Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2)

Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2)
Gathering Blue - Giver, Bk 2
Author: Lois Lowry
ISBN-13: 9780618055814
ISBN-10: 0618055819
Publication Date: 10/1/2000
Pages: 215
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 33

3.8 stars, based on 33 ratings
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

35 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on
Helpful Score: 8
This book is the second in the trilogy which also includes The Giver and Messenger. I read The Giver, a Newbery book, earlier this year and absolutely loved it. This book doesn't really continue where The Giver left off, but Messenger takes place after both stories and with characters from each.

Kira is a girl who has just lost her mother to sickness. She is very distraught as it has been her mother who has protected her from the community. Kira has a bad leg, and everyone in the village with any kind of defect or deformity must leave the protected area and contend with "the beasts" outside of it.

As she goes back to her small house, the women around her make it known that they want her property as a place for their own children and animals. A legal proceeding takes place which decides the matter. Will she have to leave the community and contend with "the beasts", or will an exception be made?

Recommended highly, but make sure you read The Giver before you read Messenger.
JustJen avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 75 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Very good companion book to The Giver. Both books are listed for teens but I do believe they are a great read for anyone. Hard to put down.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This is a FANTASTIC book! It is a companion to The Giver which I have not yet read but want to. Though it is a book intended for younger readers (approx. 3rd grade or so) I enjoyed it very much as an adult. I highly recommend it.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book is my favorite of all Lowry's novels. Poler opposite society from what the reader saw in the Giver. Gathering Blue is a sequel to The Giver.
TeaWithMe avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 31 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Gathering Blue is the second book in a 3 book series that started with The Giver, a fascinating, startling book. While the first two books appear to have no relation to each other, the third and final book, The Messenger, ties thm all together beautifully. Fantastic set of books.
BaileysBooks avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 491 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is Book 2 of The Giver Quartet.

In this book, Lowry completely shifts gears and takes the reader to another post-apocalyptic community with a brand new set of characters.

I did not find this book as overtly disturbing as The Giver, but I did feel that same sense of paranoia, danger, and urgency hiding throughout the plot. In this book, Lowry goes more into detail about special gifts that some of the people in this world possess, and it makes me wonder where that will lead and how it will factor in to the overarching story.

The smallest of connections are made between this book and The Giver, but the reader is given no more than an off-hand remark in one or two sentences and must once again draw their own conclusions.

This book was good. It was not quite on par with The Giver but it was still important. As I read, I had the feeling that this was something of a bridge book, a necessary connection between what has happened (The Giver) and what is yet to come. Again, this is a book that manages to say a lot by saying very little. Lowry continues to impress me with her style, her content, and her ability to challenge me as I am forced to think more about what it is that I am reading. I am eagerly looking forward to the next installment.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 89 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Good story for young teens to learn how we are all individuals.
Apollyn avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 26 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I remember reading this book back in middle school. The Giver was part of the reading curriculum, and I remember picking up this book afterwords. It was absolutely amazing and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 25 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Ignore the fact this book is supposively a companion to The Giver. In truth the story stands alone as a seperate story that has little to do with The Giver. Kira was born into a world with very little compassion. Born with a gimp leg, societial law dictates she was to have been put to death at birth. However she was spared by her mom, but her moms death means again her life is at stake. In her quest to find a role in the society she learns more than the average citizen about how the town she lives in works, and starts to question it.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Fantabulous, if you like Lowry, this book is great.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 22 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I read this book because it was the sequel to Lois Lowry's "The Giver." While it didn't affect me as much as "The Giver," I still found it to be an interesting read, and one that could appeal to a variety of ages.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 23 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This was a beautiful book with amazing imagery and deep and inspiring morals throughout the book i highly reckomend it for all ages
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
By Newberry award winning author Lois Lowery, about a young woman living in a world og the future that has regressed, rather than "leaping forward". It is about faith, belief and mystery.
scifimom avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 48 more book reviews
a great story, read her other books!
sarahchild avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 4 more book reviews
Good book. This will appeal to anyone artistically minded and gifted. I felt the reading level was a bit low for me (read it in my early 20s), but the story was still good.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 33 more book reviews
Lovely book. It´s a new world to know. Makes one wander about the talents we have and what we can do... and about the decisions we make. Most chapters are about eight pages. Easy to read.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 82 more book reviews
An interesting and enjoyable book.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on
Gathering Blue is a wonderful sequel to Lowry's The Giver. Though it is quite different from The Giver and does not build from the its predecessor, Gathering Blue uses the same colorful imagination and creativity that captures your attention as you journey with Kira, the cripple girl who has defeated the odds of life and whose future is more important than she even knows. Lowry will leave you wanting more at the end and the story draws you in with its sense of adventure and uncertainty of the future.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 1452 more book reviews
Kira has a twisted leg with which she was born and lives in a community that disposes of people who are not viewed as perfect. The people, however, bicker, argue and fight except for a few talented individuals. Kira is a gifted weaver. The threads seem to communicate with her and patterns form in her mind that her fingers can follow. When her mother dies of a strange malady, the Council of Guardians takes her into their care. Her father had disappeared on a hunt before she was born, "taken by the beasts." Her job is to repair the singer's robe. She continues her friendship with Matt a vivacious little boy and finds a friend in Thomas, a gifted carver. Together they discover Jo, an equally gifted singer. Kira begins to think about her community. There are mysteries and secrets that need to be discovered.
amberhall avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 10 more book reviews
and loved it. it's the continuance of 'The Giver'.

a classic.
Bonnie avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 422 more book reviews
This is the second in a series, and yes a young adult or teen book. I loved it! Kind of a futuristic fantasy, but not really a fantasy.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 9 more book reviews
Not quite as compelling at The Giver, and the ending was a bit rushed, but I enjoyed this book very much. I would love to see a sequel.
retro-redux avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 219 more book reviews
excellent, thought provoking book
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 7 more book reviews
This is a good book. It is a companion to The Giver, but makes no references to it.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 20 more book reviews
Wonderful book that looks at life and how it could be in the future for our society.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 11 more book reviews
A clasic for fans of The Giver.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 9 more book reviews
Excellent Lois Lowry book. Gathering blue "Readers Cirle" edition has informative book club discussions in the back. This is truly a fine read and a good bookshelf companion to "The Giver".
bookshelftreasures avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 13 more book reviews
This is the second book of the four book quartet beginning with The Giver. I liked this one better then The Giver, but it has nothing to do with The Giver. In the Fourth book the whole story ties together. Gathering Blue is a little more interesting as it's a more believable story. The characters are interesting. Looking back on the whole quartet, one minute I felt like I was reading a fantasy and the next it seemed like Science Fiction. Neither genre I particularly like. The Giver was suggested for our book club, and I thought I should read all of them. I'm glad I did, at least I got the whole story by reading them all.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 3 more book reviews
i love this book, it's just so awesome.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 407 more book reviews
This was a very good story about a world in which the weak are cast aside. I liked how Kira learned about her gift and the truth of the Council of Guardians. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Messenger.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 8 more book reviews
From what I remember this was a great book for kids/preteens. It has been a while since I've read it.
jacylane avatar reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on
Sequel to "The Giver"
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 28 more book reviews
Reading group discussion guide at the end of this book.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 4 more book reviews
This book is a companion to the Newbery award winner The Giver.
reviewed Gathering Blue (Giver, Bk 2) on + 47 more book reviews
Great condition.