I started reading this book, thinking I had lots of time to finish it and I could work my way through it throughout the week. But I couldn’t put it down. I had so many thoughts about it, I don’t even know what to focus on!
Imagine a life with no real meaning, no purpose except to do your job for the common good. Every year of your childhood planned out, protections in place so you cannot experience anything different than anyone else, and absolutely no emotion. What the heck is the point?
As I read, I thought about how this relates to life in the here and now. While our lives are still very emotional, there is a movement to make sure no child feels different – no one is excluded, regardless of ability or even interest. The tests given to our students do not honor their individuality, only some all-powerful set of standards. We try desperately to avoid pain and sorrow, wishing them away, wondering how we can overcome their presence in our lives – when, really, without them, there is no joy either.
My thoughts about The Giver were similar to my thoughts about the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (admittedly not a children’s book). In that book, the idea of everyone having the same resources and no one being better than anyone else is taken to its extreme. The result is terrifying. I felt the same with this book. While I’d like to say the idea of Sameness is “way out there”, I can’t. Isn’t that what we are striving toward? Be sure every child has the same academic experience (let’s face it, that’s a lot of years of standards!) and no one is ever left out, even if they want to be.
I think the reason I don’t like science fiction very much is that it is never quite far enough from the realm of possibility. It scares me to death!
Monday, March 5, 2007
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Piggy Monday A Tale About Manners written and illustrated by Suzanne Bloom
Suzanne Bloom is fabulous. My preschoolers are big fans of her Is This the Bus For Us, Gus?. My family just got Piggy Monday A Tale About Manners and we love it! When I first looked at the cover, I thought it would scare my chidlren, 4 and 6. That they would be afraid of turning into pigs themselves. Quite the contrary.
The book begins with a class of children who are teasing, being rude, talking in class, etc. As their behavior deteriorates throughout the day, they begin growing pig snouts, hooves, and tails, until they are all little pigs. The Pig Lady comes to the rescue and reminds them of their manners. As they begin to use manners, their pig parts disappear and they become polite young children. By the end, they are all complementing each other, reminding each other of the proper way to say things and do things, and saying please and thank you.
The illustrations are fabulous inspiring fits of laughter from my children as the students tear apart the classroom and acquire one pig part at a time. The story is in verse which always attracts the attention of young listeners and the dedication, "to that sparkling class who inspired this tale" was a great topic of conversation afterwards - "Did this really happen?" "Are there really kids who don't have any manners?" "Kids can't turn into pigs!"
A few days after reading this book my children were arguing over some precious toy they both desperately needed at the same time and I looked in the doorway and said, "I see a pig tail ... and an ear!" My children stopped arguing immediately and started looking at each other for their pig parts. They rolled in a fit of laughter and actually apologized to each other without being told to!!!! It was terrific! Later that night my husband forgot to say please and my son was quick to say, "Be careful Daddy, you're going to get a pig tail." Humor is such a great way to remind children to make good choices, rather than getting angry or frustrated. The kids catch each other and because of the fabulous imagery from the illustrations, they can't help but laugh at the thought.
I'm so glad I did not judge this book by its cover.
3 comments:
I had a lot of the same feelings about this book as you did. I can't imagine a world where people don't have the possibility to choose whatever they want to do; instead, they are assigned a job to do.
Your connection to the present-day with trying to have all kids have the same school experience was really interesting. I didn't even think about that, but it makes sense.
I like your comparison of The Giver to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, one of my favorite books. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't make that connection myself. I don't think modern education tries to give every child the same learning experience; I think it tries to build upon the skills, interests, and abilities of each child. But then again, I'm currently experiencing much angst over the role of middle school, so my opinions about education are probably way off. In any case, I agree with you that sci-fi and fantasy are terrifying for the possibilities. 100 years ago, space travel was crazy. But 100 years in the future, will we be like the Jetsons? I have scary visions of that Tom Cruise movie where they can predict any crime that will happen. Makes me glad I live in this crazy world.
I love that you connected The Giver to Atlas Shrugged. You are absolutely right-- both worlds are absolutely terrifying. I had not thought that the standards are a way of making us all the same. I can see that interpretation for the teachers-- it seems to me that in some administrators' worry over meeting standards, teachers can be stripped of their individuality in the name of content coverage. I don't think the standards are there to rob students of their individuality-- I think they are in place so that all students have basic knowledge and skills for adulthood. I might argue that some of the standards are not really essential but, that's another issue all together.
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