Gathering Blue

from Wikipedia:
The central character, Kira, who has a twisted leg, is orphaned and must learn to survive in a society that normally leaves the weak or disabled exposed to die in the fields. In Gathering Blue, Kira needs a reason for the Council of Edifice to keep her in the village and not take her to the Field (which is certain death at the hands of The Beasts). Kira has a gift for embroidery, and the Council keeps her around to mend and update a beautiful robe that shows the history of their society. In the course of the book, she begins to learn the art of dyeing thread different colors, except for blue, which nobody in her community knows how to make. She also learns the truth of her village and the terrible secrets they hold.




Gathering Blue is the sequel to The Giver. There are more communities with different sets of rules and ways of being in the world created by Lois Lowry. Kira is orphaned, her father being killed by The Beasts when she was barely born; her mother through getting ill. Kira is strong-willed, yet has no one to speak for her. This story of a young girl discovering and uncovering her way through an often duplicitous world captures most people who read it. The created world is fraught with dangers.

Why read about dangerous worlds where innocence is challenged by power? Why are so many young people drawn to this story?

Dystopian Literature, The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.



The first dystopian labeled novel I read and discussed with my young daughter was The Giver. It now stands as one of the classics read and discussed in many 6th or 7th grade classrooms. The reading of it is easy; the understanding and content, not quite as much.

Jonas' world is controlled, safe, predictable. Families consist of people chosen to be together and young who are determined to be with the Nurturer parent. Jonas doesn't feel ready for the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve where he and those of his age will receive their community jobs/roles. Jonas becomes the Receiver ~ a role that only one person in a generation is ever assigned because that person carries forward the memories of the entire community. As he receives the memories from the Giver, he finds that his safe and comfortable world is really very dull.

Why would The Giver be read by 11- and 12-year-olds? What lessons could they learn about their world from reading about Jonas and his?

Dystopian Literature, Introduction

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopian_literature:

The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal society, or utopia, and the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of an utterly horrible or degraded society, or dystopia. many novels combine both, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take in its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other speculative fiction genres, and arguable are by definition a type of speculative fiction.

One thing I've observed over the years of raising a daughter to college age, is that dystopian literature is very much alive and a distinctly strong choice of reading for many young adults. The first one we read together was Lois Lowry's book The Giver. My daughter was perhaps in fourth or fifth grade. We read it together, went to a gathering with Lois Lowry, and later saw the world premier of the play.

The Giver is the beginning of a trilogy of a very different sort. Usually in trilogies, the timeline is nearly, if not perfectly, continuous from one volume to the next; but in Lowry's books, time passes between each of the volumes: The Giver, Gathering Blue and Messenger. In each of them, someone important gets injured or dies. That's one of the features of dystopian young adult literature. The young people who are the focal points of the novels go through tremendous losses ~ and still find reasons and the means to hope.

Have you read these novels? What do you think of them?