January 20, 2026

Dear Lois Lowry,

I was just a little fourth grader when I first picked up your book “The Giver”. I was sitting at the book club table, and I watched the parent volunteer pass out the copies. One for each kid. Every week, we were supposed to read a chapter and then discuss what we thought at book club. As I sat down to read it on my bed, I couldn’t help but feel immersed in Jonas’ story. I couldn’t stop reading it until it was late at night and my parents had to knock on my door to tell me to go to bed. By the time I went to book club the next week, I was done. I was so immersed in this story because Jonas showed me that it was okay to feel pain, because pain was needed to have a full and happy human life.

Jonas’ life was so different from mine. There was no conflict, no pain, no sadness. He had everything I had wished for. You see, me, my family, and my friends had gone through a lot of pain in our lives. I watched my friends go through problems both within themselves and their families. From the eyes of a young girl, I saw the world go through the covid pandemic, and I watched the world change before my very eyes. When we all thought crisis had ended, something happened that nobody expected. My dad got diagnosed with cancer. He had to be in the hospital for a long, long time, and we weren’t allowed to visit him. The doctors were worried we would get him sick. It was hard for me and my family. Really hard. That is why I craved Jonas’ painless life.

When I picked up that book in the fourth grade, I thought I finally found my ideal life. A life with no pain, no suffering, and no sadness. A “perfect” life. I tried to make my life like his; I thought it would make everything better. Just like the Committee of Elders, I tried to ignore my feelings and what I thought about what was going on around me. I would hide my feelings from both myself and others and force myself to be happy all the time. Often now, when I try to think back to how I felt during that time, all I see is a wall that I built to block my thoughts and feelings. Because I wanted them to go away. I wanted to live in a society like Jonas’.

However, Jonas taught me something else. When he started getting memories of both pain and happiness, his perspective on his society changed. He realized that he needed to go through pain and feel sad at times if he wanted to have individuality and the depth and complexity of human life. When he realized this, so did I. I finally understood that I needed to let myself feel pain to feel happiness, and it was okay to be sad or mad sometimes. Your book, “The Giver” taught me how to evaluate my feelings and understand the world and pain around me.

Through your book, I was able to march through covid, my father’s cancer, and all the pain that both me and those who surrounded me had to experience. When Jonas received painful memories, it was hard for him. He would get triggered by things as simple as kids playing in the street. He was at first glad that he lived in a society without these things. But as he learned more and more about the complexity of the human life, he understood why these things are important. Jonas taught me more about emotions than any article, teacher, or friend. Your book truly influenced me and taught me that it is okay to cry and laugh, scream and smile. I can’t wait to see Jonas do the same for the future generations of readers. Thank you for giving me the gift of “The Giver”.

With gratitude,
Emily Rigoulot