Hintz, Carrie and Elaine Ostry. �Interview with Lois Lowry, Author of The Giver.�
Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults. Children�s Lit. and Culture 29. Ed. Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry. New York: Routledge, 2003: 196-99. In this interview, Lois Lowry discusses The Giver and Gathering Blue in terms of her inspiration and intent. While denying she was consciously influenced by Huxley�s Brave New World or Orwell�s 1984, Lowry admits that elements of both novels are certainly present in her writing. She insists that she does not purposely include political statements in her writing, but recognizes that such themes are often inherent in the subject of her work. However, she does admit that she emphasizes the importance of choice. Lowry expresses her hope that after reading these novels, young adults will learn to question the world around them.
Latham, Don. �Discipline and Its Discontents: A Foucauldian Reading of The Giver.�
Children�s Literature 32 (2004): 134-51. Project Muse. 15 November 2004
Latham uses Michel Foucault�s social philosophy as the basis for his claim that The Giver allows young adult readers to experience first-hand the way in which power structures operate within a given society. He compares Lowry�s novel to other dystopian novels, namely Aldous Huxley�s Brave New World and George Orwell�s 1984, throughout his article. Latham assesses The Giver�s main purpose as a call for social change. Indeed, Latham claims that The Giver �both depicts and critiques [�] power structures that permeate society� (149). According to
Latham, The Giver uses various forms of discipline, punishment, resistance, and rupture to reinforce its message.
Levy, Michael M. �Lois Lowry�s The Giver: Interrupted Bildungsroman or Ambiguous Dystopia?� Foundation 70 (1997): 50-57.
Instead of categorizing Lois Lowry�s The Giver into any single genre, Levy claims that The Giver �clearly has a
bildungsroman component, but it also makes use of another of science fiction�s favorite tropes,� namely, �ambiguous utopia or, perhaps, an ambiguous dystopia� (50-51). Levy demonstrates his argument by thoroughly examining The Giver in terms of its likeness to a typical bildungsroman model; he claims that while a utopia remains static, a bildungsroman, �by its very nature implies change� (54). Levy summarizes the basic plot of The Giver, then goes on to compare it to Aldous
Huxley�s Brave New World and George Orwell�s 1984
LoisLowry.com. 2002. Interact. 15 Nov 2004 http://www.loislowry.com/
This website offers much more than just a comprehensive listing of Lowry�s work. It is a user -friendly site that offers extensive information on Lois Lowry. Lowry offers an in- depth autobiographical sketch, a humorous F. A. Q�s page, and a link to an interview conducted in her own home. She also provides a list of her Newbery Award winners, and a link to several speeches she has made. She also offers a link to her personal schedule which includes information about her upcoming appearances. For those who wish to contact her, she includes her email address.
Lowry, Lois. Gathering Blue. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2000. http://www.loislowry.com/gathering.html
Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future. Her neighbors are hostile and no one but a small boy offers to help. When she is summoned to judgment by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life. But the Council, to her surprise, has plans for her. Blessed with an almost
magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a
set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever. A compelling examination of a future society, Gathering Blue challenges readers to think about community, creativity, and the values that they have learned to accept.
Once again Lois Lowry brings readers on a provocative journey that inspires contemplation long after the last page is turned.
Lowry, Lois. Messenger. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2V1zfs0AL4&isbn=0618404414&itm=1
Strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village's closing and try to convince Seer's daughter to return with him before it's too late. But Forest has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand.
Lowry, Lois. Newberry Acceptance Speech. June 1994. In her speech accepting the Newbery Medal for her 1993
success, The Giver, Lois Lowry addresses the question of where she came up with
the subject of her award-winning novel. Attributing her ideas to the many rivers of
memory that coexist within her subconscious, Lowry goes on to describe key
memories that influenced her story. She discusses her time spent in an
American community just outside Shibuya, Japan, mentions roommates from her college days, and pays tribute to a painter who inspired her to look at color in a new way. Lowry then speaks of love and loss within her own family, and relates it to the human condition. She claims that to forget pain is to be comfortable, but suggests that doing so may be dangerous. She relates this idea to the theme of The Giver. By reading excerpts from letters she received in response to the Giver�s ambiguous ending, she demonstrates The Giver�s power to communicate the
power of individual choice.
Lowry, Lois. �The Beginning of Sadness.� Ohio Library Educational Media Association Annual Convention. Columbus. Nov. 2001. http://www.loislowry.com/pdf/Beginning_of_Sadness.pdf
Just two short months after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Lois Lowry addressed the Ohio Library Educational Media Association on integral role of teachers in times of national uncertainty. She mentions her love for the Billy Collins, the United State�s Poet Laureate, who wrote a poem about coming of age which inspired the title of Lowry�s speech. Lowry demonstrates her acute awareness of the effect national turmoil has upon young minds, and urges teachers to encourage students to read as a means to help sort through their confusion.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993. http://www.loislowry.com/giver.html
"It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened" (1). Thus opens this haunting novel in which a boy inhabits a seemingly ideal world: a world without conflict, poverty, unemployment, divorce,
injustice, or inequality. It is a time in which family values are paramount, teenage rebellion is unheard of, and even good manners are a way of life. December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve year old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man -the man called only the Giver -he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world. Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.
Sambell, Kay. �Presenting the Case for Social Change: The Creative Dilemma of Dystopian Writing for Children.� Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults. Children�s Lit. and Culture 29. Ed. Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry. New York: Routledge, 2003: 163-78.
Sambell discusses the controversy surrounding the dystopian genre, claiming that dystopias generate such debate due to its failure to comply with the traditional convention of happily ever after. Although she recognizes the somewhat bleak depiction of the future that is characteristic of dystopian literature for young adults, Sambell defends the genre, claiming that its value lies in its severe honesty. She argues that dystopian literature warns developing minds of the consequences future generations will
endure if the current generation fails to recognize the destructive patterns of current
human behavior. With that in mind, she claims the genre forces young adults not
only to recognize the need for social change, but to actively participate in the effort
toward a better society.
Teenreads.com. 2004. 15 Nov 2004 http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-lowry-lois.asp
Instead of offering an extensive catalogue of Lowry�s works, this site focuses on The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger. It offers access to reading guides for both The Giver and Gathering Blue, includes a brief biographical sketch of
Lowry, and posts two thought-provoking interviews in which Lowry discusses her motives for writing all three novels.
Totaro, Rebecca Carol Noel. �Suffering in Utopia: Testing the Limits in Young Adult Novels.� Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults. Children�s Lit. and Culture 29. Ed. Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry. New York: Routledge, 2003: 127-38.
Totaro begins her article by identifying the differences between a utopia and a dystopia, characterizing a utopia as an idyllic, harmonious world with a threat of suffering, whereas a dystopia is marked by an immense
amount of suffering within an otherwise ideal world. She includes Madeline L�Engle�s A Wrinkle in Time, Lois Lowry�s The Giver and Gathering Blue, J. K. Rowling�s Harry Potter and the Philosopher�s Stone, and Sonia Levitin�s The Cure in her exploration of how and why a severely flawed society can be mistaken for an idyllic community. Through these novels, Totaro demonstrates that dystopian literature for young adults centers around a protagonist whose self-
discovery results in a profound desire for social change.