Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

I loved Lois Lowry's Newbery winner, The Giver, when I read it. I was in my 20s and in grad school, and was left with this feeling that I'd just read something really important and beautiful, profound and touching. I walked away from it wondering about Jonas and Gabriel, and was left, like many people, pondering what came next...until this week when I read, Son , what Lowry herself called the sequel to her beloved, The Giver . Son not only answers the questions about what came next, but also gives us a little more back story on the community that they came from, and more information on Claire, Gabriel's mother. I didn't want a clean, easy-peezy wrap up to The Giver , and was pleasantly surprised with how much she was able to avoid that (though there are definitely character tie-ins with the other books in this series: Gathering Blue and The Messenger --I can imagine it's really hard not to tie stories together and bring back popular characters). The ending was ...

Too tired to post much, but on today, the 4th day of Banned Books Week 2012, thought I would share this: Did you know that Lois Lowry's 1994 Newbery award winning, The Giver , was one of the most challenged/banned books of the 1990s? The book has made its way onto lists for reasons including: its' scenes of violent and sexual nature, infanticide, euthanasia, and “sexual awakening.” I chose to highlight this book because the eagerly anticipating sequel to The Giver has arrived-- Gathering Blue (2000) and Messenger (2004) were what have been called "sister books," not sequels--Lois Lowry's latest, Son . I have my copy on order and CAN'T WAIT!! “If you were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you. Memories are forever.”  --Lois Lowry, The Giver Interesting article in the NYTimes: " Lois Lowry: The Children's Author Who Actually Listens to Children "