell, the author of 1984, pointed out, euphemisms can be used by governments tohide what they are really doing. What does your group think the word released in theabove passage really means?

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________


Reading Strategy: Making Predictions

Up to this point in the story you have probably beencurious about Jonas’s Assignment. You’ve probably beensearching for hints and clues in your reading to help youguess what it might be. Good readers are always think-ing about what is going to happen next in a story. Theypredict different possibilities and then revise the predic-tions as they read.



1. What is Jonas’s Assignment? What kind of clues have you picked up as you readthat hint at what might happen to him next? Make a prediction about what willhappen to Jonas.

2. Jonas must attend a ceremony before he receives his Assignment. Does the cere-mony remind you of any similar events that you have experienced? Describe aceremony you have participated in or watched. Compare and contrast it withJonas’s.

3. Before each Twelve receives his or her Assignment, the Chief Elder tells storiesabout that child. Imagine you are one of the New Twelves. What stories would theChief Elder tell about you?




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• Different jobs in this community have differentprestige or value. Which jobs seem to have theleast prestige, and why? What does that tell youabout the community? Besides Jonas’s job, whichother jobs seem to be important?

• He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared bythe current Receiver for the job which is the mosthonored in our community.

Why is the position of Receiver the most honored in the community? Think about yourown community. Which positions are the most honored? How would you comparethem to the position of Receiver in Jonas’s community?

• How successful do you think the Elders’ assignments will be? What assignment do youthink you would get if you lived in Jonas’s community?

Writer’s Craft: Exaggeration

Once when he had been a Four, he had said, just prior to the midday meal at school,“I’m starving.” Immediately he had been taken aside for a brief private lesson in language precision. He was not starving, it was pointed out. He was hungry. No one inthe community was starving, had ever been starving, would ever be starving. To say“starving” was to speak a lie.

Was Jonas lying when he said he was starving? Or rather, was he trying to emphasizehow he felt by exaggeration? He wasn’t just hungry, he was really, really hungry. Whatdo you think would have happened to Jonas if he’d said, “I’m hungry as a horse”?Would that have been considered to be a lie, too?

The precision for words that Jonas’s community stresses robs language of its color andpoetry. What kinds of exaggerations do you say during the day that, while not literallytrue, still capture what you think or feel? Discuss these with your group. Today, noticehow many exaggerations people say that would be considered lies in Jonas’s community.Record the exaggerations in your journals.

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________


Reading Strategy: Point of View

One thing to notice as you read is the point of view the author uses in telling the story. Somebooks have a first-person voice. If The Giver were told from Jonas’s point of view (“I did thisand thought this.”), it would have a first-person point of view. The narrator (or person tellingthe story) is not Jonas, however, but someone who knows what Jonas thinks and feels. Thisthird-person narrator is not a character in the book; it is the voice telling the story.

Lois Lowry has said that she couldn’t imagine writing The Giver from anything but thislimited omniscient viewpoint. This means that the narrator doesn’t know everything thatgoes on; the narrator’s knowledge is limited. As you read, notice what the narratorchooses to tell the reader and what the narrator doesn’t seem to know.

Writing in Your Reading Journal


1. How would the story be different if Jonas told it in his own words? What if the narratorwere completely omniscient and knew much more than everyone in the community?

2. Transmit one of your own memories. Write about it in such a way that the reader canfeel what you are describing. Use all your senses as you write to capture sights, sounds,flavors, textures, colors, and rhythms. Before you begin, reread how Lois Lowrydescribes Jonas’s first experience of snow. Notice all the different senses she captures.

3. In this section Jonas discovers colors for the first time. What would that be like?Take a walk and notice everything of one color. Write about your walk. You mightlike to make a collage from magazine pictures depicting what you saw.




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• Read the quote below from the book with your group. Eachgroup member should then make a list of all the choices—right or wrong—he or she makes each day.

“I can’t even imagine it. We really have to protectpeople from wrong choices.”

• Next, brainstorm with the group a list of choices you arefree to make in your lives. Then make a list of the choicesJonas has in his life. Compare the two lists.

• Finally, talk about the freedom of choice. You live in a country founded on the idea of per-sonal liberty, whereas Jonas lives in a community where he can decide almost nothing forhimself. Is it safer, as the people in Jonas’s community believe, to have no choice? Arethere choices people should not be allowed to make? Explain why or why not. As you dis-cuss this issue, remember to look at how Jonas himself is struggling with these questions.

Writer’s Craft: Names

The names that authors give their characters can be very powerful and often have spe-cial meaning. In 1984, for instance, the main character is called “Winston.” England’sprime minister at the time Orwell wrote the book was Winston Churchill. It seems Orwellhad something to say about this leader in his book. He may also have wanted readers tounderstand something else about the character, about what would have happened to agreat leader in this new country.

Jonas. Gabriel. Asher. Caleb. Could these names have any other meanings? Have you orother group members encountered them anywhere else? What have they meant in thoseother contexts? Explore the meaning of these names with your group. Look up thesenames in the encyclopedia, books about names, or on the Internet. Discuss what you find.

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________


Reading Strategy: Summarizing

At one point after The Giver transmits his favorite memory to Jonas, Jonas describes theexperience with just a few words—warmth, family, celebration. Jonas has summarizedthe memory; he has thought about what was the most important event and what werethe most important feelings of the scene.

After you finish reading a chapter, it can be helpful to summarize what you have justread. When you summarize a chapter, you will often find that you remember more of thebook than you ordinarily might have.



1. Try summarizing each of the following chapters: 14, 15, 16, and 17. Explain inone sentence the most important thing that happened in each chapter. Pick out afew words that capture the feeling of the chapter or the main idea.

2. Each day The Giver must decide what memory to give to Jonas. They are, ofcourse, not just his personal memories but also the collective memories of thewhole community, stretching far back in time. Choose something that has hap-pened in our country in the recent or far-off past and transmit that memory toJonas with words. Why have you chosen that event to give to him? What willJonas learn from it? How will it make him wiser?

3. Jonas spends all day with The Giver. What do you notice about their relationship?Jot down things they say to each other (or don’t say). Note how they act aroundeach other. What questions do you have about their relationship? How does it dif-fer from other relationships in the community?




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• Pain, suffering, and war have been eliminated from Jonas’s world. In your opinion isthis good? What does Lois Lowry seem to think? How have we tried to eliminate thesethings from our own world? What happens when we do? Think about what has hap-pened in Jonas’s world. How do you think his community has been able to eliminatepain and suffering? Could there be another way to accomplish this?

• One of the things Jonas comes to realize during his training with The Giver is thatnothing in his community can be changed. Neither he nor The Giver has that power.Think about how change is part of your life. Talk with the group about what life withno change might be like. Why is change important?

Writer’s Craft: Specialized Vocabulary

Sunshine. Colors. Love. Although they exist in Jonas’s world, people have no words forthem. Does this mean that people can’t see or experience these things? A person on awalk in the forest would see trees. Some people, however, would see maples, elms,chestnuts, hickory, and birch trees. Some people watching a basketball game see a lot ofpeople running around. Others notice layups, fouls, and fakes. When you have thewords for things, you notice those things in a different way.

Professions, such as medicine, usuallyhave a specialized vocabulary. Thinkof an activity—a sport or hobby youenjoy. What are all the special wordsassociated with it? Make a list of all thewords (especially nouns and verbs) thatyou need to know in order to describethe activity. Define these terms so thatsomebody who isn’t familiar with thatactivity can learn them. Share the listwith your group. Discuss the power ofwords as a form of communication.

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________


Reading Strategy: Cause and Effect

Events unfold as you read a book. To understand these events, it is helpful to recognize theactions that have brought them about (causes), and the results of these actions (effects).Good readers look for and analyze the causes and effects that link the events in a plot.



1. Think about the plan that The Giver and Jonas develop. What are the causes thatlead to this plan? What effect will the plan have?

2. Think about music and how much a part of your day it is. What kind of music doyou hear, and where do you hear it? What is your favorite kind of music? InChapter 20, it becomes clear that only The Giver can hear music. Why do youthink the community has no music? Why would it have been excluded from theirexperience?

3. Every reader brings unique thoughts and experiences to a story. Imagine you aresomeone else reading one of these chapters. Choose a chapter to reread, then read itfrom another point of view. Think about what that person would bring to the mate-rial and how he or she might respond. For example, you might read as a parent, agrandparent, an author, a politician, a women’s rights activist, an environmentalist,or a religious leader. What new perspective do you gain as you reread? What newthings do you notice about the story? What new questions and understandings doyou have?




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• The Giver tells Jonas aboutRosemary, and Jonas learns moreabout his father’s job. Pick one ofthese scenes and work together as agroup to act it out. You might have afew people act out the scene first,using the dialogue from the book.When you watch and listen to thescene, what new things do you notice about it? How do the actors feel when playingthe parts? What new things do they learn about the characters? What is the most powerful moment in each of these scenes?

• Make predictions about what will happen next in the book. Will Jonas be able toescape? What will happen to The Giver if he does? What will happen to Jonas’s family,especially Gabe, who has memories? What will happen to the community? Where willJonas be able to go? What will his future be like?

Writer’s Craft: Compound Words

A compound word is formed by putting two or more words together. The words grand-parents, anyone, cupboard, and afternoon are compound words. Can you find the twowords in each of them? When you come across an unfamiliar word, look to see if it is acompound word. Then find the words that form it. Use those words to help you figure outthe meaning of the compound word. For example, the word riverbank is made up of thewords river and bank so you can figure out that a riverbank is the bank or side of a river.

Notice as you read that Lois Lowry makes up some compound words. For instance, she usesthe words newchild and Elsewhere. Discuss why you think Lowry created these compoundwords. What kinds of feeling do these words suggest? How do they fit Jonas’s community?

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________


Reading Strategy: Drawing Conclusions

The ending of The Giver is deliberately ambiguous; it ispossible to read it in several different ways. Lois Lowryhas said that “each person will give it a different ending.”As you read it yourself, what do you think is happening and why? What informationfrom earlier in the book are you using to make sense of the ending? What conclusionsare you drawing about the ending?



1. What will become of Jonas and Gabe? Write your ideas about their future.

2. If you could give one thing to Jonas to take on his journey, what would it be?Explain your choice.

3. What will happen in Jonas’s old community? What changes will take place?




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Group Discussion

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________



• Read and discuss the following quote withyour group:

“Once he had yearned for choice. Then,when he had had a choice, he had madethe wrong one: the choice to leave.”

What do you think: Did Jonas make the right choice or the wrong choice in leaving? Inwhat ways would he have starved if he had stayed behind? Find at least one quotefrom the book to support your opinion.

• Your group is sure to want to talk about the ending of the book. As you discuss it,keep in mind the actual words of the story. Use quotes from the book to support yourideas. It might be helpful to begin by having one or two members read the last chapterout loud. You may notice details that you missed the first time. After the read-aloud,each group member should share a sentence from the last chapter that he or she thinksis particularly important.

Writer’s Craft: Connotations and Denotations

Lois Lowry has said that one of the most important things to do if you want to be awriter is to “love language.” Like a musician who enjoys playing different notes, a writerplays with words. He or she enjoys the many different meanings and takes pleasure inthe way the words sound.

Very often a writer uses words not only for their denotations (actual meaning), but alsofor their connotations (suggested meaning). Lowry, for example, uses these words inher descriptions of Jonas and Gabe in flight: stealthily, hunched, shadows, huddled. Thesewords are used for their connotations and suggest the dangerous, secret escape of the twofugitives. The choice of these words helps build the picture that the author wants you to“see” and feel.

With your group, look for other words that Lowry uses for their connotations. Decidewhat kind of feeling she is suggesting. Here are some words to start with—languid, cuddled, treacherously, wincing, churning, desperate, tortured.

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

The GiverAfter Reading

Lois Lowry says that she does not intentionally give a book a particular message, “It’snot something I put in there, it’s something that arises out of the story. I don’t sit downand think: this is what I want to convey to readers. I sit down and think: here is a neatstory to tell. And after I tell it, there are things in it that I wasn’t aware of putting in.”

The themes of a book are the major ideas that run throughout it. They are like the pat-terns in a piece of cloth—some are bold and some are subtle. Each reader sees differentpatterns.

To help you think about one of the themes in this book, do the activity below. Recordyour work in your literature response journal, and then discuss it in your literature circle.

• List the three or four most memorable scenes in the book. Don’t list scenes you thinkare most important but the ones that have stayed with you. For instance, one studentmight list the following:

1. when Jonas is able to transmit a memory and put Gabriel to sleep2. Asher being disciplined with the wand as a three-year-old3. Jonas’s father releasing the baby

• Now summarize each scene. Think of a few words that really capture what the scene isabout. For instance, for the above scenes, a student might write the following:

1. loving a baby, caring, peace2. a young child being hurt, pain3. a baby dying, cruelty

• Create a visual web of the connectionsamong the scenes you have chosen.Draw a circle for each scene and thenconnect the circles with lines to showwhat they have in common. Is thereone idea that connects them all?

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Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

Individual Projects

1. There are already hundreds of reviews for The Giver on www.amazon.com. Create a classroom anthology of the reviews for other students or friends who are thinking aboutreading this book.

2. Explore the possibilities of the hero archetype by writing your own heroic story. Create acharacter with certain strengths and weaknesses, decide upon a quest, invent opponentsand struggles, and help your hero towards eventual triumph. Share the story with yourgroup or send it to a literary magazine such as Merlyn’s Pen.

3. Jonas initially lives in a world without color, art, or music. How would you illustratescenes from this part of his life? How would your illustrations develop as the story continued and Jonas’s perception of the world changed as he journeyed to Elsewhere? Do five or more illustrations for the whole book.

Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________

Group Projects

1. After learning about utopias, members of your group may want to research how real culturesin different times and places have organized their governments, work, and families. Eachmember could choose a particular society to investigate.

Group members should try to look at communities from different eras and different places.Then they can report to the group what they’ve discovered. How does each culture balancethe interests of the individual and the group? As you learn about different ways of organiz-ing communities, your own ideas about utopia may change.

Finally, work together to devise your own utopia, borrowing freely from what you havelearned about other cultures and what you have come to appreciate about your own culture.

2. You can think of history as a collection of stories from many different people about whathappened in the past. From The Giver, Jonas receives the collective history of his people—the memories, the stories, the visions. As a group, you may want to talk with someadults about a particular event from the past, for instance, the Vietnam War or the GreatDepression. Initially, the group should learn some general information about the eventfrom a history book and then set out to collect personal memories. Collect all the storiesyou can. Put them into a book for the class to use and study.

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