the giver

There's a place where there are no cars, only bicycles. A place where you have to request for a spouse, and a Committee decides if you're qualified to have one. You request for a child, and you are permitted only two: one boy and one girl. A child is not born to a family; it is issued.

In that place no one cooks; meals are delivered at mealtimes and trays are collected afterwards at the door. All little girls are required to wear hair ribbons. There are no birthdays. When you become a Twelve, your job for life is given to you: Nurturer, Laborer, Engineer, Birthmother, Storyteller.

The genetic engineers have made Sameness possible. There is no threat, no risk, no fights, no choice, no change in routine. There are not even hills in the community, no animals, no rain, no snow, no sunshine.

There's a person called the Receiver, who keeps the memories from back and back and back. He holds a very special position in the community. He advises the Elders based on the memories he keeps. He alone knows about colors, about music, about feelings. He alone knows about war, and pain, and hunger, and death. He alone knows love. No one else.

And there's a boy, selected as the new Receiver, who will be trained to be the new keeper of memories. And the boy decides to make a difference.