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.

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

There is something about that moment, when literature becomes accessible, and a door of the world opens.

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

The whole world had changed. Only the fairy tales remained the same. "And they lived happily ever after.

So many of my books, I don't want to say they have messages, but they have important things to say.

I was a sidelines child: never class president, never team captain, never the one with the most valentines in my box.