The Giver Quartet: Books in Order
Four books, nineteen years and an answer to the most argued-about ending in children's fiction
The quartet in order
| # | Book | Year | Main character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Giver | 1993 | Jonas |
| 2 | Gathering Blue | 2000 | Kira |
| 3 | Messenger | 2004 | Matty |
| 4 | Son | 2012 | Claire |
Read them in this order: The Giver (1993), Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004) and Son (2012). They are set in the same future world, and the last two bring the characters of the first two together.
Lowry did not plan a series. Each book grew from questions readers kept asking, above all whether Jonas survived.
Gathering Blue (2000)
The second book starts somewhere completely different: a rough, violent village where weak people are cast out. Kira, an orphan with an injured leg, should be abandoned, but her gift for embroidery saves her, and the village leaders give her the task of restoring the robe that tells their history. Slowly she discovers how the leaders control the people. It can be read on its own, and at first it seems unrelated to The Giver, until a small clue near the end.
↑ Back to the topMessenger (2004)
Messenger follows Matty, a boy from Gathering Blue, who now lives in a peaceful village that welcomes outsiders. The village's leader is a young man with pale eyes who arrived years earlier with a small child on a sled. Messenger answers the big question from The Giver, and it brings Kira back as well. Its mood is darker than the first two books, as the village begins to turn against newcomers.
↑ Back to the topSon (2012)
Son goes back to Jonas's original community and tells the story from a new angle: Claire, a young birthmother whose baby was taken from her, the baby who turns out to be Gabriel. The book follows her long search for her son through three very different places and links all four novels.
↑ Back to the topDo you need to read all four?
The Giver stands perfectly well alone, and many readers prefer to keep its ending open. If you want to know what happens to Jonas and Gabriel, Messenger and Son give the answer, but they make most sense after Gathering Blue. All four are fairly short, between about 170 and 400 pages each, so the full quartet is a reasonable read for anyone eleven and up.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Giver
Books Like The Giver
MessengerLois Lowry
Gathering BlueLois Lowry
SonLois Lowry
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DivergentVeronica RothThis guide discusses the whole plot, including the ending.