Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

From the Publisher

In perhaps her strongest work to date, Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit and that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, she struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever.

As she did in THE GIVER, Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, how people could evolve, and what could be considered valuable. Every reader will be taken by Kira’s plight and will long ponder her haunting world and the hope for the future.

Publishers Weekly

After conjuring the pitfalls of a technologically advanced society in The Giver, Lowry looks toward a different type of future to create this dark, prophetic tale with a strong medieval flavor. Having suffered numerous unnamed disasters (aka, the Ruin), civilization has regressed to a primitive, technology-free state; an opening author's note describes a society in which "disorder, savagery, and self-interest" rule. Kira, a crippled young weaver, has been raised and taught her craft by her mother, after her father was allegedly killed by "beasts." When her mother dies, Kira fears that she will be cast out of the village. Instead, the society's Council of Guardians installs her as caretaker of the Singer's robe, a precious ceremonial garment depicting the history of the world and used at the annual Gathering. She moves to the Council Edifice, a gothic-style structure, one of the few to survive the Ruin. The edifice and other settings, such as the Fen--the village ghetto--and the small plot where Annabella (an elder weaver who mentors Kira after her mother's death) lives are especially well drawn, and the characterizations of Kira and the other artists who cohabit the stone residence are the novel's greatest strength. But the narrative hammers at the theme of the imprisoned artist. And readers may well predict where several important plot threads are headed (e.g., the role of Kira's Guardian, Jamison; her father's disappearance), while larger issues, such as the society's downfall, are left to readers' imaginations. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

A New York Times Bestseller

Children's Literature

With characteristic grace, Lowry pulls her reader into this tale of a devastated world in which judgments are harsh and the dead are left to rot in the fields. Here we find Kira, her leg twisted from birth and her heart, impossibly, nourishing hope. Kira is in a struggle for survival, and the world she inhabits has been crafted with care. The narrative voice is compelling, and in the end, the reader is left with the satisfying sense that in the creation of beauty out of cruelty lies infinite potential. Those who appreciated The Giver will find here another readable, futuristic fantasy, set in a world of flaws and fortunes that bear contemplation in relevance to our own. 2000, Houghton Mifflin. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami

VOYA

This outstanding novel is set in a futuristic hunter-gatherer society in which primitive laws and barbaric custom hold sway. Fatherless thirteen-year-old Kira, almost killed at birth because of her twisted leg, was saved when her mother intervened. After her mother dies, Kira turns to the village's Council of Guardians for help when the village women try to kill her for her meager plot of land. The Council spares Kira because her extraordinary weaving talents will allow her to complete the ceremonial robe worn in the village's annual gathering by the village Singer. Kira is sent to live in the Council offices, where she meets Thomas, a young woodcarver using his exceptional skills to complete the Singer's staff, and Jo, a six-year-old being trained to take over the duties of the Singer. The three prodigies, however, soon begin to lose the joy they had previously taken in their gifts. As the annual gathering draws near, Kira and Thomas discover that their parents and Jo's might have died at the Council's hands so that the Council could control the children's remarkable talents. Lowry has created a world diametrically opposed to the technologically centered, rigidly structured world of The Giver (Houghton, 1993/VOYA August 1993). This title similarly leaves its young protagonist at a crossroads, and one hopes that Kira's story will continue. The author weaves in details that bring Kira's world to life as seamlessly as Jonas's in The Giver. Readers can see and feel Kira's excitement when she finally acquires the ability to make blue, a color that has eluded her people. This extraordinary novel is remarkable for its fully realized characters, gripping plot, and Lowry's singular vision of afuture in which technology does not predominate but has instead been essentially discarded. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2000, Houghton Mifflin, 224p, $15. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Leah J. Sparks

SOURCE: VOYA, October 2000 (Vol. 23, No. 4)

The Five Owls

Gathering Blue is the intense story of Kira, a young weaver girl with a crippled leg. This tale is set in a in a harsh and brutish future world where the handicapped and weak are shunned or abandoned as having little to offer. In fact, many are taken to a "Field of Leaving" to lie among the bodies of the already dead. It is here the story opens After her mother's death, Kira is tending her mother's body for the customary time. But when she returns from the Field of Leaving, she finds that the village women want to drive her out of her home and take over its gardens now that Kira's mother is no longer there to protect her. Kira confronts the ringleader with the law regarding conflicts, and the disagreement is taken to the mysterious Council of Guardians, which makes all the laws for the village. When Kira finds herself in the council's hands, she is puzzled that they seem so interested in her skill with a needle and thread. But she is even more surprised by the council's decision to remove her from the village and make a new home for her in the ancient building that houses the Council of Guardians. Here, Kira is given a comfortable room much finer than anything she had ever known in the village. She is given fine clothes and all the food she needs. She is also given a task of great importance: repairing an ancient robe that tells in pictures the history of the world. This robe has been worn for generations by a singer who, once a year, sings a long song for the whole village, a retelling of what was, what is, and what shall come to pass. Soon, she finds there are other children who live within the council's walls, children who are orphans like her and have their own specialskills: Thomas the woodcarver, and Jo the singer. Like Kira, they are all set on a task of restoration. With a job that allows her to use her skills and friends that have similar tasks involving their own artistic skills, Kira is extremely content at first. But she soon realizes that the council's grip on all the children is much tighter than she realized. The children's artistic abilities had blossomed until now. Now their own ideas are being strangled because they can do no more with their talents than what the council says. Kira must decide whether she should stay and continue serving the council or go to a place she has heard of, a place where people live free and where a rare plant grows that produces blue dye—the one color that has grown faded on the Singer's robe. This book is simply amazing. It brings rich pictures to the reader's mind and has a feel reminiscent of The Giver (Houghton Mifflin, 1993), another of Lowry's books. Lois Lowry has already won many awards and I think this one will win her even more. 2000, Houghton Mifflin, $15.00. Ages 9 to 12. Reviewer: Brittany Rogers — The Five Owls, March/April 2001 (Vol. 15 No. 4)

KLIATT

Lowry has created a haunting alternative society in Gathering Blue just as she did in The Giver—that is not to say that it is the same society in both books. The Giver is ideal for 4th -6th grade students and has become a classic in children's literature; Gathering Blue is more complex, less obvious, and a better YA choice. The plant that provides the blue color Kira needs as she dyes threads is not easily found; it is outside of the authoritarian society in which she survives. In the village she knows, the adults are abusive, the children surly, the hierarchy unquestioned. She was born with a twisted foot, which would mean sure death except that her mother protected her and promised that she would be a contributing member of the society. Now, as the story opens, her mother is dead and the adolescent Kira is brought before the council on trial, accused of being useless, condemned to death. A council member defends her on the basis of her skill with cloth, a skill learned from Kira's mother, who was responsible for a crucial part of the annual rituals that hold this culture together. Kira is saved from death, brought into a comfortable Council Edifice, where she eventually meets two other creative young people—a wood carver and a singer—who are also there to prepare for the ceremonies. The greater theme Lowry explores here concerns the meaning of creativity and how artists can be controlled by authoritarian regimes. One of the many good features of this story are the hints about the destroyed past preserved in the rituals no one understands fully. What could this mean, "ravaged all, bogo tabal, timore toron, totoo now gone?" KLIATT Codes: JS*—Exceptional book,recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2000, Houghton Mifflin, 215p, 00-024359, $15.00. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; September 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 5)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-As Gathering Blue (HM, 2000) begins, a harsh, barbaric community of the future challenges the right of Kira to remain a part. Orphaned by the recent death of her mother, Kira has been cursed by a deformed leg and blessed by unsurpassed artistic talent. Facing the Council of Guardians, she pleads her case and finds an important role that plunges her deep into the heart of this enigmatic civilization. Lois Lowry, the consummate yarn-spinner, has deftly woven this cautionary tale so reminiscent of her Newbery tour-de-force, The Giver. She takes a bleak and colorless landscape, embroiders it richly with her storytelling prowess, and even treats us to an introductory spoken passage filled with insight into her thoughts and motivations for writing the story. Gathering Blue lends itself well to the medium of audiobook. The unusual-yet-familiar vocabulary used by the villagers can be recognized readily through the expert reading of actress Katherine Borowitz. The story is loquacious, mysterious, and thought provoking a must-have for young adults. The audio version is certain to be popular on circulation lists and with teachers.-Lisa Denton, J.S. Russell Junior High School, Lawrenceville, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Book Watch

In Gathering Blue, Kira is summoned to judgement by a village Council which abhors deformity, and she eXxpects to die; but rescue by one member preserves her life in eXxchange for hard work on a ceremonial cape. Her talents come alive and Kira faces a new life herself in this story of survival and community involvements.

Kirkus Reviews

Lowry returns to the metaphorical future world of her Newbery-winning The Giver (1993) to explore the notion of foul reality disguised as fair. Born with a twisted leg, Kira faces a bleak future after her mother dies suddenly, leaving her without protection. Despite her gift for weaving and embroidery, the village women, led by cruel, scarred Vandara, will certainly drive the lame child into the forest, where the "beasts" killed her father, or so she's been told. Instead, the Council of Guardians intervenes. In Kira's village, the ambient sounds of voices raised in anger and children being slapped away as nuisances quiets once a year when the Singer, with his intricately carved staff and elaborately embroidered robe, recites the tale of humanity's multiple rises and falls. The Guardians ask Kira to repair worn historical scenes on the Singer's robe and promise her the panels that have been left undecorated. Comfortably housed with two other young orphans—Thomas, a brilliant wood-carver working on the Singer's staff, and tiny Jo, who sings with an angel's voice—Kira gradually realizes that their apparent freedom is illusory, that their creative gifts are being harnessed to the Guardians' agenda. And she begins to wonder about the deaths of her parents and those of her companions—especially after the seemingly hale old woman who is teaching her to dye expires the day after telling her there really are no beasts in the woods. The true nature of her society becomes horribly clear when the Singer appears for his annual performance with chained, bloody ankles, followed by Kira's long-lost father, who, it turns out, was blinded andleftfor dead by a Guardian. Next to the vividly rendered supporting cast, the gentle, kindhearted Kira seems rather colorless, though by electing at the end to pit her artistic gift against the status quo instead of fleeing, she does display some inner stuff. Readers will find plenty of material for thought and discussion here, plus a touch of magic and a tantalizing hint (stay sharp, or you'll miss it) about the previous book's famously ambiguous ending. A top writer, in top form. (author's note) (Fiction. 11-13)

Product Details

• Reading Group Guide
• Read an Excerpt

Reading Group Guide

1. Discuss what gave Katrina, Kira’s mother, the courage to stand up to the people of the village and spare Kira’s life, when the custom in Kira’s society was to destroy babies born with birth defects. Do you think Katrina was aware of her daughter’s gift? Katrina never created the color blue. Do you think she knew that her daughter would someday find the secret of creating blue?

2. At the beginning of the novel, Katrina dies and Kira is left homeless. Kira is fearful, especially when Vandara, a vicious and angry woman, tells her that she is worthless. Discuss the strength Kira displays when she faces the Council of Guardians. How does Kira show strength and courage throughout the novel?

3. Discuss the way children are treated in Kira’s society. What is the difference between abuse and neglect? How is Matt both abused and neglected? What is his role in the story? How does Matt contribute to Kira’s growth as a person and an artist?

4. Vandara is known throughout the village. “People whispered about her. She was known, and respected. Or feared.” (p. 15) How can someone who is feared be respected? Discuss whether the women of the village fear Vandara more than they respect her. How do you know that they don’t really agree with Vandara regarding Kira’s fate?

5. What qualities determine the difference between skill and art? Debate whether Katrina was a skilled weaver or an artist. At what point in the novel does Kira display the true qualities of an artist?

6. Why is the history of the people called the Ruin Song? The scenes on the Singer’s Robe represent Ruin, Rebuilding, Ruin Again, andRegrowth. How does this symbolize the history of our world?

7. Kira has always been told that beasts killed her father. When Kira tells Jamison that Annabella says there are no beasts, he replies, “She’s very old. It’s dangerous for her to speak that way.” (p. 128) Do you think Annabella knows the truth about Kira’s father? Discuss whether Jamison is responsible for Annabella’s death.

8. Matt is concerned that Kira might be held captive at the Council Edifice. How is it that he has a better understanding of the meaning of captivity than Kira does? Debate whether Kira and Thomas, the young carver, are indeed held captive even though they are allowed to roam. At what point does Kira realize that she isn’t really free?

9. What do Kira, Thomas, and Jo have in common? Interpret the following statement: “They were forcing the children to describe the future they wanted, not the one that could be.” (p. 212)

10. At the end of the novel, Matt brings Christopher, Kira’s blind father, to meet her. How does meeting her father alter Kira’s concept of her purpose in life and her contribution to her society’s future?


Prepared by Pat Scales, Director of Library Services, South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville

Read an Excerpt

“Mother?”

There was no reply. She hadn’t expected one. Her mother had been dead now for four days, and Kira could tell that the last of the spirit was drifting away.

“Mother.” She said it again, quietly, to whatever was leaving. She thought that she could feel its leavetaking, the way one could feel a small whisper of breeze at night.

Now she was all alone. Kira felt the aloneness, the uncertainty, and a great sadness.

This had been her mother, the warm and vital woman whose name had been Katrina. Then after the brief and unexpected sickness, it had become the body of Katrina, still containing the lingering spirit. After four sunsets and sunrises, the spirit too was gone. It was simply a body. Diggers would come and sprinkle a layer of soil over the flesh, but even so it would be eaten by the clawing, hungry creatures that came at night. Then the bones would scatter, rot, and crumble to become part of the earth.

Kira wiped briefly at her eyes, which had filled suddenly with tears. She had loved her mother, and would miss her terribly. But it was time for her to go. She wedged her walking stick in the soft ground, leaned on it, and pulled herself up.

Copyright © 2000 by Lois Lowry