The Giver (Rigorous Reading)

Use this guide to maximize your students' experience of reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. It is filled with activities designed to systematically build students’ appreciation of this important literary work while also assessing their understanding of it. Teachers are given the tools to teach The Giver section by section, layering students’ analysis of the literary elements the author uses (plot, structure, characterization, point of view, setting, genre, theme, craft) to effectively tell the story of an alternate world that protects its citizens from ever having to feel pain, or anything else. The activities emphasize the following tasks:

• Focusing on the author’s choices and the effects those choices have on the story and on the reader.
• Tracking the progress of characterization, plot, theme, and other elements to build a big-picture understanding of the novel as a whole.
• Using textual evidence to support all answers and conclusions.
• Demonstrating speaking and listening skills in collaborative activities with others.
• Keeping Interactive Novel Logs as a place to make a more personal connection to the novel and its characters, events, themes, etc.

Correlated to the Common Core State Standards. This resource is 80 pages in all. (Actual novel not included.)