During the month of January, Dariel read 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry. Read Dariel's thoughts on the book below. 

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry is an interesting book. It is about a kid who lives in a utopian society controlled by a council. It is a story about a boy named Jonas who is picked to be the Receiver of Memory for the community, a person who receives all the memories from the Giver, an old man. As he starts his training to become The Giver, Jonas begins learning about a world of color, emotion, and experiences long removed from society: love, joy, pain, and sadness. He discovers the beauty of the natural world, the intricacies of human interactions, and the importance of decision-making.

Jonas learns what life is like outside of the restrictions of his community's rules, and he soon realizes the emptiness of having no freedom and what the people have given up for the sake of sameness. In the end, Jonas has to make a choice once he finds out what a utopia his community is and that they perform euthanasia on even a baby to save another. Weary from the burden of knowledge he discovered and weary from the burden and wisdom of others, not to mention the burden of his society's choice to deny the truth and himself completely the fact that society's choice is such an error, Jonas bravely searches for freedom and humanity, leading the ending of the book to a powerful epiphany making the reader truly speculate the worth of individuality, emotion, and memory.