the giver movie assignment

5 Engaging Activities to Teach The Giver

After jumping into the world of middle school ELA, I have to say that The Giver is my new Gatsby . In other words, it’s my new favorite whole-class novel. It’s even better than Gatsby (sorry, old sport), and it’s such a gem of a book that it just might keep me teaching middle school forever! The Giver is engaging, thought-provoking, and accessible! My favorite part of teaching it is watching how inquisitive, curious, and invested my students become as they read. The book definitely sparks a lot of curiosity on its own, but I deliberately teach this book to hook and engage students from the start! I love to play up the “mystery” of it all, encourage students to ask lots of questions, take note of all the interesting things they observe, and start guessing about what’s really going on in the community. 

If you’re ready to similarly engage your students, then here are 5 of my favorite activities for teaching The Giver !

1. PRE-READING LEARNING STATIONS

Learning stations are my favorite strategy for hooking my students before reading. They’re so versatile, engaging, and effective that I use them at the beginning of almost every single unit/novel! A good set of pre-reading learning stations will preview essential background information AND spark students’ curiosity before they have a chance to turn to page 1. 

For The Giver, here’s what that looks like:

• Students learn about the genre (dystopian/science-fiction).
• Students debate essential questions through an engaging anticipation guide.
• Students explore the differences between utopias and dystopias.
• Students preview and react to a few of the community’s strict rules.
• Students play a creative word challenge game designed to get them thinking about the power of language in the book!

As you can see, these activities hook and prepare students for further reading! These print/digital pre-reading learning stations are available separately HERE or bundled with other resources for The Giver HERE. For more information about creating your own learning stations, check out the following blog posts:

• 10 Reasons to Implement Learning Stations
• How to Create Engaging Learning Stations
• How to Facilitate Successful Learning Stations
• 10 Ideas for Virtual Learning Stations

2. MOCK CEREMONY OF 12

Chapter 8 of The Giver is practically begging to be acted out in front of an audience of middle schoolers, so take advantage of this and host your own mock Ceremony of 12. It’s a tiny bit of extra effort and work, but I promise you it’s worth the memorable experience. Not to mention, a mock ceremony is a great way to review the chapter, spark connections, and facilitate rich discussions! Here’s what I did to host our Ceremony of 12:

• I created Assignment cards for different jobs in the community. During the ceremony, I assigned these randomly!
• I wrote up a script so I didn’t have to totally wing it as the Chief Elder.
• I designed ceremony programs for my students, so they could follow along during the ceremony. These programs also prompted them to answer a few essential questions and reflect on the chapter/ceremony.

On the day of the ceremony, I donned a black gown (from my college graduation) and a wig (at my students’ request). I also sported a gavel just for fun, and of course, I acted as ridiculous as possible. The whole experience was so much fun for me and my students! 10/10, definitely recommend!

You can find all of these mock ceremony materials, as well as thorough teacher instructions, in this growing unit bundle for The Giver.

3. QUESTION TRAIL

A question trail is my go-to activity to mix things up and break the normal routines of any novel unit! If you’re unfamiliar with it, a question trail is a unique, kinesthetic activity that gets students up and moving on a “trail” of questions around the classroom. 

This activity consists of different multiple choice “stations” or “spots” around the room. At each station, students answer a multiple-choice question. Each answer (a, b, c, or d) will send the students to a different station. If students answer each question correctly, they will travel to each station and complete a full circuit. If students answer a question incorrectly, they will eventually find themselves at a station they’ve already completed, which tells them that they need to backtrack. This gives you clear, immediate feedback so you can see who is getting it (“on the trail”) vs. who is not (“off the trail”).

This means a question trail is a great way to review a chapter with both comprehension and analysis questions. I like to do a question trail after Chapters 16-17 of The Giver, just to make sure students are understanding the book and the standards we are practicing before the climax in Chapter 19. Of course, you can create your own question trail for any chapter/s in the book. If you’re interested in my student-ready question trail for Chapters 16-17 of The Giver, you can check it out HERE. To learn more about how to create question trails, head to this blog post.

4. ACTING OUT CHAPTER 19

When you spend so much time cultivating students’ curiosity and playing up the mystery of “release,” it only makes sense to do this dramatic chapter justice! My students read most of the book for reading homework, but I purposefully do not assign Chapter 19 as reading homework! I selfishly want to witness their reactions to learning what “release” really means. To make the most of this scene, I like to transform the chapter into a script and have students act it out in front of the class. 

Don’t feel pressured to buy props or get too fancy.  In fact, using baby dolls as props might be taking it too far! Because it was 2021, my class ended up using two identical bottles of sanitizer spray for the newchildren twins. Yep, it got that weird, but it was hilarious. If your students are anything like mine, this will make for a memorable reading experience and give you a great chance to reflect, discuss, and process the chapter after the acting!

5. THE GIVER FILM ANALYSIS

I absolutely love facilitating film analysis during/after reading novels, and The Giver is no exception! Film analysis is an engaging, accessible way to scaffold the challenging skill of literary analysis. With the right structure, guidance, and questions, watching a movie can prompt critical thinking and spark rich discussions. I know many fellow ELA teachers don’t like the film adaptation of The Giver because it changes so much from the book, but I think it offers the perfect opportunity for discussion & analysis. 

In addition to asking students to compare/contrast the text and the film, try asking them why they think the film directors made certain changes and how these changes affect the audience. These kinds of questions spark more thoughtful insight and engaging discussions. For print/digital worksheets with these types of questions, check out these The Giver Film Analysis resources. For more information on successfully facilitating film analysis for any novel, head to this blog post!

I hope these ideas help you jumpstart your unit planning for The Giver ! For more engaging activities and resources for teaching this book, check out this growing unit bundle full of learning stations, quickwrites, vocabulary resources, and more! If you have any questions about these activities or how I teach The Giver, leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer. 🙂

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Assignments

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Assignments are the occupations of the inhabitants of the Community . Assignments are designated when a member of the Community goes through their respective Ceremony of Twelve .

All Assignments can be found here .

• 1.1 The Giver

History [ ]

The giver [ ].

Claire is given the Assignment of Birthmother at the Ceremony of Twelve.

Coming soon...

• Assignments are made by the Elders may be appealed by contacting them, who form a committee to discuss it. Committees typically take a large amount of time to decide so an appeal is considered to be impractical.

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The Giver Movie Lesson Plan

Let’s be honest: The Giver movie isn’t very good.

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Kids want to watch it. You could use a break. And with this assignment, you can make it a worthwhile learning activity.

Great teachers deserve great lesson plans.

As you know, I would never encourage my colleagues to show a movie without having a legitimate lesson plan with legitimate objectives.

Here’s the assignment handout . It’s self-explanatory. This is one of those lessons that’s easy to teach, entertaining for the kids, and actually involves practicing and mastering skills and standards.

Don’t forget to write one of these standards on the board.

• RL.9-10.7  – Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
• RL.11-12.7 –  Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem.

Last Updated on April 14, 2020 by Trenton Lorcher

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20 years ago, Lois Lowry's dystopian YA novel "The Giver" won the Newberry Medal. Creepy and prophetic, told in a kind of flat-affect voice, it has been a staple in middle-school literature curriculum ever since, introducing young students to sophisticated ethical and moral concepts that will help them recognize its precedents when they come to read the works of George Orwell or Aldous Huxley. Jeff Bridges has been attached as a producer to the film project for almost 20 years, and finally, "The Giver" is here, with Bridges in the title role. Directed by Phillip Noyce, with an adaptation of the book by Michael Mitnick , "The Giver" gives us the overall structure of Lowry's original work, adds a couple of understandable details like a sweet little romance and then derails into an action movie in its final sequence, complete with attacks from the air and a hi-tech command center. Children have been thrilled by the book for 20 years, and a chase scene still proved irresistible. Despite a truly pained performance from Jeff Bridges and a beautifully imagined, three-dimensional futuristic world, "The Giver," in wanting to connect itself to more recent YA franchises, sacrifices subtlety, inference and power.

"The Giver" takes place in a community at some point in the indeterminate future where "Sameness" is prized above all else. Multiple factors have gone into creating a monochromatic world (literally, colors have been erased) where individuality is crushed, a citizen's every move is monitored from the moment of birth, natural families have been replaced by artificial "family units" and choice has vanished. A soothing voice makes passive-aggressive scolding announcements over loudspeakers. The Giver's cavernous dwelling, perched on the edge of a cliff, is a gloomy and masterful set, overlooking the clouds gathered below, making The Giver appear like Citizen Kane, holed up in his mansion surrounded by accumulated possessions and raw pain.

"Precision of language" is enforced, and so people are constantly apologizing and saying "I accept your apology" to each other, but in a rote way that drains the language of meaning. "The Giver" is a cautionary tale about what happens when language is controlled and limited—ground well covered for all time in "1984"—where citizens have no language available to them outside of "newsspeak." Memories are gone, too, in "The Giver". One person in the Community is chosen to be "The Receiver" of a collective memory, memories of now-extinct experiences like love and war and sex and pain. Through the course of the film, the young Jonas ( Brenton Thwaites ), chosen to be the next Receiver, is introduced to complexity and emotion and his entire concept of the world as he knows it shatters. He must now make a choice: to stay or to flee. It's a powerful set-up, made even more stark by Noyce's choice to film the majority of the film in black-and-white. When Jonas starts to see colors again, there are unavoidable " Pleasantville " connections.

Jonas is raised in a family unit, with Katie Holmes and Alexander Skarsgård acting as parental units. He has two best friends, Fiona ( Odeya Rush ) and Asher ( Cameron Monaghan ), and they are about to "graduate from childhood," and take on their assigned jobs in the community. There is a gigantic ceremony, led by the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep, who shows up as a holograph the size of a building), and each child is called to the stage to receive their assignments. The entire community gathers in a massive stadium, everyone dressed in identical white, so it looks like a gigantic celestial choir or a formal-dress LGAT workshop. Everyone speaks in unison. Everyone claps the same way. Everyone looks forward. No one moves. The effect is eerie.

Jonas is surprised when he is not assigned a job at all. He is, instead, "selected" to be the next Receiver, because he apparently has the ability to "see beyond." He has no idea what that means. Jeff Bridges, who becomes The Giver once a new Receiver is chosen, sits in the front row of the stadium, grim and remote. The thousands of people present start to chant in a repetitive whisper, "Jonas … Jonas … Jonas …"

The training sessions, when they come, are part Mr. Miyagi, part vision quest, and part "Quantum Leap." The Giver bombards Jonas with memories from all of humanity, memories that thrust Jonas into the thick of the action: he feels snow falling for the first time, he is shown the full spectrum of colors, he is given shaky-cam experiences of war, he also dances around a Maypole with a saucy wench while wearing a pirate shirt. There are multiple quick-shot montage sequences of smiling babies, praying Muslims, crashing waves, paper lanterns, crying elderly people. The music swells, pushing the emotions on us, but the montages have the opposite effect intended. Instead of revelatory glimpses of the rich tapestry of human experience, they seem like Hallmark-collages uploaded on YouTube. Noyce has also made the questionable choice to co-opt real-world events, and so suddenly we see Tieneman Square in the montage, or the Arab Spring, or Nelson Mandela. It's cheap, hoping to ride the coattails of others, as opposed to finding a visual form and style that will actually express the strength of the human spirit.

Jonas begins to look around him with new eyes. He wants to kiss Fiona. He wants to have the choice to feel things that may be unpleasant. He is not allowed to share his training with others.

The young actors in the film are pretty nondescript, the lead included, although Thwaites seems to come alive in mischievous ways when he starts to take care of a fussy newborn who can't stop crying at night. Holmes and Skarsgård are both strange and unplaceable, playing human beings whose emotions are entirely truncated. "Precision of language, please," says Mother at the dinner table when one of her children starts to speak. Bridges galumphs across the screen, a madman out of Melville, tormented, lonely, in and out of reality. His memories sometimes flatten him. There is one moment where he tells Jonas what the word is for the "feeling between people," and his eyes burn with pain and loss as he says, "Love. It's called love." It's the only powerful moment in the film. His emotion is so palpable it reaches off the screen and grips your throat.

The use of heavy explanatory voiceover to open and close the film is disappointing, especially since a couple of lines have been added to the famous last paragraph of the book. Not surprisingly, the lines added remove it from the moody ambiguous statement of hope that it is in the book, and turn it into a complete platitude. We've heard it a hundred times before. It emanates Sameness with every word.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Giver (2014)

Rated PG-13 for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence

Jeff Bridges as The Giver

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Alexander Skarsgård as Jonas's father

Katie Holmes as Jonas' mother

Odeya Rush as Fiona

Cameron Monaghan as Asher

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7 ways The Giver movie is different than the book

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Screen adaptations of books never stick to the source material completely, and the big screen version of The Giver is no exception. W hile the story is very similar to the one Lois Lowry wrote in her award-winning novel, the differences between the two versions are noticeable. Here are 7 of them.

1) The film over-delivers on explanation

It's a bit unfair to start with this one because film, by virtue of its medium, cannot be as subtle as literature (for the most part). But one of the things I appreciate about Lowry's writing is that the mystery of Jonas's world is very slow to unfold. In the film, almost an entire third of Lowry's book happens on-screen within the first few scenes. Characters are developed very quickly, and, as a result, the film loses some of the uneasy ambiguity of the book. Granted, because films are limited by time, they have to be more fast-moving than books, which can take a few pages or even chapters to hint at one minor plot point.

2) On screen, Jonas is a (hunky) young man

In the book, much is made about characters' ages. In fact, in the world of The Giver , the calendar seems to center on a Ceremony which marks the aging of children from one year to the next. When the book opens, Jonas is about to become a Twelve, which means he will be given his community Assignment. Jonas' young age makes him the prefect protagonist for a story in which he discovers the depth of human emotion as he simultaneously expands his vocabulary. By making the movie Jonas slightly older — 16 years old — the film loses some of the innocent quality of the Lowry's hero. Still, it's worth noting that Brenton Thwaites does bring a youthful naivety and charm to the role, and so Lowry's vision remains largely intact.

3) Meryl Streep's character was a much smaller part of the book

Streep is absolute gold and her character was a great addition to the movie. But you should know that the character she's based on, the Chief Elder, isn't nearly as important a character in Lowry's novel.

4) Jonas doesn't kiss Fiona in the book

Unsurprisingly, the Jonas/Fiona relationship was given the Hollywood Young Adult Movie treatment. In the book, there are hints that Jonas does have strong but unexplained feelings toward Fiona (Odeya Rush) — the book calls the feelings "Stirrings." The fact that Jonas is able to "see beyond" the gray color of Fiona's hair to its original red also suggests that the two of them share a special bond. But in the book, he doesn't really act on his Stirrings toward Fiona, probably because, well, he's only a Twelve.

5) Fiona isn't assigned to be a Nurturer in the book

This one might not seem like it changes anything about the overall story, and I mostly agree. There is, however, one small part of me that wishes Hollywood would have kept its hands off Fiona's Assignment. In the book, the job Fiona ends up getting assigned to is something much less sexy than the job of taking care of babies. In Lowry's original story, Fiona is assigned to be a Caretaker of the Old.

That means the young Twelve is tasked with caring for the elderly of her society, with bathing them and helping make them as comfortable as possible just before they are euthanized, or "released." Obviously, it would have been difficult to show Fiona and Jonas bathing naked old people, and so it makes sense that this part was written out. At the same time, Lowry's novel stands as a warning to a society that seems to have a certain disregard for its elders, an element the film loses.

6) Asher isn't a pilot, and Jonas doesn't punch him

Again, this was a strategic change made to help with the momentum of the film adaptation. In the book, Asher (Cameron Monaghan) is assigned to be the Assistant Director of Recreation. On screen, he's made a Pilot, which helps add an additional layer of drama to the end of the film when Jonas flees from the authorities, and Asher is sent to search for him.

7) The film's ending is less ambiguous than the book's

Both versions of the story end with Jonas and Gabe sledding down a snowy mountain toward a home that the Giver had showed him in a previous memory. The way that the book ends makes it uncertain as to whether or not the two children actually make it to the abode. In the film, the last shot deliberately features Jonas, babe in tow, walking up to the snow-covered home. The variation between the two endings is slight, but it's worth noting that Lowry's final paragraphs probably had less appeal to producers than the one that ended up on the big screen.

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Pain makes life colorful in dystopian adaptation.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie's themes and messages echo the book&

The Giver is a complicated character because he se

Jonas punches his friend in the face after a confr

Some hand holding, longing looks, and a couple of

No language, since in the community, people don

Parents need to know that the The Giver is a dystopian thriller based on author Lois Lowry's best-selling 1993 novel (which has sparked some controversy since its publication and landed on some banned-book lists). Since the novel is commonly used in middle school classrooms, the …

Positive Messages

The movie's themes and messages echo the book's: how Sameness has eradicated personal expression, how conformity is a threat to individuality, how having no choices for the sake of equality is really oppression, and more. The movie also tackles the tough subject of whether pain is necessary for joy and whether love and heartbreak are preferable to stability and community.

Positive Role Models

The Giver is a complicated character because he seems so sad and unhappy, but it's for an understandable reason. He's patient and teaches Jonas and encourages him to see the world for how it really is.

Violence & Scariness

Jonas punches his friend in the face after a confrontation. Two people await lethal injection. An entire society has no idea that the term "releasing" means killing, so when a man "releases" a baby, or a group is told they're being "released," no one but Jonas and the Giver know what's happening. The Giver and Jonas have violent, disturbing dreams and visions of past horrors.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some hand holding, longing looks, and a couple of kisses. Discussion of how the community handles adolescent "stirrings."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

No language, since in the community, people don't curse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the The Giver is a dystopian thriller based on author Lois Lowry's best-selling 1993 novel (which has sparked some controversy since its publication and landed on some banned-book lists). Since the novel is commonly used in middle school classrooms, the adaptation will appeal to tweens and teens who've read and loved it. Although there are some fundamental changes from the book (like the age of Jonas, the main character), the movie shares the book's central themes about the things that make life worth living, even if they're painful. The violent revelations are disturbing, especially ugly truths about what it means when citizens (including a baby) are "released into Elsewhere," but the movie isn't nearly as violent as comparable movies like The Hunger Games or Divergent . Like the movie, the book should launch some thoughtful conversations about totalitarianism, freedom of expression, and why utopian societies fail. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

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Based on 28 parent reviews

This movie is definitely one to watch at your next Family Movie Night with your 9+ year old!!!

Emotionally intense, disturbing violent images, what's the story.

THE GIVER takes place in a futuristic utopian society called "the community," where, at age 16, residents prepare for their coming-of-age ceremony, where they're assigned a specific job -- like birth mother, nurturer, teacher, or security. Jonas ( Brenton Thwaites ) is surprised when, at the Ceremony for Advancement, the Chief Elder ( Meryl Streep ) announces that Jonas has been selected as the newest Receiver of Memory -- the one person in the community to understand all the pain and truths that the rest of the society is spared. His teacher will be The Giver of Memory ( Jeff Bridges ), who will impart all of his knowledge. But as Jonas begins his sessions with The Giver, he also starts seeing things as they really are, not as the community wants them to be -- he sees in color (everyone else sees in black and white) and develops feelings for his friend, Fiona ( Odeya Rush ). Worst of all, Jonas realizes that life with pain is preferable to the "Sameness" on which the community is based.

Is It Any Good?

This is an adaptation worth seeing, particularly for the conversations you can have once the credits roll. As anyone who has read Lois Lowry's source novel will immediately notice, the movie's Jonas is five years older than he is in the book (and Thwaites was actually already in his 20s while filming!), making him a full adolescent as opposed to being on the cusp of puberty. While the aging up works when it comes to focusing on the central romantic subplot, it may upset the tweens and younger teens who related to Jonas' journey precisely because he was their age, not a teen on the brink of adulthood like the majority of young adult protagonists. But more bothersome is the fact that viewers -- unlike readers -- are limited in their connection to the cinematic Jonas and what's going on in the community, because it's not really an action story like Divergent -- it's a story of ideas that's better experienced on the page.

Of all the actors, Alexander Skarsgard (as Jonas' father) does the most subtle work, portraying how, even in such a tightly controlled society, some individuals are more loving and nurturing, even if they don't fully understand what love means. Katie Holmes (as Jonas' mother) and Streep both play unquestioning proponents of Sameness, and Rush sure is beautiful, but because feelings are manipulated in the community, The Giver is not a romance on the swoony level of Katniss and Peeta's or Tris and Four's. The characters in the community, with the exception of Jonas and the Giver, must by their very nature act eerily dispassionate, even-keeled, and neutral about everything -- even throwing a dead baby down a garbage chute. That flatness, which is so freaky in the book, doesn't work quite as well on the screen.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the popularity of dystopian settings in young adult literature and movies. What is it about futuristic stories that appeals to readers and viewers?

How would you describe the violence in this movie? Is it scary? Disturbing? Why? Are there other parts of the movie that are nonviolent but also upsetting? How do they compare?

It took more than 20 years after the book was published for The Giver to hit the big screen. How do you think that timing affected its impact?

Fans of the book: Was the movie a faithful adaptation? What differences did/didn't you like, and which scenes from the book did you miss?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 15, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : November 25, 2014
• Cast : Alexander Skarsgard , Jeff Bridges , Meryl Streep , Brenton Thwaites
• Director : Phillip Noyce
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Weinstein Co.
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 94 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence
• Last updated : September 24, 2023

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The Giver: 8 Creative Class Activities

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a teacher’s dream novel. The complex dystopian plotline, dynamic characters, and thought-provoking themes provide so many opportunities for teachers to foster text-to-self and text-to-world connections. Critical thinking activities that allow students to empathize with the characters are a must-have in any novel unit. Below are 8 of my favorite activities for The Giver   that do just that.  

1. The Ceremony of 12 Simulation

This first activity is always a class favorite. It allows students to empathize with Jonas and his friends as they are assigned careers by the Chief Elder during the Ceremony of 12 .

How This Activity Works:

Welcome students to the classroom with a colorful poster for The Ceremony of Twelve. Once they are all settled, immediately transform into The Chief Elder. Address the class explaining that although they have spent the last 11 years learning to fit in and standardize their behavior, that this ceremony will celebrate their differences. Then, one-by-one present each student with their new job and a designated card that states all of the roles and responsibilities. After each student gets their assignment, have the rest of the class say in unison, “Thank you for your childhood.”

Give your students a choice of assignment. They can either fill out an application for a job switch or write a journal discussing their feelings on their new role in the community!

2. Seeing Beyond Activity

In The Giver , Jonas has the capacity to ‘see beyond.’ This means that Jonas, unlike the other members of the community, can use his senses from memory that allow him the ability to see color. This fun, seeing beyond class activity allows students to step into Jonas’ shoes to understand his ability to see beyond.

Students enter the classroom to a colorful poster welcoming them to Seeing Beyond. Ask them to circulate the room to different areas that have hidden image optical illusions. Some will be able to see the hidden pictures, while others will not.

After the activity, students work with partners to discuss how they felt when they were or were not able to see the hidden image. They will also discuss how it felt to successfully or unsuccessfully help someone else see the image and how this relates to the novel.

3. Memory Transmission Activity

Through his role as The Receiver, Jonas receives transmitted memories of the past from The Giver. This FREE memory transmission activity allows students to empathize with both Jonas and The Giver as they will both receive and transmit memories. This one has always been a real hit with my students!

Put a colorful poster on the door welcoming your class to The Giver’s Annex. Then, transform into The Giver and give each group of students descriptions of new memories that Jonas will receive.

Some of the memories involve painful memories, like homelessness, while others involve more positive memories like Neil Armstrong’s arrival on the moon! Students discuss prompting questions that will have them understand the value of keeping the world’s memories safe. After all the memories have been transmitted, they will shift into the role of The Giver. In this role, they will transmit one important historical memory to Jonas of their choosing.

4. The House of Old Activity

The elderly in The Giver are seemingly treated with the utmost respect and care in The House of Old , but the reader soon learns that things are not as positive as they appear. The elders of the community are killed (a.k.a released from society). This activity allows students to examine how the elderly are treated in different cultures/countries in the world and how this compares to how they are treated in Jonas’ community.

Students will enter the classroom to a colorful poster welcoming them to The House Of Old. They participate in small group discussions with information cards that provide details about how the elderly are treated in different cultures. When they are done, they fill in the blank card with how the elderly are treated in the novel and share with the rest of the class!

5. Dream Sharing Activity

In Jonas’ community, everyone must share any dreams they have with their family members. On the surface, dream sharing seems like a good way to keep open communication about inner feelings. In reality, however, it is another way that the government can keep control of the thoughts of their citizens and squash any independent thinking. This activity allows students to interpret their own dreams and consider what deeper meaning their dreams may have.

After reading chapter 6, a poster welcoming them to Dream Sharing greets students at the door. Break the class up into groups of 4 and tell each group to imagine they are family members. Each group receives dream prompt cards with common topics for dreams that have symbolic meanings. Each student shares a dream they remember which connects with one of the topics. If they can’t connect with any topic, they can share any dream they remember.

After everyone has shared their dreams, give each group the Dream Interpretation Cards that explain the symbolic significance of each dream topic. Students discuss and reflect on how it felt to reveal a dream and consider whether or not this would be a good practice in their everyday life.

6. A World Without Pain Activity

In Jonas’ community, members are sheltered from feeling any physical or emotional pain. While this theoretically seems like a peaceful way to live, Jonas soon learns that feeling no pain desensitizes people and doesn’t allow them to appreciate positive emotions. From pain, people are also able to learn from mistakes and avoid making those same mistakes again in the future. This activity brings this idea to the forefront by showing students a real-life example of someone who feels no pain.

Students work in groups to read information about people who feel no physical pain. You could have them research Gabby Gingras or Ashlyn Blocker, for example. As a group, students discuss whether or not they would like to live a life without physical pain and what challenges they might face if they chose yes. Then, they work with their group to brainstorm a list of advantages and disadvantages to living a life free of emotional pain.

7. The Telling of Feelings Activity

Jonas and his family participate in a nightly ritual called The Telling of Feelings  where each person describes an emotion that they experienced during the day and discusses it with the others. Help students understand what this ritual would be like by forming classroom families and simulating the practice.

After reading chapter 2, put students into groups. It is preferable that groups consist of two boys and two girls, but it isn’t necessary. Tell them that the group is their new family and they are to assign roles (parents and siblings).

Each student gets a “Feelings Card” that they fill out in preparation for the ritual. Students must choose a precise word that describes a feeling they had that day. Each member of the group shares their feelings while the other members listen carefully.

After the ritual, have students discuss whether or not they could see themselves doing this with their family, if it would make a family closer, and why they think this is a required ritual in Jonas’ community.

8. Family Forming Activity

In The Giver , couples can only have 2 children as mandated by the government. While this may seem completely removed from the modern-day, this activity will teach students about China’s one-child policy and allow them to consider how it relates to the novel.

This activity works best with a bit of pre-reading discussion. Students discuss how they would react if the government limited the number of children they could have. Ask them if they think this could or would ever happen.

After some discussion, have them read an article or watch a video on China’s one-child policy. I have students record their thoughts as they read using a graphic organizer. The one I use has them consider their thoughts, what they learned, and something that surprised them. Ask students to make a connection between this policy and the events of the novel.

Grab a ready-to-use unit plan with over everything you need to teach  T he Giver (340 pages/slides of eye-catching powerpoints, printable assignments, questions, vocabulary, and interactive class activities) by  clicking here .

I hope you found this helpful! If you are interested in more tips and resources for developing students’ reading skills in ELA, click here.

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Make a Movie Poster for The Giver

In this activity, activity overview, template and class instructions, more storyboard that activities.

• This Activity is Part of Many Teacher Guides

A fun way for students to express their understanding of a story, its themes, and main characters, is to create a movie poster. As students read The Giver , they will start to see recurring imagery and themes. Have them create a movie poster, complete complete with a title, casting, and an image that conveys important information from the story.

When students complete their posters, they can be printed out and hung in the classroom and you can have a class discussion on why students chose to create the poster they did.

For additional templates to add to this assignment, check out our movie poster templates !

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Student Instructions

Create a movie poster that evokes the theme, story, and other relevant information about The Giver .

• Click "Start Assignment".
• Create an image for your movie poster using appropriate scenes, characters, and items.
• Add any additional information, like a tagline, actors, directors, etc.
• Save and exit when you're done.

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-8

Difficulty Level 3 (Developing to Mastery)

Type of Assignment Individual

Type of Activity: Movies

• [ELA-Literacy/RL/7/2] Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text
• [ELA-Literacy/W/9-10/6] Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric .)

How To Add Creativity to Your Classroom with Posters

Show students examples of movie posters.

Choose movies that the majority of your students know about and discuss what goes into a movie poster. Mention elements like the title, the characters, and major things that happen in the novel. Pictures are also important.

Assist Students With Finding Big Ideas

Students will need to include big ideas on their posters. These include elements like characterization, theme, and conflict. Assist students and scaffold as needed.

Lead a Class Discussion About Posters

One of the best parts of the poster project is leading a class discussion so that students can share the major ideas that they have put on the poster.

Frequently Asked Questions about Make a Movie Poster for The Giver

What is imagery.

Imagery is the picture the author creates in the reader's head, and is based on the five senses. If you are able to see, taste, touch, feel, or smell something based on an author's description, that is imagery.

How can a movie poster help students learn?

When students are asked to pair the information in a book down to a movie poster, they must get to the heart of the matter of theme, conflict, and characterization. Being succinct is a skill they must master, and creating a poster will help them to formulate their thoughts.

How can posters lead to better class discussion?

When students in the class create posters, they make for great discussion starters. Groups can present their poster to the class and share their ideas in a creative way.

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Film & Television

Book-to-Film Adaptations: A Different Lens on “The Giver”

A different lens on “ the giver ”.

In the months leading up to The Giver ’s release, social media was abuzz with devoted book lovers’ fears that the movie would not stay true to Lois Lowry’s cherished work. Even after the movie was released, people discussed whether or not they liked it in relation to how close it was to the book. Certainly, readers create a mental picture—a mini-movie, if you will—of the plot, characters, and scenery described by the writer. When a director comes along and changes that, we sometimes feel like we’re experiencing a different story entirely.

We’d definitely call ourselves book lovers here at Walden Media (in fact, we’re so into books we publish them!); so, when a book is turned into a movie, we understand how hard it is to let go of the way we might have envisioned the story when it was just words on paper. However, adaptation is truly an art form, and we should commend filmmakers (such as Phillip Noyce, director of The Giver ) on their ability to turn beloved words into real-life images that move and speak and tug our heartstrings. Adapting a book for the screen is hard work—one that involves precise visual storytelling. So let’s take a look at The Giver ’s journey from book to screen.

Visual Storytelling

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In 1996, Jeff Bridges began the process of turning The Giver into a movie. He wrote script after script, all of which were rejected. Perhaps this is because, as Lois Lowry put it, the book is “‘ I ntrospective, quiet, and short on action’ [which] translates to ‘tough to film. ’” ( Huffington Post ). The book is largely about a boy’s internal struggle, making it very difficult to translate this unseen conflict to film’s visual medium.

“How can it be that difficult?” you may ask. Well, let’s try an adaptation exercise to see how we might translate book to moving image. The plot: A boy has to decide whether he will go to basketball camp for the summer or stay and work at his uncle’s bike shop. The adaptation dilemma: On page, you can read every descriptive detail about the boy’s thoughts. However, if there is no narration in the film and, therefore, you can’t hear the boy’s thoughts, how do we show the deliberating? Visual storytelling possibilities: The boy could pour out his close-to-empty piggy bank on his bed, showing us that he may want to earn a little more money over the summer. Or maybe he could lie on his bed, spin a basketball on his forefinger, and stare at his walls lined with posters of basketball stars. Or perhaps he could leave a voicemail for his grandfather explaining the situation and asking for advice.

From this example, you can see a variety of ways to communicate visually this story element of thinking . We understand that the boy is making a difficult decision whether he’s on the phone, counting his money, or playing with his basketball. Granted, each example has a different connotation, but they all attempt to fulfill the same purpose. And oftentimes we find that, in the end, it’s more important that the idea of thinking is portrayed more than how we get there.

So, let’s take a second look at The Giver . What were some of the changes made? And were those changes “true” to the book?

The Giver ’s Adaptation

“[The director, Phillip Noyce] was so meticulous. He kept the book in front of him during the whole process. That was my biggest relief, that they were dedicated to preserving the intent of the book.” – Lois Lowry   ( CS Monitor )

      1. Change in occupation

One difference between the book and the film are Fiona’s and Asher’s changes in occupation. In the beginning of the book, Jonas and Fiona volunteered at the House of the Old together. At the graduation ceremony, Fiona was assigned to continue her work in the House of the Old, due to how well she flourished there. In the movie, however, Fiona’s assignment is to work at the Nurturing Center instead. How does this change still stay true to the book?

Firstly, Fiona’s shift in occupation does not take away from the fact that she is a kind, nurturing person. She can show her tenderness and concern for others in either location – the House of the Old or in the Nurturing Center. Secondly, both institutions are most heavily involved in the “releasing” (euthanasia) of their patients. The guilt of unknowingly killing the helpless is on her shoulders with either occupation.

Fiona’s change in occupation also becomes a useful tool in bringing her closer to the subplot involving Gabriel. Therein, the story elements become even tighter , which is a helpful structure when you have a limited amount of screen time to convey the whole plot! Instead of releasing faceless characters in the House of the Old, Fiona is now in a position of potentially doing harm to a character we know and care about—Gabriel the baby.

The same concept of using and reusing elements in a film may explain the shift in Asher’s occupation as well. His job in the book (“Assistant Director of Recreation”) and his job in the film (“Drone Pilot”) are positions of leadership and authority. Both jobs incite the rapid maturation Asher undergoes in the book and in the film. In the film, however, the position of pilot more immediately involves Asher in a plot turn later on: the elders’ mission to find Jonas after he escapes with Gabriel. Instead of unknown pilots attempting to thwart Jonas’ mission, it is one of Jonas’ dearest friends. It develops Asher’s character, helps to reduce the amount of characters, and tightens the plot overall.

      2. Change in Age

The movie adaptation changes Jonas’ age from 12 to 16. Phillip Noyce noted that this alteration intended to increase the main character’s relatability. In an interview, Noyce explained that,

“ The decision was made in order to maybe extend the audience’s connection to the character’s experience, because we know 16, 17 or 18 is – in our society – the normal time of rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. ” ( The Wrap )

“ I thought, oh yeah, it works. Right away you see that he’s the same as the 12 year-old, he’s young, he vulnerable ” ( CS Monitor )

As we mentioned before in our thinking example, it’s more important to convey the idea of innocence, vulnerability, and coming of age in a way that lends itself to the medium of film, rather than force a script to follow the source material to a T.

      3. The Chief Elder

Those of you who have not read the book might be surprised to learn that the character of the Chief Elder (played by Meryl Streep) does not exist in such an expanded form in the original text. This script development was quite welcomed by Lois Lowry, who remarked,

“ The movie made much more complex the character of the Chief Elder… And then once they cast Meryl Streep – who never would have taken the role the way I wrote it in the book – the quality of her acting, just the turn of her eyes or the way her mouth curves, it was astounding to watch her. Now I wish I could go back and write the book the way she performed it. ” ( CS Monitor )

Wrapping Up What We’ve Learned

fatmovieguy.com

The Giver , as a book, has touched, shaped, and delighted the lives of many children and adults, and the film is in no way a replacement of this incredible book. Rather, it is a manifestation of it—the themes, characters, and elements that we all found so compelling. It’s an attempt to enhance the incredible story that Lowry created for us. Lois Lowry explained it best when she said,

“ A book is such an individual and private thing. The reader brings his or her own history and beliefs and concerns, and reads in solitude, creating each scene from his own imagination as he does. A movie, by its nature, puts it all out there, makes it visual. It’s what I love about film, actually: the composition of each scene, the lighting, the color… or lack of color. But film must incorporate details that a reader might have pictured in another way. A costume designer decided what little Gabriel — and all the other infants in the Nurturing Center — wear. Maybe you had dressed them differently in your mind. A set designer created the plans for the dwellings in which Jonas and Fiona and all the other members of the community live. If you imagined a different kind of dwelling, as I did, then you have to adjust your thinking. The landscape through which Jonas travels with the kidnapped baby is not the landscape I saw inside my head; the cinematographer gives us something vaster, more magnificent, and infinitely more hostile to a desperate boy trying to save an infant and the whole world.

The important thing is that a film doesn’t obliterate a book. The movie is here now. But the book hasn’t gone away. It has simply grown up, grown larger, and begun to glisten in a new way. ” ( Huffington Post )

The Giver Ending, Explained

Imagine a world without colors or emotions, or history for that matter. How would life thrive in such a place? 2014 sci-fi dystopian drama ‘The Giver’ is an epic tale told in snippets. Directed by Phillip Noyce and based on the eponymous 1993 young adult novel by Lois Lowry, the story revolves around the titular Giver and his Receiver in a far-flung futuristic universe.

The mentor-apprentice tale is also the coming-of-age of Jonas. He holds all four abilities to become the Receiver of Memory. Through his eyes, we look at the history of the bygone — the snow, the sled, and the bees — and the world slowly comes to color. Let us revisit the final moments of Jonas’ story. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Giver Plot Synopsis

Jonas lives in a futuristic world where they cannot have last names. They are rid of pain and suffering, but they are also not allowed to have emotions. When children graduate, the Chief Elder ( Meryl Streep ) thanks the children for their childhoods and initiates them to society according to their abilities. They live in dispersed communities, while Elsewhere remains a buffer zone of the past. Jonas knew from his childhood that he was different.

On graduation day, the Chief Elder virtually meets the community and decides the fate of the graduates. Asher becomes a drone pilot, and Fiona, a nurturer. Jonas, however, holds all the four abilities: intelligence, integrity, courage, and the ability to see beyond. He meets the Giver of Memories ( Jeff Bridges ) — the one who possesses the cumulative memories of the entire humankind — and starts his training. He would come to know that there is more — much more — than the civilization can imagine.

The Giver Ending: What Is The Boundary of Memory? Can Jonas Cross It?

Early in the lessons, Jonas comes to the Giver’s house on the Edge to find him deep in his studies. He utters that there will be a Giver more gifted than all that came before him, and he would be known by the name of Jonas. The Giver also warns Jonas not to be beguiled. He accidentally or willingly drops a map from the book, and Jonas picks it up. The rough map demarcates the world of the communities. Jonas identifies the Triangle of Rocks, which his friend Asher saw in one of his drone adventures.

The map is bound by a line called the Boundary of Memory. The Boundary of Memory keeps the collective memory of humankind out of the community’s reach, in the reign of the Elders. However, Jonas deduces that if he can cross the Boundary of Memory, they can get the memory back for entire communities. The memories can moreover be passed on, as we have seen before. The injections that the Elders prescribe further represses one from having dreams, emotions, and memories.

After the Giver’s suggestions that the injections keep the populace ignorant, Jonas stops taking the medicines altogether. He starts having emotions for Fiona that he cannot describe. The Giver dubs it “love.” But they live in a world where there is no love — “the precision of language” prevails. But Jonas starts showing aberrant behaviors, which raises suspicion amongst his parents and the Chief Elder.

Meanwhile, the family keeps Gabriel, a child who has the same birthmark on his wrist as Jonas. Jonas knows that Gabriel, too, would be a Giver of Memory. Jonas passes on all the happy memories from the Giver to Gabriel. But when Jonas sees his father “releasing” Gabriel (a term assigned to killing), he becomes hellbent on charting the lands of Elsewhere beyond the Boundary of Memory.

Gabriel must be killed for not meeting the development criterion, and Jonas cannot let that happen. Jonas tells Fiona to leave with him, but Fiona conforms in the end. Jonas steals a kiss from Fiona and punches Asher before fleeing the scene with Gabriel. He hops on a bike and the police chase after him. But Jonas manages to take the leap from the Edge, and the police have to bring the pursuit to a close. Jonas crosses a desert, while the Chief Elder tells Asher to capture and eliminate Jonas.

Asher follows the party with his drone, but Jonas’ pleading makes Asher let him go. They float down the river and interestingly reach a range of mountains. We almost see the re-enactment of ‘ Into The Wild ,’ but Jonas wakes up on the snow to find a sled — just like in his first session with the Giver. He rides the sled to reach a home, which is more than just a dwelling. In the end, the Giver leads Jonas into Elsewhere. We see the world coming back to technicolor in the finale, and the collective memories come back to the Chief Elder. Therefore, we can safely assume that he has gone beyond the Boundary of Memory.

Is Fiona Dead or Alive? Do Jonas And Fiona End Up Together?

The Chief Elder and Jonas’ mother see the video of Jonas kissing Fiona. Jonas has expressed his love for Fiona, but the desire is forbidden to maintain sameness in this dystopian world. Therefore, they conjure that Fiona must be released. After Jonas’ instruction, Fiona stops taking the medications altogether, which may cause her to have emotions. Jonas’ mother gives Fiona the morning injection while Jonas’ father prepares to release her.

However, right before Jonas’ father can push the injection, Jonas crosses the boundary. The memories come back to everyone, and Fiona is saved. But Jonas is in Elsewhere, and we do not know whether the lovers meet again. In the end, Jonas says that he knows about their future meet, which can be possible. In a dream, Jonas dances with Fiona at a wedding. If the civilization goes back to a primitive time after the reveal, maybe Jonas and Fiona will meet sometime in the future. As Fiona is still alive, there is also a possibility of her following Jonas into Elsewhere.

Who Is Rosemary?

Before Jonas, they chose a girl as the Receiver of Memory. On the first day of Jonas’ training, the Giver and Jonas have a hearty conversation. But when Jonas pryingly asks about the previous Receiver, the Giver stays mum. He reveals the story later through projections. In one of the projections, we see a woman teaching piano to the Giver. This woman, we come to know, is Rosemary (Taylor Swift plays a sweet cameo role).

Snippets show that Rosemary was a gifted student who would love to argue with the Giver. However, one day, the Giver gave her the memories of war. She never returned and was later released. But we do not know of her origins until the final moments. When Fiona is executed, the memory of Rosemary comes back to the Giver. He calls Rosemary her daughter, and we come to understand her importance in the story. The loss of Rosemary gives the Giver’s character another layer of tragedy.

Read More: Where Was The Giver Filmed?

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The Giver By Lois Lowry: Comparison Between Book And Movie

You’re eleven years old. All of the pain, fear, war, and hatred of the world has been eliminated from society. Everyone looks and acts the same, and your profession is chosen for you based on your abilities; at age twelve. The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, is a fascinating story about a different type of society and learning the secrets behind it. The movie of the same name directed by Phillip Noyce, is creative, but showed some very disappointing changes from the book.

All in all, the book is far more preferable because the plot is far more exciting, the characters are developed well, and the creativeness is more descriptive than that of the movie. The Giver is a novel about a young boy named Jonas. He is given the profession of the Receiver at twelve years old in which receives all of the communities memories from the past. He gets these memories from the Giver. The Giver “gives” him memories of war, love, and other things that are not present in the society anymore. Jonas is not permitted to tell anyone of the memories so he has a big responsibility.

His father is a nurturer of newborns and when Jonas’s little brother Gabriel is born he is a troubled child. Jonas finds out through the Giver that Gabriel will be taken away, so Jonas saves him. Jonas starts to grow apart from his family after he finds out the secrets of how things within the society work. His best friends are Asher and Fiona are introduced within the first couple chapters and Jonas tries not to share any memories with them because he is not supposed to, but because the Giver explained love to him, so he starts to fall in love with Fiona and wants to show her that feeling.

Jonas learns not to like the society anymore and gets himself into a lot of trouble. He is in danger and has to escape to a far away place. The movie compared to the book is rather vague and boring. It is set in black and white for a portion of the film. The characters are all older, eighteen instead of twelve, and the Giver is poorly portrayed. Jonas is Australian in the movie, but no indication of that is in the book. I guess you could say it’s because Jonas is different from everyone else. The movie has technological advances that were not read about in the book such as drones and high-tech computers.

The Giver does more explaining to Jonas than giving. Jonas spends less time with the Giver, and that is much different than the book because he always went to the Giver to find out more. As I previously stated, The Giver, is a much better read than a movie. First of all, Jonas is noted to be different from everyone else in society. Jonas matures from age eleven to a twelve year old that takes on a great deal of responsibility, which the movie lacks. The development of his character brings the reader to think of the morale behind the story .

Being granted the Receiver of memories at age twelve sounds like a big duty to handle, but the book’s detail and creativity with this profession really grasps the reader’s attention. Throughout the entire book the reader stays on edge. It may be an easy read, but it has enough suspension to keep the reader engaged. The story’s viewpoint is of Jonas, so reading first hand what he is feeling, thinking, and doing is on a far more personal level. Whereas in the movie all of these characteristics are not present. They way the memories are brought into the movie really puzzled me. The Giver did more explaining than giving and that was confusing.

The movie has many technological advances not heard of in the book, so the significance of the book being from an earlier time period is not important or relevant. Quite frankly, I thought the movie would be better because I tend to enjoy watching more than reading, but to my surprise the movie was much different. It is important to realize the character development throughout the book as compared to the movie. I believe the book did a much better job at describing the characters and the movie lacked important details. At age twelve you would not expect a child to have a job.

Jonas is given a job in which designates him to be responsible and mature more rapidly, whereas in the movie he is eighteen and you would expect him to already have these important aspects . I don’t like the age difference because I feel as if it lost the significance of such a young boy taking on so many responsibilities. Overall, I was frustrated with the several differences. According to The Guardian, the book is intended for younger people, yet convoluted enough for adults (par. 3). They also state that the book allows the reader to think in depth about the morale of the storyline.

The morale of the story is to become independent and not worry about what others say or think about you (par. 6). Also mentioned is the unique factor that the book relates to the reader through their perception of society (par. 7). Differently, well-known movie reviewer Roger Ebert had a slightly altered opinion about the movie. Ebert states that the movie was set up in a powerful way (par. 1), but Ebert was utterly disappointed with the voiceovers that had taken part in the film (par. 1). Ebert was also disgruntled with the movies lack of picture quality that should have revealed human experience (par. 6).

Ebert also claims that the only suspenseful part in the film was when Jonas learned about love (par. 10). A reviewer from The Guardian was very pleased with the book’s development of the characters. They comment about the importance of the characters relating to the reader when it comes to thinking about how life works (par. 3). They mentioned the main focus of the book is how Jonas develops into a young boy with great morals allowing the reader to follow along and think about morals themselves (par. 4). Also stated is the character’s uniqueness and interesting qualities (par. 6). In conclusion, the book is much better than the movie.

Although the movie is in color and has visuals, the book is descriptive and interesting enough to keep the reader engaged. It has a better plot, it’s more creative and the character development is much more detailed. I believe the better story lies within the text. Critical thinking and making your own visualizations while reading the book is far more fun. I highly recommend this book to any reader that enjoys an easy read with great morale hidden within the text. I have always enjoyed reading about life’s hard times and overcoming situations and you won’t want to miss Jonas’s perseverance.

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