Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

I absolutely love the book "The Giver" and believe that everyone on the face of the Earth should read it. I had heard about "Gathering Blue" and was told that it is a companion book to "The Giver", but I had never actually picked it up and read it. I was totally wowed. Though I wouldn't rank it quite as high as "The Giver" I must admit that I am drawn to utopic and post-apocalyptic literature. Something about the idea of a complete societal overhaul appeals to me when I am looking for a book to escape into for a while. While "The Giver" was more utopic book, "Gathering Blue" is a post-apocalyptic, dystopic world. There are clues about the distruction of the world in the book that suggest that the book takes place in our universe, and on our own Earth. A song sung in the book that none of the characters understands has lyrics with clues:

Ravaged all
Bogo tabal
Timore toron
Totoo now gone...

It took me forever to decipher this and I was mildly disappointed by the the clues. Not to mention the fact that they completely mess up the rhyme scheme when decoded, which doesn't make any damn sense at all considering at one time when the song was created they must have known how to properly say the names, or at least spell them. The song says really:

Ravaged all
Bogota, Baltimore
Toronto too now gone...

What an absolutely random collection of cities to mention in the only surviving song about the old world before the devastation. C'mon. It makes me want to get a sticky note over it in the book that says:

Ravaged all
To Kyol
Ondon Wash
Ington now gone...

Now that makes some sense. Major world powers. Probably had hands in the devastation. Is Lowry trying to imply that Canada or Columbia is going to rise up and destroy the world? Or have the most missed capitals after the fact? Really? Annoying. I guess I could argue in my head that maybe these capitals were the only ones with survivors since they are so far away from major areas and (sorry if you are from Baltimore or anything) but have absolutely no reason to be a target of any kind. I actually had to Google Bagota. Fun fact.


The heroine was born crippled and remained alive only due to her mother's love as their society looked down upon her as unmarriageable and unable to work. She does however have an amazing gift for embroidery. There are so many teachable and amazing things to take away from this book that it is appropriate for all ages, although it may not appeal as much to boys what with both the female heroine and the sewing element. If I taught it hand in hand with "The Giver" it might generate more interest from my male students.

I have also discovered that there is a third book which completes the trilogy from the point of view of a character from "Gathering Blue". Rumor has it (I have good friends that don't give away books) that it ties all the books together. I am both hesitant and excited to read the third book now, because I would love to continue thinking of "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" as separate entities if "Messenger" (the title of the third book) doesn't bring them together in a way that I feel they deserve. I'm very squeamish about ruining the point of view I have on books that I love, one of the reasons I have to read a thousand reviews before I see a movie about a book. I will have to overcome this!!