Today Is Declared An Unscheduled Holiday.

He Wept, And It Felt As If The Tears Were Cleansing Him, As If His Body Needed To Empty Itself.

The Whole World Had Changed. Only The Fairy Tales Remained The Same. "and They Lived Happily Ever After.

The Man That I Named The Giver Passed Along To The Boy Knowledge, History, Memories, Color, Pain, Laughter, Love, And Truth. Every Time You Place A Book In The Hands Of A Child, You Do The Same Thing. It Is Very Risky. But Each Time A Child Opens A Book, He Pushes Open The Gate That Separates Him From Elsewhere. It Gives Him Choices. It Gives Him Freedom. Those Are Magnificent, Wonderfully Unsafe Things. [from Her Newberry Award Acceptance Speech]

Submitting To Censorship Is To Enter The Seductive World Of 'the Giver': The World Where There Are No Bad Words And No Bad Deeds. But It Is Also The World Where Choice Has Been Taken Away And Reality Distorted. And That Is The Most Dangerous World Of All.

He Hunched His Shoulders And Tried To Make Himself Smaller In The Seat. He Wanted To Disappear, To Fade Away, Not To Exist.