The Giver

*************Updated March 23, 2014*****************
Conversation with my son
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Lois Lowry
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Questions I have after rereading the story:
1.  Why is the mom okay with the father breaking the rules?  She just smiles when she learns that he has figured out the baby's name, Gabriel. 

2.  If Sameness is the goal, then why is it that when twins are born one of them is released?

3.  On page 43 Fiona says, "He's cute.  But I don't like his name very much."  Then Jonas is thinking, "It wasn't a great name Jonas, thought, like - well, like Gabriel, for example  But it was okay."  Doesn't sameness apply to names?

4.  If the children have not been exposed to warfare, how do they know how to play the war game?


*************January 24, 2014************************

Author:  Lois Lowry
Illustrator:  Bagram Ibatoulline
Published:  1993
Newbery Medal Winner

The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy who lives in a world where everything is the same.  There is no color, no love, no music, and no memories of the distant past.  The children all "celebrate" their birthdays on the same day in December and are presented with something each year to help keep the community the same and safe.  The children look forward to the 12th year because that is when they become adults and are assigned their jobs.  Anything that does not fit with the Sameness is released.  You'll have to read to figure out what it means to be released!

At his 12th year ceremony, Jonas does not get a job like everyone else, but is selected to be the The Receiver.  As The Receiver he will be given all of the memories from the distant past.  The focus throughout the book seems to be memories, but I don't think that is really what is important.  Yes, memories of love and even memories of dreams that could lead to relationships are taken from the people, but the memory of the life they are now living is not taken from the people.  As a matter of fact, the people celebrate those memories at the end of their lives with a celebration for the old right before they are released.  The really important idea in the book is choice.  The ability to choose which toys to play with, which job you'll get, which person you will marry, or even what clothes you will wear is taken from the community for the sake of Sameness and for the sake of avoiding problems in the community.  

The only person really given some choice in the community is The Receiver.  He has choice only because he knows there are other options, unlike everyone else in the community.  He realizes that there is color, he feels love and wants to feel love from others, and he realizes that differences are good.  The problem is that he lives in a place where he is the only one to realize it.  

This book reminded me of the quote - and sorry if I do not have it correct - "those that do not know history are destined to repeat it."  Well, whether or not you know history, you will repeat mistakes from the past, but whether or not you make the same mistake should be up to you.  The Elders in The Giver do not allow the mistakes from history to be made because everything is so controlled and if there is something that comes up from the past, then The Receiver can look back on history and help avoid the same mistakes.

The book also reminded me of the books from The Divergent series.  Everyone is grouped by their sameness and life as we know it today is unknown or Elsewhere.  Unlike the Divergent series though, this book ended with the possibility of something better.  

I will have my middle school son read this book.  I'm looking forward to discussing it with him and learning what the book makes him think/wonder.

Tuck Everlasting

Author:  Natalie Babbitt
Published: 1975

The idea of everlasting life is definitely not a new idea.  It is a fascinating
thinking about the possibility of living forever, perhaps finding the sorcerer's stone or getting a bite from a vampire.  This story has the Tuck family finding the "fountain of youth."

The story starts in August, "August is motionless and hot."  You get the impression that time is standing still.  It really is standing still for all of the main characters.  Winnie, a child, feels stuck in her own home and yard.  She rarely ventures out of her fenced yard, not even into the woods that are right next to her home and owned by her family.  It is in those woods that time actually stops for the Tuck family. 87 years earlier, that family had been walking through those woods and drank water from a brook bubbling under a giant ash tree. All four members of the family and the horse drank from the brook.  The cat did not drink and eventually died.  That was when the family realized that the water was what kept them young.  Each family member views this situation differently.  The mom, Mae, sometimes is able to forget, Jesse, the 17 year old boy, is enjoying his time, the older brother, Miles, suffers because he had a wife who left him and his children are now older than he is, and the father longs for his own death.  The family is very loving toward each other and they live simple lives because they must hide themselves from others.

One day, Winnie decides to leave her home and walk into the woods.  It is there that she meets Jesse and spots him drinking from the brook.  She is thirsty and wants a drink too, but he will not let her drink.  Then, with the help of Mae and Miles, Winnie is kidnapped.  They do not intend on keeping Winnie for very long, only long enough to share their secret and explain to her that she should stay away from the brook.  Immortality is not all it is cracked up to be.

A stranger overhears Mae, Miles, and Jesse explaining the brook and everlasting life to Winnie.  He decides that he wants to own the woods and the brook and to become rich from the fountain of youth.  He visits Winnie's family and explains that he knows where she is and will save her if the family gives him the woods.  They agree. 

The Tuck's must find a way to keep their secret and to keep Winnie from drinking the water.  The Tucks are doomed to live forever, but they are compassionate and do not want others to suffer their same fate.

The descriptions in the story make it so easy to visualize.  I can easily imagine the Tuck's cottage, see the dust, smell the couch, and feel the love in their home.  I can understand how Winnie comes to love her captors because they are good people and only want what is best for others.

I would recommend this book for higher level readers in the 3rd grade or for a read-aloud in class.  The writing is not complicated and the main ideas are entertaining:  compassion, family, immortality. 

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It Should Have Won a Newbery
Study Guide
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The One and Only Ivan

Author:  Katherine Applegate
Illustrator: Patricia Castelao
Published: 2012
Newbery Medal Winner

 Katherin Applegate is like the Lorax, she speaks for animals!  This story is fiction, but some of the characters in her story are based on actual animals and their experiences.

Ivan is a silverback gorilla who has been on display at a mall for years.  He had been born in the wild, but one day he and his sister, Tag, were captured.  While holding Ivan and Tag, his mother was killed and then his father was also killed.  His parents had their hands, feet, and heads chopped off.  Ivan saw an ash tray sold at a shop next to his cage.  The ash tray was a gorilla hand.

Bob and Ivan's stuffed animal, No-Tag

Mack purchases Ivan and keeps him in his home.  Ivan is treated like a child, he is taken to McDonald's is dressed in clothes, and rides in a convertible. Ivan becomes too big eventually to keep in the house so he becomes an exhibit at the mall.  He becomes the Gorilla at Exit 8.

Ruby and Aunt Stella

Ivan lives at this zoo with a few other animals, including a dog named Bob and an elephant named Stella.  George cares for the animals at Mack's zoo and cleans their "domains" or cages.  Julia is George's daughter and she works on her homework and artwork while her father works at the mall zoo.

Business is not going well at the zoo so Mack decides to make a new purchase, a baby elephant named Ruby.  Ruby and Stella form a strong bond and Stella becomes Aunt Stella.  Unfortunately, Stella has an injury on her foot that Mack has refused to treat because it costs money and ends up costing Stella her life.  Before she dies, Ivan promises Stella that he will care for Ruby and give her a better life, a life that does not involve the mall zoo.

The rest of the story is about Ivan's struggle to keep his promise to Stella.

The pictures in the book are soft and rounded.  It is how I would describe the animal characters in this book - soft.  I didn't expect all of the animals to be so kind and caring towards each other.  Emotion is evident on the animals' faces and I felt for the animals.  I was not expecting to like a book with talking animals, but I did.  This is a book that needs to be in my classroom library.  My students will want to read this book.

I'm sorry that I read this book so quickly.  I'm rushing through books to make sure I read everything I need to read for class, but I'd like to read  through many of these more slowly and savor each one.  This is another one on my list for this summer!

Ivan

The big push in our district now is project-based learning.  This book would be great for the beginnings of a project.  Children love animals and are always willing to help them.  We could read this book and then research animals that need our help, either locally or not and then design a project, like Julia from the book, to help an animal in need.

Check this book out from your library.
Watch a trailer for the book!
Watch Katherine Applegate answer questions.
The One and Only Ivan lesson plans 
NPR Interview:  Meet the Real Ivan 
Learn about another famous gorilla:  Koko

Mary Poppins

Author: P.L. Travers
Illustrator: Mary Shepard
Published: 1934

This book is SO much better than the movie.  I like this Mary Poppins more than the Julie Andrews version who always seemed so fake to me.  This Mary Poppins, although a bit vain, is interesting, strict with the children, but the children know where they stand with her.

There are some line drawings in the book so we do get to see Mary Poppins and the children.  I do not get the impression that Mary Poppins was as lovely as the character in the movie, but this Mary Poppins is overly concerned with her appearance.  She spends a lot of time looking at herself in mirrors and windows.  This characteristic of Mary Poppins is a bit confusing.  I do not see why it is mentioned so much or why it is even in the story.  I might need to read more of the books.

The book also does not deal with the parents as much as the movie does.  The movie has Mary Poppins entering the lives of the children because their parents aren't very attentive.  We do not hear enough about the parents in this book to get that same feeling - lack of attentiveness, but maybe not mentioning them as much should lead me to that same conclusion.  I don't know.

I only read the first book and I could definitely see bits and pieces of the book in the movie, but the book had much more exciting events.  Mary Poppins blows into the lives of Jane and Michael Banks.  Literally, she blows in with the East wind and plans on staying until the direction of the wind changes.  She is the children's nanny and takes them on a trip around the world, takes them to a magical bakery that has real stars on the packaging which Mary Poppins then glues back into the sky, she takes them to the zoo in the middle of the night to celebrate her birthday, and she introduces the children to Maia, one of the stars in the Pleiades group of stars.

I'm left wanting to learn more about Mary Poppins.  How does she know the women at the magical bakery?  Why can she speak to animals, the wind, and sunlight?  How can she be related to Mr. Wigg and to Hamadryad?  I'm not sure if any of these questions are answered in any of the other books, but I hope so.

I will read this book aloud to my students.  It is the type of book that the students will want to pick up and read too.  So, even if I don't get to the other books, I know that the students will read on and tell me more.  I'm looking forward to reading or learning about the next adventures and people the children encounter with Mary Poppins

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