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.

The community of the Giver had achieved at such great price. A community without danger or pain. But also, a community without music, color or art. And books.

The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.

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

When I create characters, I create a world to inhabit and they begin to feel very real for me. I don't belong in a psych ward, I don't think, but they become very real, like my own family, and then I have to say goodbye, close the door, and work on other things.

I don't know what she is now. A stranger, mostly. It's as if she has become a part of a different world, one that doesn't include me anymore.

It is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything.