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.

Fear dims when you learn things.

It is so good to have friends who understand how there is a time for crying and a time for laughing, and that sometimes the two are very close together.

Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.

He hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smaller in the seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not to exist.

Kids deserve the right to think that they can change the world.

We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.