I turn to books for a feeling of companionship: for somebody knowing what I have known.

I make up the characters in my books, but of course my consciousness is filled with every child I've ever known, including my two grandchildren, my own kids (I had four) and especially myself as a child, because that person still lives inside me, too.

If everyting's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!" (Jonas) "It's the choosing that's imortant, isn't it?" The Giver asked him.

People in the know say The Giver was the first young adult dystopian novel.

And here in this room, I re-experience the memories again and again it is how wisdom comes and how we shape our future.

But there's a whole world waiting, still, and there are good things in it.

I tend not to think about audience when I'm writing. Many people who read "The Giver" now have their own kids who are reading it. Even from the beginning, the book attracted an audience beyond a child audience.