Gathering Blue

Lois Lowry

Sep 2000 · Giver Quartet Book 2 · Sold by HarperCollins

4.3

684 reviews

Ebook

256

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

The second book in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet, which began with the bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning The Giver.

Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future.

Her neighbors are hostile, and no one but a small boy offers to help. When she is summoned to judgment by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life.

But the Council, to her surprise, has plans for her. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever.

A compelling examination of a future society, Gathering Blue challenges readers to think about community, creativity, and the values that they have learned to accept. Once again Lois Lowry brings readers on a provocative journey that inspires contemplation long after the last page is turned.

“This extraordinary novel is remarkable for its fully realized characters, gripping plot, and Lowry’s singular vision of a future.” —VOYA

The Giver has become one of the most influential novels of our time. Don't miss the powerful companion novels in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet: Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

Ratings and reviews

4.3

684 reviews

Hubert Kirchgaessner

November 25, 2014

The author spends 23 chapters to paint a scene. And then the book is over. Nothing really happened, except a repetitive description of a somewhat implausible society. The government kills people that they don't like, or whose kids they want to recruit. OK. But they have absolutely no law enforcement apparatus to enforce their will. Really? Thousands of villagers for generations are discouraged to walk out into the woods for fear of non existing "beasts". Dozens of people know the truth, but somehow keep the secret to themselves. Seriously? Doesn't Lois Lowry know how "chatty" oppressed societies are? Villagers are unaware of the existence of other villages "yonder" their forrest. But a blind citizen of "that other" village waltzes in at ease, and isn't even challenged or discovered by the close knit society of the oppressed village. Seriously? But all of those implausibilities pale in comparison to the main failure of this book: Kira, the heroine, finds out how bad her society really is. She sees a choice between escape (fleeing to another village) or "change" (the society) by using her art. And this is where the book stops. Really, this is where it should have taken off.

10 people found this review helpful

A Google user

March 8, 2009

I thought that it was a good story but I couldn't really see how the conflict was revised. Actually, the main conflict itself wasn't too clear either. It kind of ended on a cliff hanger if you think about it, not really finished, the story never really took off... But overall, an interesting read, I give it three out of five.

1 person found this review helpful

A Google user

August 13, 2010

This is the first book I ever read all the way through and I haven't stopped reading since. It showed me the sheer beuty that words can create and I think that every families bookshelf (or digital library as the case my be) should contain a copy of this book. IT IS THE BEST EVER.

About the author

Lois Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.

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