https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb Lois Lowry en-us 2019-02-12 06:40:19 UTC 2019-02-21 01:47:04 UTC hello@padlet.com sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330207776 Lois Lowry is an American author of children's books and Young Adult literature. Born in 1937, Lowry was the daughter of an Army Officer, traveling frequently as a child. At 9 years, she knew she wanted to become a writer. She published her first book in 1977, drawing inspiration from personal hardship and the experiences she faced as a young adult. She has won multiple literary awards and had commercial success with various adaptions of one of her most praised books, The Giver. She is recognized as one of Americas most influential YA Literature authors; her stories containing themes that "help adolescents answer their own questions about life, identity and human relationships."]]> 2019-02-12 07:01:24 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330207776 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330209157 2019-02-12 07:12:00 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330209157 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330209197 Lois Lowry has won the Newberry Medal for two of her books, first awarded the medal for Number the Stars in 1990 and again for The Giver in 1994. Being named after the 18th century bookseller, John Newberry, this medal is considered one of the highest awards in American literature for Children and is awarded by the American Library Association. In 1922 it became the first childrens book award in the world at the suggestion of American publisher Frederic Melcher, who stated the award was, 
"To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field." 
In 1990 Lowry was working away at her desk when she was notified she won. She won again in 1994, this time receiving the new via radiogram while she was on a trip to Antartica ecstatically stating, "I was feeling on top of the world, though, technically speaking, I was actually at the bottom". 
Admin. (2015, December 04). The John Newbery Medal. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/aboutnewbery/aboutnewbery

]]> 2019-02-12 07:12:16 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330209197 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330209249 The Giver is one of Lois Lowry's most recognized and scrutinized YA novels. This dystopian story follows Jonas, the young protagonist as he discovers reality, as he has always known, is a shattered fragment of TRUTH. At 12 years of age, all of the members of the community are given their Assignment, their permanent role in the community. Everything changes when Jonas is assigned as the next Receiver of Memory. As Jonas starts his training with the Giver and receiving memories transmitted through the Givers wisdom and touch, he becomes increasingly curious about the world around him and the Elsewhere that lies outside of the safeness of the community. As Jonas receives more and more memories of the past he begins to discover color, music, and feelings of love, many things people gave up once they entered into Sameness and the safety of the community. Eventually overcome by his awareness and the truth of the Release process, in which people are euthanized, Jonas decides to leave the community. With the help of the Giver, Jonas devises a plan to leave the community and take Gabriel, the newchild under his fathers supervision who is scheduled to be Released. Jonas and baby Gabriel embark on a journey into the wild Elsewhere, faced with extreme weather and starvation. On the brink of death, Jonas finds a sled which takes him and Gabriel to a place where warmth, love and truth awaits.
Russell, P. C., Lowry, L., Showman, G., Hampton, S., & Lowry, L. (2019). The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.]]> 2019-02-12 07:12:33 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/330209249 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/331085273 Although Lowry's dystopian science fiction novel, The Giver is acclaimed and has won multiple literary awards, over the past 20 years many attempts have been made to ban the book from public school curriculums.  Many themes in The Giver have been deemed controversial for students in middle school due to themes of infanticide, euthanasia, suicide. In 2003 Oregon Republican Activist Betty Fruauf penned an article entitled, "Is The Giver on Your Horizon" which insinuated that the book could possibly due young children emotional harm in regard to how the book portrays individuals with handicaps and the elderly. The article, which also took the book out of context, states that The Giver "glamorizes death" and consequentially pushes a communist agenda in which children are 'conditioned' and 'indoctrinated'.
Sova, Dawn B. Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds. Facts On File, 2011.]]> 2019-02-13 23:13:27 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/331085273 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/331954358  Lois Lowry has written many popular childrens books but her YA novels, such as The Giver, Son, many of her novels are more age appropriate for children between the 4th grade through the 8th grade. The Lexical Guide rates her book, The Giver overall at 760L. According to the guide, this book is usually taught to students between the 6th and 8th grade although in order to be college ready by grade 12, students should be reading books rated between 925L and 1185L. Lowry's books offer teachers a way to educate students about important aspect of life and the human condition.  Number The Stars is written on third person and from the perspective of Annemarie, a ten year old Jewish Girl living in Denmark during WWII. I think these kinds of novels are great tool for covering multiple topics, such as history, religious studies, and anthropology while engaging the students imagination and creativity while cultivating interest in these topics. It also helps build students vocabulary in context and helps students differentiate between writing styles such as first person and third person because both are featured in this book which is rated a 670, appropriate for 3rd grade and up.  
Lexile Levels: What Parents Need to Know. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/reading-resources/book-selection-tips/lexile-levels-made-easy.html]]> 2019-02-16 03:18:03 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/331954358 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/332573419 Published in 2019 The Giver Graphic Novel is a beautifully illustrated ]]> 2019-02-19 08:05:14 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/332573419 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/332573510 Son is the concluding book to The Giver.  Published 9 years later, Lowry returns the reader to the isolated and controlled Community, this time telling the story of Clair, who is assigned duty of birthmother at 12. By 14 she becomes pregnant but because of heath complications is unable to have the baby naturally and instead undergoes a C-section. Because of the strict standards imposed by the Elders, Clair is deemed unfit and released from her duty as Birthmother. She is relocated to the Fish Hatchery where she has visions of her Product(son)and then by happenstance falls off a boat and is washed ashore to a foreign community she's never heard of. As the story unfolds the reader is given clues that connect the storyline to the one in The Giver. The reader comes to find out that Clairs Product is actually baby Gabriel. Clair eventually regains memory after living in the new village community and decides to reveal herself to her son but only after making a deal with the Tradesmaster, who persuades Clair to give up her youth and sacrifice everything and reveal her true identity. ]]> 2019-02-19 08:05:42 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/332573510 sshauna https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/332573545 In 2014 The Giver was made into a feature length film staring Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaits, Odeya Rush and Meryl Streep. It grossed 67 Million but received mixed reviews. The screenplay was written in 1998 but the film did not go into production until 2013.  Shelia O'Malley from Robert Ebert.com rated the film only two stars, stating "The use of heavy explanatory voiceover to open and close the film is disappointing, especially since a couple of lines have been added to the famous last paragraph of the book. Not surprisingly, the lines added remove it from the moody ambiguous statement of hope that it is in the book, and turn it into a complete platitude. We've heard it a hundred times before. It emanates Sameness with every word." She also criticized the acting stating the actors where non-descript and that "Holmes and Skarsgård are both strange and unplaceable, playing human beings whose emotions are entirely truncated." To me, it seems as though Ms. O'Malley might not have read the book or understood Sameness illustrated in the the book.  
OMalley, S. (2014, August 15). The Giver Movie Review & Film Summary (2014) | Roger Ebert. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-giver-2014]]> 2019-02-19 08:05:53 UTC https://padlet.com/sshauna/e7fhv23oeovb/wish/332573545