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theweaselkingBlue Springs parents call for ouster of "The Giver" from reading lists.
The Giver is a novel by Lois Lowry. It's also one of the books I selected for the recommended reading list for schools begun by the Science Fiction Museum last summer. It's about a utopian world where almost all sources of difference, conflict, and confusion have been erased from people's perceptions in order to maintain peace. One person, called the Receiver, is the exception. His sole job is to contain all of humanity's earlier memories, in the event that the community encounters something outside its experience. He receives these memories from the Giver, and incidentally thereby experiences all of human suffering—so everyone else doesn't have to.
I give this summary (giving away some of the plot in the process) to explain why the parents' reasoning in this case is particularly ironic: "Everything presented to the kids should be positive or historical, not negative."
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I love the reasonings people give to ban books.
The Giver is a novel by Lois Lowry. It's also one of the books I selected for the recommended reading list for schools begun by the Science Fiction Museum last summer. It's about a utopian world where almost all sources of difference, conflict, and confusion have been erased from people's perceptions in order to maintain peace. One person, called the Receiver, is the exception. His sole job is to contain all of humanity's earlier memories, in the event that the community encounters something outside its experience. He receives these memories from the Giver, and incidentally thereby experiences all of human suffering—so everyone else doesn't have to.
I give this summary (giving away some of the plot in the process) to explain why the parents' reasoning in this case is particularly ironic: "Everything presented to the kids should be positive or historical, not negative."
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I love the reasonings people give to ban books.