Gathering Blue

Lowry, Lois. 2000. Gathering Blue.

Gathering Blue is the second novel in a trilogy by Lois Lowry. This series, beginning with The Giver, loosely ties together several different future societies. The second novel does stand alone apart from The Giver. Kira is a young girl, recently orphaned, whose life is threatened by her village. You see, technically speaking it is illegal for her to still be alive. She was born with a birth defect, a twisted leg. Many demanded her death before she was even a few hours old. But her mother and grandfather were stubborn. She was not to be harmed. She was special. Kira only hoped it was true that she had been saved because she was special. Returning to the village after her mother’s death, a neighbor brings her to court demanding her death. But the court rules in her favor. She will be brought to live in a special building, a building full of secrets because it was from a time before. Given a special task, Kira must learn her new role. But as she’s learning, she observes quite a few disturbing things. Is everything as it seems? Is the ‘Court of Guardians’ keeping some dangerous secrets?