Literature
Circle Guide:
The Giver
by Perdita Finn
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Scholastic Inc. grants teachers permission to photocopy the reproducibles from this book for classroom
use. No other part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval
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Guide written by Perdita Finn
Edited by Sarah Glasscock
Cover design by Niloufar Safavieh
Interior design by Grafica, Inc.
Interior illustrations by Mona Mark
Credits: Jacket cover from THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. Used by permission of Dell Books, a division
of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
Copyright © 2001 by Scholastic Professional Books. All rights reserved.
ISBN 0-439-04391-3
Printed in the U.S.A.
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Contents
To the Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Using the Literature Circle Guides in Your Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Setting Up Literature Response Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Good Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About The Giver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
About the Author: Lois Lowry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Enrichment Readings: The Utopian Novel, The Oral Tradition, The Hero’s Journey . . . . 10
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Before Reading the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Group Discussion Reproducible: Before Reading the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 5-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 5-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 7-9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 7-9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 10-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 10-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 14-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 14-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 18-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 18-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Literature Response Journal Reproducible: Chapters 21-23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Group Discussion Reproducible: Chapters 21-23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Reproducible: After Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Reproducible: Individual Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Reproducible: Group Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Literature Discussion Evaluation Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
To the Teacher
As a teacher, you naturally want to instill in your
students the habits of confident, critical, independent, and lifelong readers. You hope that even
when students are not in school they will seek out
books on their own, think about and question
what they are reading, and share those ideas with
friends. An excellent way to further this goal is by
using literature circles in your classroom.
A Allow three or four weeks for students to read
each book. Each of Scholastic’s Literature
Circle Guides has ten sections as well as
enrichment activities and final projects. Even if
students are reading different books in the
Literature Circle Guide series, they can be
scheduled to finish at the same time.
A Create a daily routine so students can focus
In a literature circle, students select a book to
read as a group. They think and write about it on
their own in a literature response journal and then
discuss it together. Both journals and discussions
enable students to respond to a book and develop
their insights into it. They also learn to identify
themes and issues, analyze vocabulary, recognize
writing techniques, and share ideas with each
other—all of which are necessary to meet state
and national standards.
on journal writing and discussions.
A Decide whether students will be reading books
in class or for homework. If students do all
their reading for homework, then allot class
time for sharing journals and discussions. You
can also alternate silent reading and writing
days in the classroom with discussion groups.
Read More About
Literature Circles
This guide provides the support materials for
using literature circles with Maniac Magee by
Jerry Spinelli. The reading strategies, discussion
questions, projects, and enrichment readings will
also support a whole class reading of this text or
can be given to enhance the experience of an
individual student reading the book as part of a
reading workshop.
Getting the Most from Literature Groups
by Penny Strube (Scholastic Professional
Books, 1996)
Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels
(Stenhouse Publishers, 1994)
Literature Circles
A literature circle consists of several students
(usually three to five) who agree to read a book
together and share their observations, questions,
and interpretations. Groups may be organized
by reading level or choice of book. Often these
groups read more than one book together since,
as students become more comfortable talking
with one another, their observations and
insights deepen.
When planning to use literature circles in your
classroom, it can be helpful to do the following:
A Recommend four or five books from which
students can choose. These books might be
grouped by theme, genre, or author.
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Using the Literature Circle
Guides in Your Classroom
If everyone in class is reading the same book,
you may present the reading strategy as a minilesson to the entire class. For literature circles,
however, the group of students can read over and
discuss the strategy together at the start of class
and then experiment with the strategy as they
read silently for the rest of the period. You may
want to allow time at the end of class so the
group can talk about what they noticed as they
read. As an alternative, the literature circle can
review the reading strategy for the next section
after they have completed their discussion. That
night, students can try out the reading strategy
as they read on their own so they will be ready
for the next day’s literature circle discussion.
Each guide contains the following sections:
A background information about the author
and book
A enrichment readings relevant to the book
A Literature Response Journal reproducibles
A Group Discussion reproducibles
A Individual and group projects
A Literature Discussion Evaluation Sheet
Background Information and
Enrichment Readings
◆ Literature Response Journal Topics
A literature response journal allows a reader to
“converse” with a book. Students write questions,
point out things they notice about the story, recall
personal experiences, and make connections to
other texts in their journals. In other words, they
are using writing to explore what they think
about the book. See page 7 for tips on how to help
students set up their literature response journals.
The background information about the author and
the book and the enrichment readings are designed
to offer information that will enhance students’
understanding of the book. You may choose to
assign and discuss these sections before, during, or
after the reading of the book. Because each enrichment concludes with questions that invite students
to connect it to the book, you can use this section
to inspire students to think and record their
thoughts in the literature response journal.
1. The questions for the literature response
journals have no right or wrong answers but
are designed to help students look beneath the
surface of the plot and develop a richer connection to the story and its characters.
Literature Response Journal
Reproducibles
2. Students can write in their literature response
journals as soon as they have finished a reading
assignment. Again, you may choose to have students
do this for homework or make time during class.
Although these reproducibles are designed for
individual students, they should also be used to
stimulate and support discussions in literature
circles. Each page begins with a reading strategy
and follows with several journal topics. At the bottom of the page, students select a type of response
(question, prediction, observation, or connection)
for free-choice writing in their response journals.
3. The literature response journals are an excellent
tool for students to use in their literature circles.
They can highlight ideas and thoughts in their
journals that they want to share with the group.
4. When you evaluate students’ journals,
consider whether they have completed all the
assignments and have responded in depth and
thoughtfully. You may want to check each day
to make sure students are keeping up with the
assignments. You can read and respond to the
journals at a halfway point (after five entries)
and again at the end. Some teachers suggest
that students pick out their five best entries
for a grade.
◆ Reading Strategies
Since the goal of the literature circle is to empower
lifelong readers, a different reading strategy is
introduced in each section. Not only does the
reading strategy allow students to understand this
particular book better, but it also instills a habit of
mind that will continue to be useful when they
read other books. A question from the Literature
Response Journal and the Group Discussion pages
is always tied to the reading strategy.
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
4. It can be helpful to have a facilitator for each
discussion. The facilitator can keep students from
interrupting each other, help the conversation get
back on track when it digresses, and encourage
shyer members to contribute. At the end of each
discussion, the facilitator can summarize everyone’s
contributions and suggest areas for improvement.
Group Discussion Reproducibles
These reproducibles are designed for use in literature circles. Each page begins with a series of
discussion questions for the group to consider. A
mini-lesson on an aspect of the writer’s craft
follows the discussion questions. See page 8 for
tips on how to model good discussions for students.
5. Designate other roles for group members. For
instance, a recorder can take notes and/or list
questions for further discussion. A summarizer
can open each literature circle meeting by summarizing the chapter(s) the group has just read.
Encourage students to rotate these roles, as well
as that of the facilitator.
◆ Literature Discussion Questions: In a
literature discussion, students experience a book
from different points of view. Each reader brings
her or his own unique observations, questions,
and associations to the text. When students
share their different reading experiences, they
often come to a wider and deeper understanding
than they would have reached on their own.
◆ The Writer’s Craft: This section encourages
students to look at the writer’s most important
tool—words. It points out new vocabulary,
writing techniques, and uses of language. One
or two questions invite students to think more
deeply about the book and writing in general.
These questions can either become part of the
literature circle discussion or be written about in
students’ journals.
The discussion is not an exercise in finding
the right answers nor is it a debate. Its goal is
to explore the many possible meanings of a
book. Be sure to allow enough time for these
conversations to move beyond easy answers—
try to schedule 25–35 minutes for each one. In
addition, there are important guidelines to ensure
that everyone’s voice is heard.
1. Let students know that participation in the
literature discussion is an important part of their
grade. You may choose to watch one discussion
and grade it. (You can use the Literature
Discussion Evaluation Sheet on page 33.)
Literature Discussion
Evaluation Sheet
Both you and your students will benefit from
completing these evaluation sheets. You can use
them to assess students’ performance, and as
mentioned above, students can evaluate their own
individual performances, as well as their group’s
performance. The Literature Discussion Evaluation
Sheet appears on page 33.
2. Encourage students to evaluate their own
performance in discussions using the Literature
Discussion Evaluation Sheet. They can assess
not only their own level of involvement but also
how the group itself has functioned.
3. Help students learn how to talk to one
another effectively. After a discussion, help them
process what worked and what didn’t. Videotape
discussions if possible, and then evaluate them
together. Let one literature circle watch another
and provide feedback to it.
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Setting Up Literature
Response Journals
note the style of an author’s writing or the voice
in which the story is told. A student just starting
to read The Giver might write the following:
Although some students may already keep
literature response journals, others may not know
how to begin. To discourage students from merely
writing elaborate plot summaries and to encourage them to use their journals in a meaningful
way, help them focus their responses around the
following elements: predictions, observations,
questions, and connections.
This book begins in December, and I can
sense that Jonas is apprehensive. I think the
place Jonas lives is scary! There are weird
rules and voices over loud speakers that
give orders. I notice Jonas and his family
really talk about their feelings. I don’t think
being released is a good thing.
◆ Questions: Point out that good readers don’t
Have students take time after each assigned
section to think about and record their responses
in their journals. Sample responses appear below.
necessarily understand everything they read. To
clarify their uncertainty, they ask questions.
Encourage students to identify passages that
confuse or trouble them and emphasize that they
shouldn’t take anything for granted. Share the
following student example:
◆ Predictions: Before students read the book,
have them study the cover and the jacket copy.
Ask if anyone has read any other books by Lois
Lowry. To begin their literature response journals,
tell students to jot down their impressions about
the book. As they read, students will continue to
make predictions about what a character might
do or how the plot might turn. After finishing the
book, students can re-assess their initial predictions. Good readers understand that they must
constantly activate prior knowledge before, during, and after they read. They adjust their expectations and predictions; a book that is completely
predictable is not likely to capture anyone’s interest. A student about to read The Giver for the first
time might predict the following:
Do all the families in this place talk about
their feelings? Do they all have to go
through this ritual? Why? What if they
don’t? Why does Jonas have to talk
privately with his mother?
◆ Connections: Remind students that one
story often leads to another. When one friend
tells a story, the other friend is often inspired to
tell one, too. The same thing often happens
when someone reads a book. A character
reminds the reader of a relative, or a situation is
similar to something that happened to him or
her. Sometimes a book makes a reader recall
other books or movies. These connections can be
helpful in revealing some of the deeper meanings
or patterns of a book. The following is an
example of a student connection:
The old man on the cover of the book looks
both sad and frightened. I wonder who he is
and what he’s really feeling and why. The
book is science fiction, so I know it’s probably set in the future or in a fantasy place
that’s really different from my surroundings.
For some reason, Jonas’s family reminds me
of one of those families on an old television
show like “Lassie.” Everybody seems so nice
to each other. It doesn’t seem quite real.
◆ Observations: This activity takes place
immediately after reading begins. In a literature
response journal, the reader recalls fresh impressions about the characters, setting, and events.
Most readers mention details that stand out for
them even if they are not sure what their importance is. For example, a reader might list phrases
that describe how a character looks or the feeling
a setting evokes. Many readers note certain
words, phrases, or passages in a book. Others
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
The Good Discussion
want to let another group experiment with a
discussion so students can try out what they
learned from the first one.
In a good literature discussion, students are
always learning from one another. They listen to
one another and respond to what their peers
have to say. They share their ideas, questions,
and observations. Everyone feels comfortable
about talking, and no one interrupts or puts
down what anyone else says. Students leave a
good literature discussion with a new understanding of the book—and sometimes with new
questions about it. They almost always feel more
engaged by what they have read.
◆ Assessing Discussions: The following tips
will help students monitor how well their group
is functioning:
1. One person should keep track of all behaviors
by each group member, both helpful and unhelpful, during the discussion.
2. At the end of the discussion, each individual
should think about how he or she did. How
many helpful and unhelpful checks did he or she
receive?
◆ Modeling a Good Discussion: In this era of
3. The group should look at the Literature
Discussion Evaluation Sheet and assess their
performance as a whole. Were most of the
behaviors helpful? Were any behaviors unhelpful? How could the group improve?
combative and confessional TV talk shows,
students often don’t have any idea of what it
means to talk productively and creatively
together. You can help them have a better idea of
what a good literature discussion is if you let
them experience one. Select a thought-provoking
short story or poem for students to read, and
then choose a small group to model a discussion
of the work for the class.
In good discussions, you will often hear
students say the following:
Explain to participating students that the
objective of the discussion is to explore the text
thoroughly and learn from one another.
Emphasize that it takes time to learn how to
have a good discussion, and that the first discussion may not achieve everything they hope it
will. Duplicate a copy of the Literature
Discussion Evaluation Sheet for each student.
Go over the helpful and unhelpful contributions
shown on the Literature Discussion Evaluation
Sheet. Instruct students to fill it out as they
watch the model discussion. Then have the
group of students hold its discussion while the
rest of the class observes. Try not to interrupt or
control the discussion and remind the student
audience not to participate. It’s okay if the discussion falters, as this is a learning experience.
“I was wondering if anyone knew . . .”
“I see what you are saying. That reminds me of
something that happened earlier in the book.”
“What do you think?”
“Did anyone notice on page 57 that . . .”
“I disagree with you because . . .”
“I agree with you because . . .”
“This reminds me so much of when . . .”
“Do you think this could mean . . .”
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.
Could you explain it a little more to me?”
“That reminds me of what you were
saying yesterday about . . .”
Allow 15–20 minutes for the discussion. When
it is finished, ask each student in the group to
reflect out loud about what worked and what
didn’t. Then have the students who observed
share their impressions. What kinds of comments were helpful? How could the group have
talked to each other more productively? You may
“I just don’t understand this.”
“I love the part that says . . .”
“Here, let me read this paragraph. It’s an
example of what I’m talking about.”
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
About The Giver
Lowry describes herself as having been a
“solitary child who lived in the world of books.”
A middle child with an older sister and a
younger brother, she lived all over the world
because her father was in the military. Lowry
was born in Hawaii, spent World War II in her
mother’s Pennsylvania hometown, went to
junior high in Japan, and then attended high
school in New York City. Even today she loves to
visit new places. Through her travels, Lowry has
experienced a variety of cultures and the
different ways in which people live together.
While she had been scribbling down stories and
poems all her life, Lowry didn’t start writing
books professionally until after the birth of her
four children in the mid-1970s. To date she has
written over 20 books, including the popular
Anastasia series, A Summer to Die (inspired by
her young sister’s death from cancer), Number
the Stars (about the Holocaust), and of course,
The Giver.
The Giver is a book that inspires passionate feelings. Many readers have loved it. The book has
been praised in reviews and was awarded the
Newbery Medal in 1993. Yet The Giver has also
been one of the most frequently censored books
in the United States. It has been pulled off library
shelves and forbidden in schools; it has been
criticized for being too American and not
American enough, too hopeless and too hopeful.
Author Lois Lowry has said that readers create
their own book, “bringing to the written words
their own experiences, dreams, wishes, passions.” However students relate to it, The Giver
is a thought-provoking book.
Lowry writes that “The Giver takes place
against the background of yet another very
different culture and time. Though broader in
scope than my earlier books, it nonetheless
speaks to the same concern: the vital need for
humans to be aware of their interdependence,
not only with each other, but with the world
and its environment.”
About the Author: Lois Lowry
All writers make use of material from their own
lives in their work. It may be obvious what
experiences they have drawn from, or the
connections may be more subtle or hidden. As
you share the following information about
Lois Lowry’s life, ask students to notice which
issues are important to her and why she might
have wanted to address them in The Giver.
Lois Lowry presently lives in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, with her Tibetan terrier Bandit,
and spends weekends at an old farmhouse in
New Hampshire. She has two grandchildren and
believes now more than ever “that our future as
human beings depends upon caring more, and
doing more, for one another.”
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Enrichment:
The Utopian Novel
such utopias might really be like for the individual. The dictators of World War II—Hitler,
Mussolini, Franco, and Stalin—surely influenced George Orwell. Orwell, an Englishman,
did not believe that a place where every aspect
of life was predetermined by the government
would be in any way desirable. In 1984 (published in 1949), he describes a colorless state
called Oceania. As in Plato’s Republic, Oceania
has three classes of society—the Inner Party,
the Outer Party, and the Proles. And as in
More’s Utopia, private conversations are not
allowed, and communication is monitored and
controlled by ever-present
video cameras. “Big Brother
Is Always Watching You”
proclaim posters on all the
walls, and the Thought
Police can practically read
people’s minds. In Oceania
no one can be trusted.
For thousands of years, writers and philosophers
have been imagining how the world might be
organized so people could live together more
harmoniously.
In the sixteenth century, just as the Europeans
were discovering a New World in America, an
Englishman named Thomas More wrote Utopia,
a book about an ideal society. Utopia is a word
More created from two Greek words—eu, which
means “not,” and topia,
which means “place.” So, literally, utopia means “not a
place.” The word eu can also
mean “good.” More seems
to be saying two things at
once: This is a good place,
but it is also no place—it
doesn’t exist. Since the publication of More’s book,
utopia has come to mean a
place that is ideal or perfect.
Where George Orwell
explored the dangers of political utopianism, another
writer of the same period,
Aldous Huxley, looked at the
problems of scientific and
technological control over
people’s lives. In Brave New
World (published in 1932),
he wrote about a frightening
utopia called the World State.
Some of More’s ideas came
from his reading of the
ancient Greeks, and one of
the books he surely read was
Plato’s Republic, written in
the fourth century B.C. In
Plato’s ideal state, everyone
shares equally in the community’s wealth, although
there are three very different
groups or classes of people.
Workers farm and perform
various trades; Auxiliaries
have military responsibilities; and Guardians rule
and advise everyone else.
These writers were as
interested in the worlds they
lived in as they were in the
ones they created in their
imaginations. Their books
were a way of thinking
about what was wrong and what was right
about their own societies. As students read Lois
Lowry’s The Giver, they will discover that she is
familiar with these authors and has been influenced by their work. She also has very particular
things to say about our modern world. What
concerns Lowry about our society? What does
she value? Suggest that students list current
issues that are important to them in their literature response journals.
In the Republic, Plato explains that he is more
interested in what is good for the community
than what is good for the individual. “We are
forming a happy state,” Plato writes, “not
picking out some few persons to make them
alone happy.”
In our own century, however, several writers
have raised questions about what living in
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Enrichment:
The Oral Tradition
Long before there was the written word people
told stories to one another. The stories they
loved and that mattered to them most were
told again and again. Young children memorized
the stories and told them to their children. Often
the most important person in the community
was the storyteller. That person knew all the stories, the myths and folktales that guided people
in living their lives, the poems for celebrations
and for funerals, and the jokes and riddles.
Stories were told not only for pleasure but also
for instruction. As people listened, they learned
about famous men and women of the past and
about the gods they believed created their
world. These stories were their history, science,
and religion.
In ancient Greece, the storytellers would travel
from community to community carrying their
harps, often accompanied by a young person
who had been chosen to learn all the storyteller
knew. Homer, who composed the Illiad and the
Odyssey (the stories of the fall of Troy and the
wanderings of Odysseus) was a storyteller. He
may have combined and added to many existing
short songs and poems to create his epics.
The audience was often involved in the stories,
answering questions, calling out their own parts,
much as they do in some churches today.
Frequently, stories were sung and accompanied
by music. In fact, the Greek word for storyteller,
aidos, means “singer.”
Interestingly, Lois Lowry was inspired to write
The Giver while caring for her father who had
lost much of his long-term memory. She began
to imagine a society in which the past was
deliberately forgotten. What would it be like?
What happens when we are no longer sitting
around together listening to the old stories? As
students read The Giver, have them notice the
ways the old man is like a traditional storyteller.
Also, ask students how and why his role in the
community is different.
In many traditional societies, stories are still
being told that have come down from one
storyteller to another for over a thousand years.
With the accessibility of books and the advent of
electricity, however, people in modern cultures
have become less interested in and have had less
time for, the old stories. Still, as jokes get passed
around from one friend to another, and a grandmother tells her grandchildren once more about
how her own grandmother came to this country,
we maintain our connection to the oral tradition.
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Enrichment:
The Hero’s Journey
back before reaching the goal. Always, the hero’s
unique abilities rescue him or her. Hercules has his
strength, and Odysseus his way with words.
Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, the great heroes of
Greek mythology fought different monsters—the
Cyclops, the Minotaur, and Medusa, respectively—and returned after many adventures to rule
over different lands. In many ways, however,
each hero took the same journey.
Finally, having achieved the goal, the hero
prepares to return home. Often that trip is just as
hard as the original quest. Again and again, the
hero’s character is tested. Upon return the hero is
rewarded and usually becomes a ruler or occupies a position of fame and honor.
In fact, says Joseph Campbell, author of The
Hero with a Thousand Faces, if you look at stories from all over the world, you’ll find heroes
always taking the same journey. The details are
different, but the basic pattern is the same. In
mythology a pattern that never changes is called
an archetype.
In literature the hero is almost always a boy
becoming a man and assuming a leadership role
in the community. Because women in many
traditional societies were not allowed leadership
roles (and were not often the storytellers), the
stories are rarely about them. There are some
notable exceptions, however, including Inanna,
from the ancient Sumerian stories, who journeys
to the underworld to rescue her beloved.
Almost always, from the moment of birth, the
hero is marked as different from everybody else.
A hero’s parents may be royal or even gods, but
usually the hero doesn’t know this, for these are
not the people who raise him or her. Hercules is
raised by Amphitryton and Alcmene instead of
his real parents, Zeus and Hera. In the movie
Star Wars, Luke Skywalker grows up with his
aunt and uncle.
Jonas is, of course, in many ways following
the traditional path of the hero. Ask students to
think about how his experiences are similar to
Luke Skywalker’s, Theseus’s, or Jason’s. You
may want to suggest that students watch Star
Wars again or read one of the Greek myths
and compare and contrast Jonas with one
of these other heroes. How are
his conflicts and choices
the same? How are
they different?
At some point, however, it becomes clear that
this young person is destined for greatness. He
or she has special talents that are developed
under the guidance of a mentor. Arthur had
Merlin, and Luke Skywalker had Obi-Wan
Kenobi. Often the hero undergoes great physical
and mental trials. Finally, though, in order to
prove himself or herself, the hero must leave
the teacher and set out on a dangerous quest
on behalf of others.
A quest is literally a search for something.
The ancient hero Gilgamesh went looking
for the secret of immortality. Sir
Galahad left Arthur’s Round Table
in the hopes of finding the Holy
Grail. Quite often the task seems
impossible. The hero almost
always encounters many difficulties and may journey to the
underworld or to death and
12
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Before Reading the Book
Reading Strategy: Discovering What You Already Know
Take some time to think about this book. What do you already know about it or the
author? What pops into your mind when you think about the title? You may know more
than you think you do about The Giver and author Lois Lowry. All readers bring their
own prior knowledge to a new book. Spend five minutes writing everything you know
about this book and its author. Don’t censor yourself. Write as fast as you can.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. Look at the picture on the front cover. What does it make you think about? What
does the picture remind you of?
2. Imagine you could create a perfect world. How would it be different from the world
you live in right now? How would it be the same? Imagine yourself living there
and describe what an ordinary day would be like.
3. Do you have a grandparent or older person to whom you are close? What kind of
stories have they told you? Write about some of the memories they have shared
with you. Do you enjoy hearing their stories? Explain why or why not.
4. Describe one of your most precious memories. Include all the details of that day or
moment that you remember. Try to relive the event as you write about it.
5. Write about a time in your life when things changed. Maybe something happened to
you, such as a move or a divorce. Maybe something shifted inside you, and you
looked at the world around you differently. Describe what happened and how you felt.
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections about the
book? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
13
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Before Reading the Book
For Your Discussion Group
1. If you have read any other books by Lois Lowry,
share your thoughts on them. Tell about the main
characters, give a brief summary of the plot, and
explain how and why you responded to the book.
2. The Giver is set in a utopia, or a perfect world. If you have read any books (probably
science fiction or fantasy) about utopias, tell the group briefly what these worlds were like.
3. As a group, design a perfect world of your own. Start by brainstorming a list of all the
problems in the world today that you would like to fix. Make a list of all the resources and
strengths of our society today, such as antibiotics or electricity, that you would like to
keep. (You may want one group member to be the secretary and
write down all your ideas.)
Remember,
when you are brain4. With your list complete, you can now begin discussing your
storming, the goal is
perfect world. Consider questions such as the following:
to collect as many
• What would be the best kind of government?
different ideas as
• What kind of rules and laws would there be?
possible and not to
• What would families be like?
comment on them.
• How would children, the sick, and old people be
Everybody’s ideas
cared for?
should be included.
• How would disagreements between people be handled?
• How would people live together—in cities, in suburbs,
as nomads (wandering groups)?
• How would people spend their days?
As a group, you will probably have many different answers to these questions. It is not
necessary that you decide upon one correct answer, but you must listen to each group
member’s ideas so you can develop a broader, richer understanding of your own.
When you have finished talking about all of these questions and issues, take some time
and write in your notebook about your current ideas of the perfect world. It will probably
be different from what it was before the discussion. Some group members may also want
to draw pictures of their perfect worlds and share them.
14
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapter 1
Reading Strategy: Asking Questions
When you begin reading a book, it is typical to have a lot of
questions. You might be confused about who the characters are
and what is happening. Write down your questions as you read and notice how many of
them are answered by the end of the chapter. Record unanswered questions in your literature response journal and take them to your discussion group.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. “It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.”
What do you notice about this opening sentence from The Giver? What kind of
picture does it produce in your mind? What feeling does this sentence create?
What observations can you make about the way this book begins?
2. Notice where Jonas lives. Where does this story take place? What kind of world is
it? What can you tell from the first chapter about life in this world? Does it remind
you of anywhere else you’ve read about or experienced?
3. Based on your reading of the first chapter, what do you predict will happen in the
upcoming chapters?
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
15
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapter 1
For Your Discussion Group
Lois Lowry does not explain exactly how her utopia
is organized, but she does provide lots of clues in
this first chapter about what life is like for these
people. For instance, she never actually says there
are no animals, but she does offer a conversation
that reveals this information:
“Animals?” Jonas suggested. He laughed.
That’s right,” Lily said, laughing too. “Like animals.” Neither child knew what
the word meant exactly . . .
• Find a short passage that you feel offers clues about the society in which Jonas lives.
Share the passage with your group. Working together, use these to make inferences
about this world.
• Discuss what you think about this vision of utopia so far. Record questions and
comments from the group. (You may want to have one person in the group be
the recorder.)
• Review your predictions about the book with the group.
Writer’s Craft: Synonyms
In the first chapter Jonas is very careful about the words he uses to describe his feelings.
He is not frightened, he realizes at one point, but apprehensive. What is the difference
between these two words? Think about a time when you felt frightened. How is that feeling different from feeling apprehensive? Talk about the differences between these words in
your group.
Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms. Nevertheless, while the meanings are close, they are not the same. What other words can your group think of that are
synonyms for the word frightened? Make up sentences using these synonyms. See if
you can capture the special flavor of each word, as Jonas has done.
16
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 2–4
Reading Strategy: Visualizing
As you read, you are probably beginning to picture in your mind Jonas, his parents, and
others in the community. Take time now to visualize the characters and action so far,
bringing the scenes of the story to life in your imagination.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. How do you visualize Jonas and the rest of the community? Cut out pictures from
a magazine of what you think the characters or certain locations look like, or draw
characters and scenes in your journal as you imagine them.
2. What have you noticed about Jonas’s family? How is it organized? How do people
treat each other? Think about your own family and other families you know.
Describe them. What makes a family in our society? What makes a family in
Jonas’s community?
3. “ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER TO FEMALES UNDER NINE THAT
HAIR RIBBONS ARE TO BE NEATLY TIED AT ALL TIMES.”
Rules govern every aspect of daily life in Jonas’s community. What rules have you
noticed as you read, and what do you think about them? How do they remind you
of any rules you must follow? What are some of the rules that people in our
society are expected to obey? What are the purposes of those rules? How do our
society’s rules differ from those in Jonas’s society?
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
17
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 2–4
For Your Discussion Group
• Select a short passage that you particularly like or find
intriguing in chapter 2, 3, or 4. (If more than one member of your group chooses the same
passage, that’s fine. The passage is probably particularly important to the story and worth
hearing more than once.)
• Take turns sharing your passages. Spend 2–3 minutes discussing each passage. Keep track
of the time so everyone has a chance to share a passage and add to the discussion.
Remember to give yourself time to really listen and appreciate the words of the book.
• After everyone has read a passage, begin your discussion. Talk about how and why you
chose these particular passages, what ideas they contain, and why they might be important. Raise questions and explore possible answers.
• Discuss how these passages have reinforced or changed your predictions about the story.
Writer’s Craft: Context
“It was a minor rule, rather like rudeness, punishable only by gentle chastisement.”
One way to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to look at its context, or the
ideas or topics being talked about in the same sentence. Clearly, in the above sentence,
chastisement has something to do with punishment and the breaking of rules. The chastisement is gentle because the rule was minor and unimportant. Based on these clues,
what does your group think the word chastisement means?
Have one group member look up the word in a dictionary and read aloud its definition.
How close was your definition? Did you understand the general feeling and meaning the
author wanted to express by using this word?
Find the following words in chapters 2–4, and identify the context clues that help you
understand the meaning of each word: adherence (chapter 2, p. 12), remorse (chapter 3,
p. 23), tabulated (chapter 4, p. 28). Check the dictionary to see how close you are to the
actual meanings.
Tip: Good readers do not stop and look up every unfamiliar word. Usually, they try to get
a feeling for its meaning from context clues. Only when it seems very important to know a
word’s precise meaning, is it necessary to stop reading and look it up.
18
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 5–6
Reading Strategy: Making Inferences
At this point in the story, you have learned how the families are
created and what routines they have; how children are educated
and prepared for the future; and what kind of rules people must
follow. Sometimes, however, what an author does not say can be
as powerful as what she or he does say. What hasn’t the author
mentioned? What objects, routines, and activities in our lives are noticeably missing from
Jonas’s? You might make the following inferences about the fact that there is no television
in Jonas’s community: the people get no news from the outside world or they have no
leisure or free time. List anything else you can think of that is missing from Jonas’s world.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. Pick one or two items from the list you made for the reading strategy. Why did Lois
Lowry leave them out? What is she saying about this society by leaving out that item?
2. Jonas cannot stop thinking about what choice the Elders will make for his future
career. Do you have any idea yet about what you want to be when you become an
adult? What particular talents and interests do you have? What profession makes
use of such skills? If your parents were going to decide your future, which career do
you think they would choose for you? Explain why they would make that choice.
Would you agree or disagree with it?
3. Lily is looking forward to becoming a Nine and getting a bike. Have you ever had to
wait until you were a certain age before you received a specific thing or a privilege?
Make a timeline showing the different things and activities that you were allowed to
do as you got older.
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
19
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 5–6
For Your Discussion Group
• Imagine your group is the Community of Elders deciding
what Jonas’s future role in life will be. Imagine, too, that you
have been watching him very closely in order to make
this decision. What have you noticed about Jonas?
What are his special aptitudes or abilities? Point to
Jonas’s actions and explain what kind of boy you
think he is. Use those actions to discuss what Jonas’s
career should be.
• Continue to predict what you think will happen next in
the story. Talk about your previous predictions. Has the
way in which you make your predictions changed?
Writer’s Craft: Euphemisms
“Those who were released—even as newchildren—were sent Elsewhere and never
returned to the community.”
Jonas is very precise about the language he uses. He always tries to find just the right
word to describe how he is feeling or what he is thinking. On the other hand, the community itself uses language that is often vague and abstract such as released and
Elsewhere. Even Jonas himself asks at one point, “Where exactly did Roberto go?”
Words that hide rather than reveal what they are describing are called euphemisms.
Euphemisms deliberately keep you from knowing much about what is being discussed.
Usually they refer to subjects people don’t really want to talk about, such as death.
People may say, for instance, that someone has “passed away.”
Euphemisms are often a way of being polite, but they can also be dangerous. As George
Orwell, the author of 1984, pointed out, euphemisms can be used by governments to
hide what they are really doing. What does your group think the word released in the
above passage really means?
20
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 7–9
Reading Strategy: Making Predictions
Up to this point in the story you have probably been
curious about Jonas’s Assignment. You’ve probably been
searching for hints and clues in your reading to help you
guess what it might be. Good readers are always thinking about what is going to happen next in a story. They
predict different possibilities and then revise the predictions as they read.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. What is Jonas’s Assignment? What kind of clues have you picked up as you read
that hint at what might happen to him next? Make a prediction about what will
happen to Jonas.
2. Jonas must attend a ceremony before he receives his Assignment. Does the ceremony remind you of any similar events that you have experienced? Describe a
ceremony you have participated in or watched. Compare and contrast it with
Jonas’s.
3. Before each Twelve receives his or her Assignment, the Chief Elder tells stories
about that child. Imagine you are one of the New Twelves. What stories would the
Chief Elder tell about you?
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
21
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 7–9
For Your Discussion Group
• Different jobs in this community have different
prestige or value. Which jobs seem to have the
least prestige, and why? What does that tell you
about the community? Besides Jonas’s job, which
other jobs seem to be important?
• He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by
the current Receiver for the job which is the most
honored in our community.
Why is the position of Receiver the most honored in the community? Think about your
own community. Which positions are the most honored? How would you compare
them to the position of Receiver in Jonas’s community?
• How successful do you think the Elders’ assignments will be? What assignment do you
think you would get if you lived in Jonas’s community?
Writer’s Craft: Exaggeration
Once when he had been a Four, he had said, just prior to the midday meal at school,
“I’m starving.” Immediately he had been taken aside for a brief private lesson in
language precision. He was not starving, it was pointed out. He was hungry. No one in
the community was starving, had ever been starving, would ever be starving. To say
“starving” was to speak a lie.
Was Jonas lying when he said he was starving? Or rather, was he trying to emphasize
how he felt by exaggeration? He wasn’t just hungry, he was really, really hungry. What
do you think would have happened to Jonas if he’d said, “I’m hungry as a horse”?
Would that have been considered to be a lie, too?
The precision for words that Jonas’s community stresses robs language of its color and
poetry. What kinds of exaggerations do you say during the day that, while not literally
true, still capture what you think or feel? Discuss these with your group. Today, notice
how many exaggerations people say that would be considered lies in Jonas’s community.
Record the exaggerations in your journals.
22
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 10–13
Reading Strategy: Point of View
One thing to notice as you read is the point of view the author uses in telling the story. Some
books have a first-person voice. If The Giver were told from Jonas’s point of view (“I did this
and thought this.”), it would have a first-person point of view. The narrator (or person telling
the story) is not Jonas, however, but someone who knows what Jonas thinks and feels. This
third-person narrator is not a character in the book; it is the voice telling the story.
Lois Lowry has said that she couldn’t imagine writing The Giver from anything but this
limited omniscient viewpoint. This means that the narrator doesn’t know everything that
goes on; the narrator’s knowledge is limited. As you read, notice what the narrator
chooses to tell the reader and what the narrator doesn’t seem to know.
Writing in Your Reading Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. How would the story be different if Jonas told it in his own words? What if the narrator
were completely omniscient and knew much more than everyone in the community?
2. Transmit one of your own memories. Write about it in such a way that the reader can
feel what you are describing. Use all your senses as you write to capture sights, sounds,
flavors, textures, colors, and rhythms. Before you begin, reread how Lois Lowry
describes Jonas’s first experience of snow. Notice all the different senses she captures.
3. In this section Jonas discovers colors for the first time. What would that be like?
Take a walk and notice everything of one color. Write about your walk. You might
like to make a collage from magazine pictures depicting what you saw.
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
23
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 10–13
For Your Discussion Group
• Read the quote below from the book with your group. Each
group member should then make a list of all the choices—
right or wrong—he or she makes each day.
“I can’t even imagine it. We really have to protect
people from wrong choices.”
• Next, brainstorm with the group a list of choices you are
free to make in your lives. Then make a list of the choices
Jonas has in his life. Compare the two lists.
• Finally, talk about the freedom of choice. You live in a country founded on the idea of personal liberty, whereas Jonas lives in a community where he can decide almost nothing for
himself. Is it safer, as the people in Jonas’s community believe, to have no choice? Are
there choices people should not be allowed to make? Explain why or why not. As you discuss this issue, remember to look at how Jonas himself is struggling with these questions.
Writer’s Craft: Names
The names that authors give their characters can be very powerful and often have special meaning. In 1984, for instance, the main character is called “Winston.” England’s
prime minister at the time Orwell wrote the book was Winston Churchill. It seems Orwell
had something to say about this leader in his book. He may also have wanted readers to
understand something else about the character, about what would have happened to a
great leader in this new country.
Jonas. Gabriel. Asher. Caleb. Could these names have any other meanings? Have you or
other group members encountered them anywhere else? What have they meant in those
other contexts? Explore the meaning of these names with your group. Look up these
names in the encyclopedia, books about names, or on the Internet. Discuss what you find.
24
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 14–17
Reading Strategy: Summarizing
At one point after The Giver transmits his favorite memory to Jonas, Jonas describes the
experience with just a few words—warmth, family, celebration. Jonas has summarized
the memory; he has thought about what was the most important event and what were
the most important feelings of the scene.
After you finish reading a chapter, it can be helpful to summarize what you have just
read. When you summarize a chapter, you will often find that you remember more of the
book than you ordinarily might have.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. Try summarizing each of the following chapters: 14, 15, 16, and 17. Explain in
one sentence the most important thing that happened in each chapter. Pick out a
few words that capture the feeling of the chapter or the main idea.
2. Each day The Giver must decide what memory to give to Jonas. They are, of
course, not just his personal memories but also the collective memories of the
whole community, stretching far back in time. Choose something that has happened in our country in the recent or far-off past and transmit that memory to
Jonas with words. Why have you chosen that event to give to him? What will
Jonas learn from it? How will it make him wiser?
3. Jonas spends all day with The Giver. What do you notice about their relationship?
Jot down things they say to each other (or don’t say). Note how they act around
each other. What questions do you have about their relationship? How does it differ from other relationships in the community?
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
25
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 14–17
For Your Discussion Group
• Pain, suffering, and war have been eliminated from Jonas’s world. In your opinion is
this good? What does Lois Lowry seem to think? How have we tried to eliminate these
things from our own world? What happens when we do? Think about what has happened in Jonas’s world. How do you think his community has been able to eliminate
pain and suffering? Could there be another way to accomplish this?
• One of the things Jonas comes to realize during his training with The Giver is that
nothing in his community can be changed. Neither he nor The Giver has that power.
Think about how change is part of your life. Talk with the group about what life with
no change might be like. Why is change important?
Writer’s Craft: Specialized Vocabulary
Sunshine. Colors. Love. Although they exist in Jonas’s world, people have no words for
them. Does this mean that people can’t see or experience these things? A person on a
walk in the forest would see trees. Some people, however, would see maples, elms,
chestnuts, hickory, and birch trees. Some people watching a basketball game see a lot of
people running around. Others notice layups, fouls, and fakes. When you have the
words for things, you notice those things in a different way.
Professions, such as medicine, usually
have a specialized vocabulary. Think
of an activity—a sport or hobby you
enjoy. What are all the special words
associated with it? Make a list of all the
words (especially nouns and verbs) that
you need to know in order to describe
the activity. Define these terms so that
somebody who isn’t familiar with that
activity can learn them. Share the list
with your group. Discuss the power of
words as a form of communication.
26
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 18–20
Reading Strategy: Cause and Effect
Events unfold as you read a book. To understand these events, it is helpful to recognize the
actions that have brought them about (causes), and the results of these actions (effects).
Good readers look for and analyze the causes and effects that link the events in a plot.
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. Think about the plan that The Giver and Jonas develop. What are the causes that
lead to this plan? What effect will the plan have?
2. Think about music and how much a part of your day it is. What kind of music do
you hear, and where do you hear it? What is your favorite kind of music? In
Chapter 20, it becomes clear that only The Giver can hear music. Why do you
think the community has no music? Why would it have been excluded from their
experience?
3. Every reader brings unique thoughts and experiences to a story. Imagine you are
someone else reading one of these chapters. Choose a chapter to reread, then read it
from another point of view. Think about what that person would bring to the material and how he or she might respond. For example, you might read as a parent, a
grandparent, an author, a politician, a women’s rights activist, an environmentalist,
or a religious leader. What new perspective do you gain as you reread? What new
things do you notice about the story? What new questions and understandings do
you have?
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
27
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 18–20
For Your Discussion Group
• The Giver tells Jonas about
Rosemary, and Jonas learns more
about his father’s job. Pick one of
these scenes and work together as a
group to act it out. You might have a
few people act out the scene first,
using the dialogue from the book.
When you watch and listen to the
scene, what new things do you notice about it? How do the actors feel when playing
the parts? What new things do they learn about the characters? What is the most
powerful moment in each of these scenes?
• Make predictions about what will happen next in the book. Will Jonas be able to
escape? What will happen to The Giver if he does? What will happen to Jonas’s family,
especially Gabe, who has memories? What will happen to the community? Where will
Jonas be able to go? What will his future be like?
Writer’s Craft: Compound Words
A compound word is formed by putting two or more words together. The words grandparents, anyone, cupboard, and afternoon are compound words. Can you find the two
words in each of them? When you come across an unfamiliar word, look to see if it is a
compound word. Then find the words that form it. Use those words to help you figure out
the meaning of the compound word. For example, the word riverbank is made up of the
words river and bank so you can figure out that a riverbank is the bank or side of a river.
Notice as you read that Lois Lowry makes up some compound words. For instance, she uses
the words newchild and Elsewhere. Discuss why you think Lowry created these compound
words. What kinds of feeling do these words suggest? How do they fit Jonas’s community?
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
L it e rat u
r e Re sp o n se J o u r n a l
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 21–23
Reading Strategy: Drawing Conclusions
The ending of The Giver is deliberately ambiguous; it is
possible to read it in several different ways. Lois Lowry
has said that “each person will give it a different ending.”
As you read it yourself, what do you think is happening and why? What information
from earlier in the book are you using to make sense of the ending? What conclusions
are you drawing about the ending?
Writing in Your Literature Response Journal
A. Write about one of these topics in your journal. Circle the topic you chose.
1. What will become of Jonas and Gabe? Write your ideas about their future.
2. If you could give one thing to Jonas to take on his journey, what would it be?
Explain your choice.
3. What will happen in Jonas’s old community? What changes will take place?
B. What were your predictions, questions, observations, and connections as you
read? Write about one of them in your journal. Check the response you chose.
❒ Prediction
❒ Question
❒ Observation
❒ Connection
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Group D iscussion
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
Chapters 21–23
For Your Discussion Group
• Read and discuss the following quote with
your group:
“Once he had yearned for choice. Then,
when he had had a choice, he had made
the wrong one: the choice to leave.”
What do you think: Did Jonas make the right choice or the wrong choice in leaving? In
what ways would he have starved if he had stayed behind? Find at least one quote
from the book to support your opinion.
• Your group is sure to want to talk about the ending of the book. As you discuss it,
keep in mind the actual words of the story. Use quotes from the book to support your
ideas. It might be helpful to begin by having one or two members read the last chapter
out loud. You may notice details that you missed the first time. After the read-aloud,
each group member should share a sentence from the last chapter that he or she thinks
is particularly important.
Writer’s Craft: Connotations and Denotations
Lois Lowry has said that one of the most important things to do if you want to be a
writer is to “love language.” Like a musician who enjoys playing different notes, a writer
plays with words. He or she enjoys the many different meanings and takes pleasure in
the way the words sound.
Very often a writer uses words not only for their denotations (actual meaning), but also
for their connotations (suggested meaning). Lowry, for example, uses these words in
her descriptions of Jonas and Gabe in flight: stealthily, hunched, shadows, huddled. These
words are used for their connotations and suggest the dangerous, secret escape of the two
fugitives. The choice of these words helps build the picture that the author wants you to
“see” and feel.
With your group, look for other words that Lowry uses for their connotations. Decide
what kind of feeling she is suggesting. Here are some words to start with—languid,
cuddled, treacherously, wincing, churning, desperate, tortured.
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
The Giver
After Reading
Lois Lowry says that she does not intentionally give a book a particular message, “It’s
not something I put in there, it’s something that arises out of the story. I don’t sit down
and think: this is what I want to convey to readers. I sit down and think: here is a neat
story to tell. And after I tell it, there are things in it that I wasn’t aware of putting in.”
The themes of a book are the major ideas that run throughout it. They are like the patterns in a piece of cloth—some are bold and some are subtle. Each reader sees different
patterns.
To help you think about one of the themes in this book, do the activity below. Record
your work in your literature response journal, and then discuss it in your literature circle.
• List the three or four most memorable scenes in the book. Don’t list scenes you think
are most important but the ones that have stayed with you. For instance, one student
might list the following:
1. when Jonas is able to transmit a memory and put Gabriel to sleep
2. Asher being disciplined with the wand as a three-year-old
3. Jonas’s father releasing the baby
• Now summarize each scene. Think of a few words that really capture what the scene is
about. For instance, for the above scenes, a student might write the following:
1. loving a baby, caring, peace
2. a young child being hurt, pain
3. a baby dying, cruelty
• Create a visual web of the connections
among the scenes you have chosen.
Draw a circle for each scene and then
connect the circles with lines to show
what they have in common. Is there
one idea that connects them all?
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
Individual Projects
1. There are already hundreds of reviews for The Giver on www.amazon.com. Create a
classroom anthology of the reviews for other students or friends who are thinking about
reading this book.
2. Explore the possibilities of the hero archetype by writing your own heroic story. Create a
character with certain strengths and weaknesses, decide upon a quest, invent opponents
and struggles, and help your hero towards eventual triumph. Share the story with your
group or send it to a literary magazine such as Merlyn’s Pen.
3. Jonas initially lives in a world without color, art, or music. How would you illustrate
scenes from this part of his life? How would your illustrations develop as the story
continued and Jonas’s perception of the world changed as he journeyed to Elsewhere?
Do five or more illustrations for the whole book.
✃
Name ______________________________________ Date _______________________
Group Projects
1. After learning about utopias, members of your group may want to research how real cultures
in different times and places have organized their governments, work, and families. Each
member could choose a particular society to investigate.
Group members should try to look at communities from different eras and different places.
Then they can report to the group what they’ve discovered. How does each culture balance
the interests of the individual and the group? As you learn about different ways of organizing communities, your own ideas about utopia may change.
Finally, work together to devise your own utopia, borrowing freely from what you have
learned about other cultures and what you have come to appreciate about your own culture.
2. You can think of history as a collection of stories from many different people about what
happened in the past. From The Giver, Jonas receives the collective history of his people—
the memories, the stories, the visions. As a group, you may want to talk with some
adults about a particular event from the past, for instance, the Vietnam War or the Great
Depression. Initially, the group should learn some general information about the event
from a history book and then set out to collect personal memories. Collect all the stories
you can. Put them into a book for the class to use and study.
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Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Literature Circle Guide: The Giver © Scholastic Teaching Resources