The Giver
25th Anniversary Edition (Giver Quartet)
by Lois Lowry
4 more
More Recommenders
“Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it?s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it’s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Great call for #TheGiverMovie coming this year. Amazing book and going to be an amazing movie. Meryl… | Literally like the book “The Giver”. Wow… Never did I think years ago this would actually happen in the world.”
Source →“Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it?s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it’s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Great call for #TheGiverMovie coming this year. Amazing book and going to be an amazing movie. Meryl… | Literally like the book “The Giver”. Wow… Never did I think years ago this would actually happen in the world.”
Source →“Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it?s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it’s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Great call for #TheGiverMovie coming this year. Amazing book and going to be an amazing movie. Meryl… | Literally like the book “The Giver”. Wow… Never did I think years ago this would actually happen in the world.”
Source →“Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it?s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it’s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Great call for #TheGiverMovie coming this year. Amazing book and going to be an amazing movie. Meryl… | Literally like the book “The Giver”. Wow… Never did I think years ago this would actually happen in the world.”
Source →Recommended by 6 notable people, including Sophie Bakalar and Aaron Rodgers
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Lois Lowry uses spare, plain prose to center a single conceit: a supposedly ideal community that controls emotion and memory. The story follows twelve-year-old Jonas as small revelations accumulate into a sharp ethical dilemma, which makes the book useful for conversation and classroom discussion. Its limitation is emotional restraint and deliberate vagueness—many details and characters stay underdefined—so readers who want rich sensory worldbuilding or a tidy conclusion may feel unsatisfied.
Read this if...
- •a middle-school ELA teacher planning a two-week unit on dystopia who needs a short, discussion-ready text with clear moral hooks
- •a teen reader (13–16) curious about speculative fiction and ethical puzzles who prefers concise language and ideas over long plots
- •a community book-club leader arranging a single-session pick that will spark debate about trade-offs between safety and freedom
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when the prose stays emotionally muted and characters feel thin—readers seeking vivid character psychology often lose interest by the midpoint
- •annoying if you prefer action-heavy pacing or dense, detailed worldbuilding; the narrative focuses on implication rather than spectacle
- •avoid if you want tidy answers—the ending is ambiguous and leaves moral questions open, which can feel unsatisfying if you need closure
Twelveyearold Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community....
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a middle-school ELA teacher planning a two-week unit on dystopia who needs a short, discussion-ready text with clear moral hooks
- a teen reader (13–16) curious about speculative fiction and ethical puzzles who prefers concise language and ideas over long plots
- a community book-club leader arranging a single-session pick that will spark debate about trade-offs between safety and freedom
- you'll likely put it down when the prose stays emotionally muted and characters feel thin—readers seeking vivid character psychology often lose interest by the midpoint
- annoying if you prefer action-heavy pacing or dense, detailed worldbuilding; the narrative focuses on implication rather than spectacle
- avoid if you want tidy answers—the ending is ambiguous and leaves moral questions open, which can feel unsatisfying if you need closure
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 6 sources and appears in Childrens Books From The 90s, Young Adult, and Fiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Anna Khait
“Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it?s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Anyway, I was quite young when I read it (9 11 at the outside) and it’s a book that has haunted me ever since. As a very anxious child, I totally understood the comfort of a life where everyone fits in and nothing surprising happens. Until shit goes south, of course. | Great call for #TheGiverMovie coming this year. Amazing book and going to be an amazing movie. Meryl… | Literally like the book “The Giver”. Wow… Never did I think years ago this would actually happen in the world.”
View sources (4) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. Recommended by 3 sources.
“Margaret Atwood returns to a previously established dystopian setting and follows three female narrators whose written accounts drive forward the plot and reveal consequences fifteen years later. The novel is more overtly plot-focused than elliptical, trading some of the earlier novel's atmosphere for clearer narrative payoff and political maneuvering. Strength lies in the shifting viewpoints and courtroom/testimony feel that accelerate toward a tidy resolution. Limitation: readers seeking subtlety or lean lyricism will find recurring exposition and occasional moralizing that slows the momentum.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.