Customer Reviews (1)

Amazing Trilogy
Lois Lowry is one of those unique authors who has won the John Newbery Medal for children's literature twice. Once for the first book in this trilogy and once for a book about the Holocaust called Number the Stars. (Just as an aside only one other author has ever done that Madeleine L'Engle who I would also recommend highly.) I would begin by recommending any of her books; they are all worth the time and the effort.This trilogy is set in a post apocalyptic world. The first two books each focus on different community's who have recovered from the devastation differently, both have strengths and both have weaknesses. And a young boy must heal them both and the land if either is to survive.

The Giver
Lois Lowry
Laurel-Leaf Books
ISBN:0440219078

Jonas is a young boy who lives in a community with a lot of technology and many rules about it. He has only seen an airplane twice for planes were not suppose to over fly villages, it was against the rules. Children of the same age are raised together and each December they move up a grade, when the reach the age of twelve they are selected for occupational training Jonas in talking to his friend states about selections: "Jonas Shrugged. It didn't worry him, how could someone not fit in? The Community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made." However all the other Twelve's were assigned and Jonas was skipped then at the end of the ceremony it was announced that he had been selected he was chosen to become the `receiver of memory.' He was to learn all the history and story of the people and become an advisor to the council that ruled the village. It only happened every so many generations and only 1 keeper of memories was installed in each village. Jonas and his family take in an infant who is not maturing and growing quickly enough. The child is given a year extension, when the child is marked to me replaced (abandoned and killed). Jonas takes the child and runs away. Through the winter Jonas knows he will not make it and pours all the memories he has learnt into the child. But can he save the child? What will happen to him and his community? Jonas thought his world was perfect, that the elders had everything under control, that there would never be war again. But also a world without choices. Till he is given the knowledge of the past the choice to save a child or let it die?

Gathering Blue
Lois Lowry
Laurel-Leaf Books
ISBN:0440229499

Kira, is an orphan and she has a twisted leg, she lives in a village with very little technology and one that casts aside those who do not contribute. The weak, injured, and helpless are abandoned. However things are starting to turn around for Kira, she has been spared by the all powerful Council of Guardians, for she has a gift she is a weaver and can die cloths in ways no other in the community can. As an artisan she is installed in the palatial Council Edifice and spends the whole year working her trade, her primary task is to care for the Robe of Remembrance that tell's the story of this community. But with her privilege comes expectations that she will do the council biddings. She befriends a young boy and his ragged dog, Matty `The Fiercest of the Fierce'. Matt tells Kira about another village where people are not cast aside, where they share their food. Matt brings her a gift the color blue, and a blind man that is her father. She is torn between staying and leaving the life she knows, and the truths she can find out what will happen.

Messenger
Lois Lowry
Thomas Allen & Son
ISBN:0618404414

Matt has returned he is with Kira's father and living in the new community from beyond yonder. This village is guided by love and compassion, and guided by the `Leader' a seer arrived in this village one winter night many years ago on a sleigh with an older boy who did not survive the journey. The Seer can see the future and can often see for people what might be for his people. Matty is almost at the age where he will be named, he is hoping to be named `Messenger' for he takes message both in the village and to other villages which many can not do. But things are changing, the village is becoming hostile, starting to turn people away and the woods are becoming ferial and people are dieing. Can the Leader save the village, can the world be healed, what will happen to Kira, her father and Matty?

These three books will challenge you, after reading The Giver the first time I was overwhelmed and it haunted me for a long time. I went back and have reread it many many times. All three books raise questions about community, love, friendship, and care for other people. They also show dark paths that we as a people can go down, and how it can devastate all around us when we make the wrong choices for the wrong reasons. ... Read more

Product Description
In the second of what has become a well-loved series, 12-year-old Anastasia attempts to cope with growing up and living in the suburbs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great book
I read all of the Anastasia books and I give them all 5 stars.It's fun to go into Anastasia's thoughts because they are very clearly written. Another great Lois Lowry book! ... Read more

Product Description
Meet Lois Lowry, popular author two-time Newbery Award-winning author of Number the Stars, The Giver, the Anastasia Krupnick series, and lots more. In this warm, introspective look at Lois Lowry's life, kids will see how she incorporated events from her past into the stories she tells now. Photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best Book Ever!
This has to be one of my favorite books ever! I just loved the true accounts of all the events that happened to her. Even if you don't like her other novels, you'l love hearing about how she grew up in a 2 bedroom house in the ghetto with her mother, father, and 5 brothers and sisters. And how they struggled to buy simple things in life such as bread and milk. And I cried when I read of how Lois and her siblings had to eat on a rotation(Lois ate every Monday and Thursday). But as you read on, you see that she climbed her way up the ladder and is now a multi-millionare! Also there are some great pictures of her as a child, my favorite is the one of the little girl with the crooked legs. This is an amazing biography and it is definitely worth reading! ... Read more

Product Description
Lowry's third novel about J.P. and his sister has J.P. in love and doing all sorts of weird things, such as wearing deodorant and even telling a lie to impress Angela. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I say it's DUMB
At the starting he spends the first chapter looking for sunny
meadow deodorant!! How dumb is that?!?!?! and the whole story is
about him lying about haveing some cancerous disease!!!!

I'd say if your under ten you MIGHT like it.

wEs

Your Move J.P.
J.P. is a 12 year old boy that was never ever going to fall in love with a girl! Until Angela Patricia Golswerthy, the new girl in J.P.'s Math class with the British accent and golden blonde hair, turn's J.P.'s world upside down.He walks into walls, trips over his own feet, and starts to use deodorant!J.P. gets caught up in telling one little lie to impress Angela, and that little lie spins out of control for J.P. J.P. loves chess and building mechanical stuff from junk.He's very smart and kind of a nerd.Angela is the pretty new girl in school and very popular.And she tells a little lie of her own! It is a great story for both boys and girls.I like this book a lot.It was a funny story and I hope you give it a try.

Your Move J.P.
I think this book is terrific the kids play chess. In the book, J.P. the main character, likes this girl named Angela Patricia Galsworthy.Angela's dad is a doctor in this story.This book makes me laugh a lot and cry a little.If you want to read more about J.P. and his sister Caroline read these books "Switcharound" and "The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline".I think you would enjoy this book called "Your Move, J.P."

Pretty dumb.
I usually like Lowry books but this one was pathetic. Too slapstick, and would some author some day write a teenage book without boy-meets-girl?

A CHESS GAME OF IMPRESSIVE LIES
Twelve-year-old JP Tate is instantly love-struck by a new girl in his mathclass--blond, British,Angela who represents his ideal of physical andsocial perfection. This is a cute read which will appeal to middleschoolkids who wonder what it is like when you suddenly notice the opposite sex.Lowry's humor is delightful fluff; I enjoyed the Alphabetizing of PhysicalAilments (inspired by Ralph, the park bum), which our youthful protagonistexpands into Character Flaws. Many of the situations, conversations andexamples of adolescent logic are hilarious.

Warning--the theme isserious: don't get yourself entangled in a web of lies anddeceit--especially just to impress someone. True friends are those whoaccept you as you are and go all out to help you when you need it most. Thestory is school-oriented, with classroom dynamics, unusual homeworkassignments and special events at a small, private school. But really:walking golf bags?a chess game with the opponents wearing a ski mask andgoggles to spook each other?This pleasant, single-mother family isreprised in THE ONE HUNDREDTH THING ABOUT CAROLINE, which stars JP's brightyounger sister. Even adults can swallow this one and come up grinning! ... Read more