She fell asleep, and it was a sleep as thin as the night clouds, dotted with dreams that came and went like the stars.

I write books because I have always been fascinated by stories and language, and because I love thinking about what makes people tick. Writing a story... 'The Giver' or any other... is simply an exploration of the nature of behavior: why people do what they do, how it affects others, how we change and grow, and what decisions we make along the way.

It's a funny thing about names, how they become a part of someone.

What's important is the preparation for adult life, and the training you'll receive in your Assignment.

For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo.

-a whole world can lie before someone, if love is there when one wakes.

Gathering Blue' was a separate book. I wanted to explore what a society might become after a catastrophic world event. Only at the end did I realize I could make it connect to 'The Giver.