The Giver

For Young Adult Reading

Lois Lowry speaks

about “The Giver”

Why did Lois Lowry write this book?

Why is this book on the top 100 most challenged books in America list?

The Perfect World

• What is a Utopia?

• What is a Dystopia?

Rules

• Write at least 3 rules that you have noticed in the community.

• Then tell me why you think these rules are important in the community.

Chapters 1-2

Assignments

• List at least three assignments that have been mentioned in the book so far.

• Which of the assignments, if you had to choose, would best fit your personality?

• What do the assignments tell you about the community?

Chapter 3-4

Flip chart

Choices• What choices can the citizens in this community make?

What do these choices tell us about what is important to the community?

• Are there choices you can make at home or school? How are these choices different then the ones Jonas can make?

After Chapter 5

CeremonyCeremony is defined as: the formal activities conducted on

some solemn or important public or state occasion http://dictionary.reference.com/

What types of ceremonies have you attended in your life? What stands out to you as important about each of the ceremonies?

Chapter 6

Ceremony

Ceremony is defined as: the formal activities conducted on some solemn or important public or state occasion http://dictionary.reference.com/

What types of ceremonies have you attended in your life? What stands out to you as important about each of the ceremonies?

Chapter 6

Assigned vs. Selected

• Assign- to give out or announce as a task

• Select-to choose in preference to another or others; pick out.

Jonas was selected not assigned. Based on the above definitions, tell me why you think the Chief Elder made it a point to use a different word.

Character Chart

Chapter 8

Ceremony of 12Dear Student, Today you will go through the Ceremony of Twelve and you will be assigned a

job from the world of “The Giver.” You will be given the opportunity to write about your feelings after being given this Assignment. Finally, we will have a sharing of feelings as a class.

Thank you for your childhood! Mrs. Salvatore

As you write your response to your Assignment, you will answer the following questions in paragraph format.

• Introduce me to your Assignment. What job have you been assigned? What activities will you be expected to perform for this job?

• Tell me about your views of this job. Do you think you will enjoy this job? Do you think this will be a job you will be able to do successfully?

• Tell me whether or not you think this job fits your personality. Do you think your personality fits with what you will be required to do?

• Imagine if you were assigned this job in “real” life, then tell me about what you think would be the best thing about having this job and what would be the worst thing about having this job.

• Your written response should be a minimum of 8 sentences.

after Chapter 8

After ch. 9 create book of rules

Conflict• Person vs Person

– 2 people who have issues to resolve between them.

• Person vs Themselves– Internal conflict. Individual has a problem to resolve with themselves.

• Person vs Unknown– Something in their future they have conflict with.

• Person vs Nature– The person is threatened by or must survive/defeat a natural

occurrence. (i.e., surviving a tornado)

• Person vs Society– One person against their respective society.

• Person vs Supernatural– May also be Person vs God, but can include monsters, aliens,

demons, etc. Anything not inside the character’s “realm”.

Plot Development Techniques

• Foreshadowing– Clues from the author that something was

going to happen or that something was not quite “right”.

• Suspense– The author makes us wait to see what

happened.

Plot Development Techniques

• Mood– Emotions the reader experiences while

reading the novel.

• Flashback– An event in the novel where the author took

us back to something that happened before the action of the novel.

Color

Jonas now understands that he can see COLOR.

The Giver explains that one time everything had a

quality called color, but that when they went to

Sameness the colors went away.

• What do you think about their decision to lose color?

• If they lost color, what do you think they gained?

After Chapters12 and 13

Symbolism with Color

What is Symbolism?

What is you favorite color?

You will group yourselves according to your favorite color.

What does your choice say about you?

Symbolism in the novel

MemoriesThe memories Jonas receives are very detailed. These details give the reader a mental picture of what is happening. These pictures are created using Imagery.

Chapter 11, 14

• Write down at least 3 of the phrases from Chapter 11 or Chapter 14 that help you create a mental picture.

• Tell me which of the five senses you used to create the image of this scene.

Family Tree after ch. 14

Human dystopiahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU

Choices- Revisited

• Now that we know a little more about the choices that were made for the community, let’s talk a little bit about the positives and negatives of:– Climate Control– Sameness– Assignments– Matching of Spouses– Family Units

Memories: The Good and The Bad

• Now that we have seen that not all the memories are good, does that change your views on the need for one person to “hold” all the memories for the community?

• Why do you think Jonas’ first lie to his parents was important?

• What do you think Jonas means when he tells Gabe that things could change?

Climax

• Why is Chapter 19 a turning point in the book?

• What do you think will be the outcome of this new realization?

• What would you do?

Final Thoughts

• Given what you know now about utopias and dystopias, how would you classify Jonas’ community? Give me at least two reasons for your choice.

• How does this book effect your views of a perfect world?

• Why do you think this book has been challenged by so many people?