The Giver by Lois Lowry

Chapter 1

rasping
palpable
distraught
distracted
wheedle
nurturer
disposition
transgression
apprehensive

1. What is the point of view of the story?

2. What do you learn about each of Jonas’s family members from his/her sharing of feelings after dinner?

3. What kinds of punishments are used in the book’s society?

4. What is the setting of the book?

Chapter 2

aptitude

1. What are some of the structural guidelines in the book’s society?

2. What does it mean to be “politically correct” in the book’s society?

3. What is especially momentous about the Ceremony of Twelve?

Chapter 3

chastise
rarity
petulantly
bewilderment
nondescript

1. What is the attitude toward mirrors in the book?

2.What does it tell you about the society in general?

3. How do the book folks feel about mothering?

4. How is it different from what you’ve known and experienced?

5. Why does Jonas keep the apple to investigate?

Chapter 4

gravitating
chortled

1. What have the volunteer hours done for Benjamin and Fiona? What about Jonas?

2. Why does Jonas especially like the feeling of safety in the House of the Old?

3. What have you learned so far about releasing?

4. What is the reaction when a new idea is suggested and referred to committee?

Chapter 5

infraction
dosage

1. Explain the society’s rule about stirrings.

2. Why are the rules printed all in caps?

Chapter 6

interdependence
indulgently
exuberant
chastisement
transgressions
buoyancy

1. What is the mood on the day of the Ceremonies?

2. What kind of power does the Committee of Elders have?

Chapter 7 

exasperated
retroactive
acquisition

1. How does Jonas feel as his Ceremony of Twelve starts? when number twenty is announced?

2. What do you think Jonas has done wrong?

3. How are the assignments decided? Are they appropriate?

Chapter 8

crescendo
humiliation
benign
anguish
meticulously

1. Why is Jonas’s assignment “a selection”?

2. What is the “capacity to see beyond”?

3. Why does the community cheer for Jonas?

Chapter 9

requisitioned
excruciating
reeled

1. How have things changed after the Ceremony of Twelve?

2. What is puzzling for Jonas about his instructions for Receiver training?

3. How would you feel if you’d received the instructions Jonas did?

Chapter 10

exhilarating
deftly 

1. What will Jonas’s training entail?

2. What is the first memory transmitted to Jonas?

3. How does the author let you know that Jonas’s training will be astonishing for him?

Chapter 11

conveyance

1. How does it feel for Jonas as he receives memories?

2. Why doesn’t the book’s world have snow, sleds, and hills except in the Receiver’s memory?

3. How does Jonas react to sunburn?

Chapter 12

admonition 

1. How is “seeing beyond” developing for Jonas?

2. What is the difference between one-generation memories and the memory Jonas is receiving?

Chapter 13

mutilated
sinuous
electrode

1. Why does Jonas begin to feel unfairness in his world?

Chapter 14

skittered
acceleration
writhing
anguish
assuage
excruciating
distended
ominous
placidly

1. Why doesn’t Jonas’s family understand his training?

2. Why does Jonas decide to keep secret how he calms Gabriel?

Chapter 15

contorted
carriage
immobilized

1. How does Jonas help The Giver in Chapter 15?

2. What is the memory that so tortures The Giver?

Chapter 16

ecstatic
obsolete

1. Why doesn’t Jonas want to return to The Giver at the start of the chapter?

2. Why does Jonas need to learn the joy of being an individual – special, unique, and proud?

3. How do Jonas and his parents differ in their understanding of love?

Chapter 17

permeated
exasperation
expertise

1. How are Jonas’s feelings different from his family’s feelings?

2. What has Jonas lost as the Receiver of Memories?

Chapter 18

luminous
anguish
imploringly

1. Who was Rosemary and what happened to her?

2. Why is the Receiver’s job so vital to the book’s community?

Chapter 19

1. Why does the author use italics on page 147?

2. How is Jonas’s answer significant and important to the plot and his own development?

3. What does Jonas learn about release?

4. How does it make him feel?

Chapter 20

empowered
rueful

1. Why does The Giver tell Jonas that the characters in the book know nothing?

2. Why is the Receiver’s job lonely?

3. How do Jonas and TheGiver plan to change the society in the book?

Chapter 21

meticulously
stealthily
frazzled
emphatically

Chapter 22

exquisite
tantalizing

2. How does Jonas come no longer to care about himself?

Chapter 23

imperceptibly
agonizingly
trudged
lethargy