Gathering Blue

In this companion book to The Giver, Lois Lowry creates an alternative to Jonas's overly safe and highly technological world.

Kira's village is a cruel and hard place, and now, as Kira mourns her mother's death, she is all alone.  Just a few days after her mother's death, the women of the village try to take her home by force.  With her twisted, useless leg, Kira isn't sure how she will survive, let alone win this battle with these dangerous women.

She quickly realizes she has a protector who knows about her skills with threadings.  Now that her mother is dead, Kira will find purpose in repairing the ancient robe worn by the singer who sings the the story of the world each year.  Now she is no longer living in her mud hut with the rest of the village.  She is in the council edifice with all it's little luxuries Kira's never imagined.

Soon, however, Kira comes to see beyond the veil of comfort the council offers her to see the truth about her society and the lies those in power use to control the people.

Lois Lowry says that after she wrote The Giver, she started to think about the different societies that could develop after a post-apocalyptic event.  It seemed logical to her, that some communities would be stuck in a backwards world devoid of technology.  Gathering Blue explores many of the issues Lowry raised in The Giver through a different lens.