Title: The Giver, Graphic Novel
Author: P. Craig Russell, Lois Lowry
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 5, 2019
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The young adult classic, The Giver, has been adapted into a graphic novel format. When Jonas is selected to be the next Receiver, he doesn’t think much of it at first. After all, it’s just his placement. Who is he to argue with the committee?
As Jonas learns more about his community, he learns about everything his community is missing. Outside of the memories, Jonas learns that there’s something more sinister behind his seemingly ideal community. Will Jonas have what it takes to open everyone’s eyes to what they’ve been missing?
The Giver: Review
I received an advanced copy of this book for review from Edelweiss and HMH Young Readers for review. As an avid reader of dystopian lit, I was super excited to get approved for this book. Especially since The Giver is one of those books that has stuck with me ever since we read it in fifth grade. Plus, I used it as a basis for my Master’s thesis.
The story itself lends itself well to a graphic novel format. While the version I read didn’t have the finished images, I can tell that they’ll have a positive impact on the story. Particularly, the use of color emphasizes Jonas’s journey toward knowledge. The more he learns, the more color we get in the book.
The only aspect of the story that rubbed me the wrong way was the use of question marks and exclamation marks to show confusion characters. While I understand the point, and might be necessary for the target audience, I think there’s ways to show this in the illustrations instead. But this might be a fill in for the final draft as well; I’ll have to pick up a final copy when it comes out February 5th!
This is a strong adaptation that will make a classic story more accessible for the generations to come.
4/5 stars
Nice Review and I`m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂
Oooh I had no idea there’s a graphic novel of The Giver! I read the book a couple of years ago and really liked it and I can see it working really well as a graphic novel with the whole color thing and everything.
Yeah! I saw it on Edelweiss and knew I had to try for it. I can’t wait to see what the final version looks like!
I didn’t even know they were making a graphic novel for it! I only ever read The Giver though not the others in the series.
It’s super cool! The other books in the series are mostly companion novels, but they all come together in the fourth book, which I think is kinda cool! It gives you a different perspective. 🙂
oh I love The Giver, and graphic novels are among my favorite form of adaptation! I agree that the original book is very visual, so to speak, so I’m excited to pick this one up!
It was really good! I can’t wait to see it in it’s final form. 🙂
I didn’t know “The Giver” was getting a graphic novel adaptation; that’s awesome! I remember liking it when I read it for school in 8th grade, but it wasn’t my favorite; just enjoyable. I think it’d be interesting to see it in a different format, though!
I think it’ll bring a whole new audience to the book, putting it in a graphic novel format. The way they use color is fantastic!