In her strongest work to date, Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit ...
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Feb 04, 2008
Dani
rated it: 
That's not a plot, that's a twist!
I read this book as a companion to "The Giver," and I was pretty disappointed. The underlying sense of unease and the tense pacing that makes the Giver so fantastic just isn't present in "Gathering Blue."
Part of this, is that because it is a companion book, I read this book differently than I read the Giver. Instead of reading the book with white knuckles and wide eyes, thinking, "What the heck is wrong with thes More...
I read this book as a companion to "The Giver," and I was pretty disappointed. The underlying sense of unease and the tense pacing that makes the Giver so fantastic just isn't present in "Gathering Blue."
Part of this, is that because it is a companion book, I read this book differently than I read the Giver. Instead of reading the book with white knuckles and wide eyes, thinking, "What the heck is wrong with thes More...
7 comments
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(27 people liked it)
Dec 09, 2010
Jinky
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I had this book mapped out in my mind. From where The Giver left off, I was sure book #2 would begin with Jonas and Gabriel surviving and finding the mainstream community, like that of our modern civilization... with music, color, and love, and then they live happily ever after. But book #2 wasn't concerned about telling Jonas's life story or a respite to what might face humankind in the future. Lowry was continuing to explore the world of a post-apocalyptic society. In this book, she has cr
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10 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Jul 01, 2008
Aaron
rated it: 
If you want to know what the book is about, read the synopsis. I stopped doing book reports when I was in grade school. If you want to know what I thought of the book, read on
Wow, what a well written little story. Little in the sense it isn't long but there is a wonderful sense of economy with her writing, no, or very little, extraneous material. No outside characters that clog up the narrative.
I did see one of the plot twist coming and wondered why the author took her sw More...
Wow, what a well written little story. Little in the sense it isn't long but there is a wonderful sense of economy with her writing, no, or very little, extraneous material. No outside characters that clog up the narrative.
I did see one of the plot twist coming and wondered why the author took her sw More...
2 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Mar 21, 2010
Aika
rated it:
Very sad... at page 1 mom dies...Why die so young?!?!
19 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 04, 2008
Cui
rated it:
This book is about a Teenage girl that was born with a leg deform at birth. Her mother just passed away and her father got dragged away by the fierce piece in the woods that they nearby. Kira, The Teenage girl was known to be like 'useless' to the village because of her deformed leg and they planned to kick her out of the village and take away her house. Kira didn't want to have her house taken because if it was taken she wouldn't have a place to live so they let the Council of Guardians to deci
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0 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Oct 05, 2010
Aredhel
rated it:
"Gathering Blue" is a refreshing dystopian novel with an engrossing plot and well-rounded characters. Presenting a new kind of a dystopian society, it introduces the reader to a new kind of a society: it's not as progressive and sophisticated as those ones described in many dystopian books. In this book Lois Lowry strayed off the beaten path and it made the book even more interesting to read.
It was artistically written - really, not only dealt the narration with artistic is More...
It was artistically written - really, not only dealt the narration with artistic is More...
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(2 people liked it)
Oct 05, 2009
Julie
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Going into this book knowing that it is the companion to The Giver did not do me any favors. The problem is that The Giver is so darn good that any "companion" would not live up to it. This is what happened.
One problem is that there isn't a whole lot going on. Kira leads us through a ton of information about weaving/sewing, threads, dyes, plants, etc. I really expected something bigger to come out of this. Some sort of explanation for her being. Nope. None. You do get the f More...
One problem is that there isn't a whole lot going on. Kira leads us through a ton of information about weaving/sewing, threads, dyes, plants, etc. I really expected something bigger to come out of this. Some sort of explanation for her being. Nope. None. You do get the f More...
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(8 people liked it)
Nov 13, 2008
Caroline
rated it:
Reading this book reminded me a lot of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (which a lot of people hated but is my favorite movie of his that I've seen!)--a village that seems just too good to be true, with a suspicious group of leaders and a question as to whether there really are monsters in the woods that are dangerous to the inhabitants.
I found it best to go into this without expectations, since I loved The Giver and knew this was supposed to be a companion novel to it, I didn't want More...
I found it best to go into this without expectations, since I loved The Giver and knew this was supposed to be a companion novel to it, I didn't want More...
2 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Jul 12, 2007
Monica
rated it:
While Lois Lowry is no one-hit-wonder when it comes to young adult literature, there is a certain quality about The Giver that can make one uneasy about starting its companion book. Although Gathering Blue did not impact me the way The Giver did, it is still a worthwhile read, well-written and with an interesting storyline.
The story is told from the point of view of Kira, a young girl who lives in a society where those with any glaring flaws are cast out to “the field” at an early a More...
The story is told from the point of view of Kira, a young girl who lives in a society where those with any glaring flaws are cast out to “the field” at an early a More...
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 17, 2010
Denise
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I read this book because there were so many unanswered questions in The Giver and this was said to be the follow up book; but there is absolutely no connection between these two stories. If you are looking for clarification regarding The Giver, this book does not provide it. This was not a bad story, but not nearly as good as The Giver.
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 13, 2008
Danielle
rated it: 
I read this book because I enjoyed "The Giver" so much. Unfortunately, this was a disappointment. It was predictable, unimaginative, and unmoving. I didn't feel for any of the characters, who seemed written intentionally to tug at the reader's heartstrings. Unlike "The Giver," the plot points in this novel felt contrived and up until the very end I just didn't care what happened to Kira, or anyone else connected with her. A young reader might enjoy this, but I wouldn't recomm
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 30, 2012
Alicia
rated it:
Kira's mother has suddenly died, leaving her an orphan in a hostile community that despises her for her disabled leg. A woman in the community takes it upon herself to try and drive Kira out but instead the case is brought to the Council. Instead of being banished and left for the beasts like Kira expects, she is instead put up in a place of luxury where her skills as a talented weaver are used. Though she has her best friend Matt and her new ally Thomas the Carver, another child artisan living
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Jan 23, 2012
Icer
rated it:
As a standalone book this would have been good. As a sequel to 'The Giver', it's just mediocre, which is unfortunate.
'The Giver' was an amazing book. Lowry would have done a lot better to have just developed this as a totally separate book/characterisation in a different narrative 'universe', as the connections to 'The Giver' are tenuous anyway. I get the sense with both this and the 3rd book Lowry was just compromised by these ostensibly being 'companion' novels to 'The Giver', likely More...
'The Giver' was an amazing book. Lowry would have done a lot better to have just developed this as a totally separate book/characterisation in a different narrative 'universe', as the connections to 'The Giver' are tenuous anyway. I get the sense with both this and the 3rd book Lowry was just compromised by these ostensibly being 'companion' novels to 'The Giver', likely More...
Jan 22, 2012
Angel
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Gathering Blue is about a young girl named Kira who was born with a deformed leg. When she was born, her mother had just recently passed away as her father was taken from the woods. People The villagers wanted to send her to death because her parents are either dead or unknown if dead or not. Tehey believed she is a useless worker and because of the property that they owned, they wanted to take over their property. Her mother and her is good at weaving and that was what she did before she passed
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Jan 15, 2012
Carrie
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Lowry is a great visionary and young adult novelist. Her writing style is too slow and themes are too overt for my tastes, but I can appreciate that I am not necessarily her target audience and younger readers might find her style engaging. The protagonist is plausible, in that she is intelligent and talented, but not so much so that she reveals too much too quickly. To be honest, the potential of this book prompted the three stars; it would have been less if it was a lessor accomplished writer.
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Jan 12, 2012
Eccentrika
rated it:
Nonostante sia stato collocato all'interno della trilogia "The Giver", appare subito evidente che "Gathering Blue" non ha nulla in comune con il precedente libro, a parte la tematica distopica.
"Gathering Blue" si può quindi definire un romanzo singolo e autoconclusivo a tutti gli effetti, con altri personaggi e altra ambientazione rispetto a "The Giver".
Ci troviamo in un mondo del futuro, ma talmente arretrato che sembra di fare un tuffo nel pass More...
"Gathering Blue" si può quindi definire un romanzo singolo e autoconclusivo a tutti gli effetti, con altri personaggi e altra ambientazione rispetto a "The Giver".
Ci troviamo in un mondo del futuro, ma talmente arretrato che sembra di fare un tuffo nel pass More...
Jan 05, 2012
05amiem
rated it: 
This book is about a teenage girl that was born with a leg deform at birth. Her mom died, and her dad got dragged away by the piece in the woods that they liv by. Kira, was known to be like 'useless' to the vilage because of her deformed leg and they planed to kick her out of the village and take away her house. Kira did not want to have her house taken because if it was taken she wouldnt have a place to live so they let the Council of Guardians to decide if she can have her house. The Council G
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Dec 07, 2011
02codys
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Gathering Blue, a story about a girl of 13 years with a twisted leg. A young crippled girl. She was the kind of person they would leave in the field to perish. But, she was spared by the thanks of her mother's refusal to follow the custom of the village in which she lived. I liked how she was saved, left to exist in this dystopian society. Where she would evolve and grow up to be a woman to learn all of the things she has yet to learn and know. I'm glad she found out that her previously presumed
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Nov 09, 2011
Sara
rated it:
Blown away by this beautiful book, as I have been by everything else I've read by Lowry.
This is a very simple story that is, in structure, extremely similar to The Giver. It is not, as one might mistakenly assume, a sequel to The Giver, but more of a companion novel. This is again a distopian novel about a controlling, authoritarian society. Instead of the society of cooperation that Jonah occupies in The Giver, this is a place where people squabble over every scrap of food and, r More...
This is a very simple story that is, in structure, extremely similar to The Giver. It is not, as one might mistakenly assume, a sequel to The Giver, but more of a companion novel. This is again a distopian novel about a controlling, authoritarian society. Instead of the society of cooperation that Jonah occupies in The Giver, this is a place where people squabble over every scrap of food and, r More...
Nov 08, 2011
Jean
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The book Gathering Blue, takes place in a dystopian society. The people live in horrible ways with aggressive behavior to survive. The children are beaten up if they get in the ways of the adults in the village. The book’s protagonist is Kira, a cripple. She’s a cripple because she was born with a twisted leg. She has a twisted leg which she was almost euthanized but however was saved from her mother. Christopher, Kira’s father, is presumed dead because he never came back from a hunt when Kira w
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Oct 22, 2011
Jill
rated it:
I was a huge fan of the book "The Giver" growing up and that feeling has gone unchanged as the book still holds a place on my bookshelf where I pull it out occasionally to read. Recently, a friend mentioned that she was reading "The Giver" and the sequels, and my jaw dropped. I didn't know there was one sequel, much less that it was a three part series. Well, less than a week later, I was at the bookstore to buy the rest.
"Gathering Blue" is a fascinating story More...
"Gathering Blue" is a fascinating story More...
Oct 06, 2011
Burouj
rated it:
This book was just okay.. I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed in it because I expected it to pick up where "The Giver" left off, and was let down.
It was an interesting story, the main character, Kira, lives in another dystopia (almost the complete opposite of Jonas' highly structured society - this was a very barbaric, disorganized society). The book has a slow pace, and I thought it was kind of predictable, but Kira seemed to be slow to catch on... then I realized it's a young More...
It was an interesting story, the main character, Kira, lives in another dystopia (almost the complete opposite of Jonas' highly structured society - this was a very barbaric, disorganized society). The book has a slow pace, and I thought it was kind of predictable, but Kira seemed to be slow to catch on... then I realized it's a young More...
Sep 22, 2011
Dreamergirl
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“Gathering Blue" was definitely a great and wonderful companion novel to "The Giver" and I just fell in love with Kira from the first page. She drew me to tears at some parts and was made into an intensely emotional and kindhearted character. The title was very clever since she always wanted to find the color blue for her threads and at the same time she thought it was a "free and spirited" color that was beautiful to her. But in a way she was the prisoner of her communi
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Sep 17, 2011
Sisimka
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Set in the same world as The Giver, Gathering Blue follows the story of Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, as she finds her place in a harsh society. An opportunity to serve the community is not quite what it seems.
I did not like this story as much as The Giver. The environment felt much more harsh, almost unnecessarily so, and the story was not as inventive, much more simplistic. I was disturbed by the 'children are good, adults are bad' doctrine. The few adults who were not 'bad' More...
I did not like this story as much as The Giver. The environment felt much more harsh, almost unnecessarily so, and the story was not as inventive, much more simplistic. I was disturbed by the 'children are good, adults are bad' doctrine. The few adults who were not 'bad' More...
Sep 14, 2011
Loaner from Scarlett's 6th grade teacher, Julie Williams, after I commented on Lowry's The Giver. This one is also 3p, past tense, also post-apocalyptic and dystopian. It seems to take place after the time of The Giver, when the world has reverted to a more primitive state, similar to the early middle ages, after the fall of Rome. Life for most people in main character Kira's village is brutish and harsh; there is almost no sense of community. The weak are discarded, sent to the Field to wai
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Aug 11, 2011
Kira, newly orphaned & lame from birth, is taken from the turmoil of the village to live in the grand Council Edifice because of her skill at embroidery. There she is given the task of restoring the historical pictures sewn on the robe worn at the annual Ruin Song Gathering, a solemn day-long performance of the story of their world's past. Down the hall lives Thomas the Carver, a young boy who works on the intricate symbols carved on the Singer's staff, & a tiny girl who is being trained as the
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Jul 27, 2011
Emily Michelle
rated it:
One word for this book: meh. I wanted to give it 2.5 stars but bumped it up to three out of pity for the book--it's not the book's fault that The Village and the one hundred million YA dystopian novels written in the last year have effectively ruined current readers' ability to be surprised by this book, to approach it with fresh eyes and no expectations and be just as shocked as the main character is as we discover the flaws in her society. I almost also pity it because it will always be compar
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Jun 29, 2011
Stephanie
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A seemingly simple novel set in a time where children aren't cherished and women aren't allowed to read. We meet Kira, whose mother has just died and she is observing the end of her 4 day sitting period with the body. Kira, who was born with a deformed leg, returns to the village where she finds that Vandara, the village bully, has decided to appropriate her tiny section of land to put up a pen to enclose the tykes and chickens. She and Vandara are sent before the council, where the wise, three
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Jun 16, 2011
Candice
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This book was found in the young readers novel area of the book store. It does not come with pictures. It is a short novel. The introduction to this book was sort of sad. It began with a young girl named Kira sitting in a field to wait for her spirit to drift away. After her mother's death, Kira was a orphan who had no one to look to. But the heart wrencher was her leg. Kira was born with a twisted leg. In the civilazation the author created, having any disabilities was sought as a weakness. Kir
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Jun 10, 2011
Oliver
rated it:
I now read both "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" and liked both texts equally. I have yet to read "The Messenger."
What amazes me about Lowry's writing is that you never quite know where she will take you next in the book. Her attention to detail is incredible, and you feel like you are sitting next to Kira when she is threading or talking with her to Jo at the room downstairs. The story is simple, yet intricately woven into a cohesive unit that stretche More...
What amazes me about Lowry's writing is that you never quite know where she will take you next in the book. Her attention to detail is incredible, and you feel like you are sitting next to Kira when she is threading or talking with her to Jo at the room downstairs. The story is simple, yet intricately woven into a cohesive unit that stretche More...
