Children asking through the Internet Public Library wanted to know if Lowry would write a sequel to the book, but she said no - a sequel would likely be a disappointment (note that it would, among other things, necessarily remove the ambiguity of the original ending).

        Carol Hurst reports that Lowry did the cover photograph and design for the book herself.  Lowry is a talented photographer who also did the cover picture for Number the Stars.
 

Challenges:
        According to the American Library Association, The Giver has ranked as one of the most commonly challenged books in public and school libraries.  In 1995, it was one of the three most commonly challenged books; in 1998, The Giver continued to be a frequent target, ranking fifth on the list of most frequently challenged books.  (Number one was another young adult book, Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War.  R.L. Stine's children's horror series, Goosebumps and Fear Street, were also in the top five.)

• The Giver was challenged in 1995 by a parent in Franklin County, Kansas, on the grounds that it is "concerned with murder, suicide, and the degradation of motherhood and adolescence."  The book was removed from elementary libraries but remained available for classroom use at teachers' discretion.
• In Wrenshall, Minnesota, a school board member and two parents objected to the inclusion of The Giver on a list of books to be purchased for a high school, on the grounds of offensive language and objectionable themes.  The school board approved the book but stipulated that parents would receive a list of books to be studied during the year.
• In Johnson County, Missouri, complainants charged that The Giver desensitized children to euthanasia and asked that the book "not be read in class to children under high school age."  The book remains in the high school section of the K-12 library.
• A parent in Sidney, New York, publicly objected to the novel's "usage of mind control, selective breeding, and the elimination of the old and young alike when they are weak, feeble and of no more use..." but did not file a formal complaint.
• A review committee in Brecksville, Ohio, recommended the removal of The Giver from an elementary library.  Objections referred to infanticide and adult themes in the novel.  The book was removed.
• Somewhere in Oklahoma (no city given), a parent objected to the novel's use of terms such as "clairvoyance," "transcendent," and "guided imagery," because these are "all occult New Age practices the Bible tells us to avoid."  The review committee voted unanimously to retain the book but prohibited it from being read aloud in fourth grade.  The committee also recommended that immature readers be discouraged from trying it, and that the librarian should make fewer copies available.
• Medford, Oregon:  In the absence of a formal review policy, language arts teachers decided not to use the book in seventh grade classrooms after a parent complained of graphic descriptions of euthanasia.
• In 1994, The Giver was temporarily banned from classes by the Bonita Unified School District in LaVerne and San Dimas, California, after four parents complained that violent and sexual passages were inappropriate for children.
• The book was restricted to students with parental permission at the Columbia Falls, Mont. school system in 1995 because of its treatment of themes of infanticide and euthanasia.

Sources:  People for the American Way's 1995-96 report on school censorship, "Attacks on the Freedom to Learn."  available from PFAW at 2000 M AStreet, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036 (202 467-4999.  ALSO: ALA's Banned Books Week guide.

Return to Wally Hastings' Children's Literature Page