The Giver

The Giver is a Newbery Award-winning novel for young adults written by Lois Lowry. It is required reading for many schools.

Story

In a futuristic, seemingly-Utopian society where everybody is follows strict social rules meant to maintain pleasant stability and are given jobs in the community, at the young age of 12 a boy named Jonas has received a special occupation. He is now the "Receiver of Memories," where he psychically receives the memories of the time before "Sameness" from the previous Receiver, known as the "Giver." Eventually, Jonas realizes that the community's efforts to avoid unpleasantness has made them emotionally shallow and lacking in understanding, and he runs away from the community, with Gabriel, a young boy rejected by the community for not fitting in.

The book has many parallels with other dystopian novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World.