Messenger
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- £3.49
Publisher Description
The fascinating third companion novel to THE GIVER which inspired the dystopian genre and is soon to be a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges, Katie Holmes and Taylor Swift.
In MESSENGER, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. His community once welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close its borders to outsiders.
Now Matty must risk everything to make one last journey through the treacherous forest…
Award-winning author Lois Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, how people could evolve and what could be considered valuable in this fascinating follow-up to THE GIVER.
Reviews
Praise for THE GIVER:
"The Giver, a powerful and provocative novel, is sure to keep older children reading and thinking." New York Times
“Lowry is once again in top form – raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers." Publishers Weekly
About the author
Lois Lowry, author of over twenty novels and twice winner of the Newbery Medal (for The Giver and Number the Stars), was born on 20 March 1937 in Hawaii. Her father was an Army dentist and the family lived all over the world. Now divorced, she lives in West Cambridge with her dog, Bandit, and spends weekends in her nineteenth-century farmhouse in New Hampshire.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lowry masterfully presents another thought-provoking, haunting tale in this third novel, a companion to The Giver and Gathering Blue. Matty, the scruffy thief from Gathering Blue, lives with the blind man called Seer and helps him around the house. Now an educated young adult, Matty delivers messages for Leader, the head of Village, traversing the sometimes inhospitable Forest. On one such mission, he discovers that he has the power to heal. Meanwhile, sinister attitudes begin to infiltrate his formerly tolerant Village most notably in Mentor, the man who "tamed" Matty and to threaten the principles on which it was founded. While Lowry intertwines compelling threads from past novels (readers discover what happened to Jonas, and that Kira also has a connection to Village), this story more than stands on its own. The author revisits some of the themes of her previous novels (the cost of striving for physical perfection; the benefits of inclusion), and takes them to another level. Because she continues to work in allegorical terms, her lessons about the effects of consumerism on society and the importance of knowing one's history never feel teacherly; instead, she allows readers to come to their own conclusions. And Matty himself, once a taker, in many ways brings the series full circle, becoming the Village citizen who offers the greatest gift. Ages 12-up.
