Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
240 pages
Finished 2/24/08












I found this book while browsing a local Goodwill for books. It caught my eye because it said on the cover that it was a "companion" to Lowry's book The Giver. The Giver is one of the best children's/young adult book ever, in my opinion. I had no idea that Lowry came out with a companion book - so it was even more interesting to learn after reading Gathering Blue that she had created a bit of a trilogy - The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger (which I've yet to read, but is added to my wishlist).

Gathering Blue is not nearly as good as The Giver was. Gathering Blue is set in the future - a future that is actually much like the distant past when everything was extremely basic. The men hunt for food, the women raise the children in their huts, and any person born with a defect is typically left out to die in the burial field.

I am interested to read Messenger now, because I really felt like Gathering Blue ended in an extremely abrupt way. There were so many things that were not explained, and it looks like Messenger follows some of the characters that were in Gathering Blue.

I still gave it three stars, because Lowry rocks. Mild bias, of course.