The Giver Reading Questions

The Giver Reading Questions Name______

Chapters 1-5 (pages 1-39) DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions with 1-2 complete sentences. Try to use specific details from the book to support your answers. Some questions won’t be directly answered in your reading and will require you to use your inferencing skills.

1. Why is Jonas nervous about the upcoming Ceremony?

2. How are Assignments determined in the community?

3. Why does the community value “precision of speech”?

4. What are the different ways the community views “release”?

5. Explain the role of Birthmother in Jonas’s community.

6. What is the purpose of the telling of feelings session?

7. How are the elderly treated in Jonas’s community? What happens to elderly people?

8. What is the purpose of the telling of dreams sessions?

9. Why is Jonas’s dream about Fiona important and why do these dreams have to be officially reported?

Element of Fiction Questions: 10. Point of View—From whose point of view is the story told?

11. Setting—Describe the setting (time, place, environment).

Name______

The Giver Reading Questions (pages 40-58)

DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions with 1-2 complete sentences. Try to use specific details from the book to support your answers. Some questions won’t be directly answered in your reading and will require you to use your inferencing skills.

Chapter 6-7

12. In what ways does the community make people interdependent (depending on each other, not yourself)?

13. Why is the annual Ceremony so important to the community?

14. How does one’s gender affect the Assignment one receives?

15. What might the incident involving Asher asking for a “smack” instead of a “snack” indicate about the community? What kind of people are they?

Element of Fiction Questions: 16. A flashback is a section that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event that happened in the past. Name one of the flashbacks used in

chapters 1-7.

17. The protagonist is the main character, the person the book focuses on and the person readers want to “win” or have a happy ending. Who is the protagonist in the book The Giver?

Name______

The Giver Reading Questions (pages 59-79)

Chapters 8-10

18. Why is Jonas so upset when he is passed over by the Chief Elder?

19. How does Jonas’s family react to his Assignment?

20. How does Jonas’s rule sheet make him feel alone and distant from his friends and family?

21. Which rule bothers Jonas most and why?

22. Why is it forbidden to lock doors or turn off the speakers, which are a part of every dwelling?

Element of Fiction Questions: 23. The inciting incident is the first conflict faced by the main character. What is the first event that causes conflict between Jonas and his family and friends (it makes him feel different from them)?

24. Name one internal conflict that Jonas has had so far in the book (think of things he doesn’t want to do, but has to or is supposed to do and if he actually does it).

Name______

The Giver Reading Questions (pages 80-96)

Chapters 11-12

25. What is Sameness?

26. What is Jonas’s first training session like? What happens there?

27. Why do they use the discipline wand on elderly people?

28. Do you think the community thinks elderly people are important? Why or why not?

Element of Fiction Questions: 29. Rising Action—What conflicts are becoming evident as the story progresses? Give examples of conflicts Jonas is starting to have.

30. External Conflict—What is one example of an external conflict that has happened so far in the book?

31. A Round Character is one who is fully developed and we get to see both his or her faults and virtues. Who is a round character in The Giver?

32. A Flat Character is a one sided and often stereotypical character. Who is a flat character in The Giver?

Name______The Giver Reading Questions (pages 97-145)

Chapters 13-18

33. What happened when the Receiver before Jonas failed?

34. What does The Giver say about Jonas’s instructors that shocks Jonas?

35. What is “Elsewhere” to the people of the community?

36. Why can’t Jonas, as the new Receiver, ask for relief of pain if the pain is related to his training?

37. Explain the memory The Giver shares with Jonas in Chapter 15 and why it is causing The Giver such pain.

38. How does the memory of the family Christmas make Jonas feel?

39. What is Jonas’s first act of rebellion toward Sameness? What is the first “rule” he breaks?

Element of Fiction Questions: 40. Theme—What theme or main lesson is the book trying to teach us? For example, what is the author saying about Jonas’s society? What is bad about his society?

Name______

The Giver Reading Questions (pages 146-162)

DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions with 1-2 complete sentences. Try to use specific details from the book to support your answers. Some questions won’t be directly answered in your reading and will require you to use your inferencing skills.

Chapters 19-20

41. Why is Jonas bothered by the game of war Asher and the others play, and why can’t he make them understand that they shouldn’t play it?

42. Why does Jonas refuse Fiona’s offer to go for a bicycle ride along the river?

43. What caused the failure of Rosemary, the last new Receiver?

44. As Jonas watches the release of the twin boy, he realizes what “release” really is. What is release?

45. What plan do Jonas and The Giver come up with?

Element of Fiction Questions: 46. Rising Action—List a few more events that occur during the rising action. What events happen to make Jonas dislike (have a conflict with) his society?

47. Static Character—Many of the characters in The Giver are static because change is not allowed in the community. List the static characters who do not change in the book.

48. A Dynamic Character is one who changes during the course of the book. Who is a dynamic character in The Giver?

Name______

The Giver Reading Questions (pages 163-179)

Chapters 21-23

49. Why doesn’t Jonas carry out the plan he and The Giver came up with?

50. What attempts does the community make to find Jonas and Gabe?

51. How does nature make Jonas’s get away more difficult?

52. What happens to Jonas and Gabriel at the end of the book, in your opinion?

Element of Fiction Questions: 53. What is the climax of the novel (the point where Jonas has to make a decision that affects the outcome of the novel)?

54. After Jonas makes his decision (the climax), what events occur during the Falling Action?

55. What is the Resolution to the novel? How does Jonas resolve the problems he’s come across in the novel?