Messenger

I've been meaning to read the rest of The Giver companion books for awhile but finally got around to it and read Messenger by Lois Lowry.  (Connor and I read The Giver and Gathering Blue together months ago but never got to the last two, so I'm just reading them on my own.)  Messenger follows Matty from Gathering Blue in his new village, which accepts the outsiders from villages everywhere else.  The community is a happy, welcoming place, but suddenly things start to change--people are trading away the deepest parts of themselves, and the forest is thickening.  While Matty notices all of this, he also notices a new, powerful gift in himself.

This was a really good read.  It was a quick read--I finished the entire book while Emmeline was at preschool.  I was very interested in the story and characters and didn't want to stop reading.  The end was getting so intense that I kept wanting to peek ahead to see what was going to happen (but I didn't).  I thought it was a beautiful story of sacrifice while also being heart-breaking.  I also loved how the book connected back to the characters from The Giver.  I'm now really excited to read the fourth companion book, The Son.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)