Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

After re-reading The Giver recently I decided to research online to see if Lois Lowry ever explained the ending since it could be interpreted a couple of different ways. It didn't take long to figure out that Lois Lowry had written not one, but three additional "companion novels" to The Giver! I had no idea! Anyway, Gathering Blue is the first companion novel. This book does not explain what happened to Jonas & Gabe. The story is set in a different village or community with a more dystopian feel to it (while The Giver is more utopian).

The main character is a young girl, Kira, whose mother recently died due to illness. Kira has a bad leg (from birth) and normally babies born with a deformity are pretty much sent to the forest, or in other words, killed. Kira's mother, Katrina, insisted on keeping Kira though, and since Katrina had an important family member in the community, she was allowed to. Katrina also had a special skill. She knew how to color threads and sew/weave. Katrina was responsible for repairing Singer's beautiful robe each year after The Gathering. The Gathering was an annual event for the whole community. Singer's robe illustrated the history of the village and Singer pointed to the various sections of the robe while singing a very long song that reviewed the history of the village.

Anyway, after Katrina died, Kira was an orphan - or really a crippled orphan. Her father had died years ago on a village hunt. Kira's life was spared again by a member (Jamison) of the Council of Guardians. She was saved because she was even more talented than her mother at weaving threads. She was sent to live in a building with an indoor bathroom, hot meals and all the supplies she needed to restore Singer's robe. The village Kira lived in was grounded in poverty. The people were harsh, dirty, hungry and mean to each other and their children. The village had an underlying feeling of despair (hence my dystopian comment in the first paragraph.)

As in The Giver, Kira soon learns that all is not what it seems. Kira has two companions. Matt is a young, mischievous troublemaker and Thomas is the Carver, who lives in the same building as Kira. Thomas' job is to restore (and finish) Singer's staff/cane, which also illustrates the village's history. In this book you know the character's age range from their names. A one syllable name (like Matt) indicates the child is young. A two syllable name (like Kira & Thomas) indicates they are at least a young teen through early adulthood, I would guess. There is no one mentioned in the book that has more than a four syllable name. Kira makes a different decision than Jonas did in The Giver, and I can't wait to see how this story unfolds.

Gathering Blue was written seven years after The Giver. I really enjoy Lois Lowry's stories and look forward to reading the last two.

Wendy's Rating: *****