Thank you for this post, Lois. I, too, love San Francisco. I, too, love to shop. And I, too, sponsor a woman at Women for Women International. I remember reading from them recently about a woman who is living in total darkness. It's so hard to know what to do. Or how to do.
Thank you.
Laraine

Dear Mrs. Lowry,
I think the book, "The Giver" was a great book since it has a lot of long words.My favorite part is when the Giver gives Jonas the memory of snow. Jonas is a great character, since he is so kind to others, such as Gabe,the Giver, Asher,and Fiona.
What time does this book take place? My guess would be somewhere around 1950. Where does this book take place?I think the place would be around Florida.
From,
Zach

December 8, 2009
Dear Mrs. Lowry:
Hi,
My name is Ilan, I’m 14 years old, and I’m writing to you from Mexico City.
I want you to know what my opinion is about your book “The Giver”.
When I started reading it, I had a lot of questions that with time the book answered. Questions such as:
What is release?
Do they have technology?
Do you decide who you marry?
Do they get bored doing their assignments?
How was garbage disposed of?
Do they manufacture or produce things?
Who is the father of the babies? You only talk about mothers (I don’t have the answer to this one.)
Why do they need a Giver?
What kind of society is it? (I don’t have the answer to this one either.)
The beginning of the book was very interesting but as I turned each page it became less interesting because I felt it was boring.
Now let’s talk seriously.
I didn’t really like the book, I hated it. It was boring all the way through. There were parts that were very complicated like why did the community do all this stuff. The book made me feel angry because the book´s critics are good critics and everything they said was a lie. The opinions had to be this way:
“No simplicity and no directness from you” Booklist, Starred
“A poorly, not provocative novel” Kirkus Reviews, Starred
“Boring with a terrible ending” School Library Journal, Starred.
“Lowry, not a good writer” Publisher Weekly, Starred
“Not a good presentation” The Horn Book Magazine, Starred.
“A boring novel” The New York Times.
“A book without meaning” Ilan in Mexico (“ME”)
“Not boring” Miss Lupita (my English teacher)
“Not appropriate for young children (17+)” Miss Lupita
“Not appropriate for anybody” Ilan
“Kids don’t believe in that, it is an utopian not credible society” Miss Lupita
“I didn’t think it defended freedom” Ilan “It is a book that should not be read in schools” Ilan
“I think you have a lot of imagination, you could have instilled more effort into the story” Ilan
In conclusion, Mrs. Lowry, please excuse how straight forward I was with my opinion about your book. I like to read books that are interesting, that make me not want to leave it, I only finished it because my English teacher told me to. I would like to hear from you. Thank you very much.
Ilan Jinich