My wife and I are on a Newberry spree, and The Giver was our third. Following two fantastic reads, I began the book unimpressed. it was only later when I realized that the plainness of the writing and depiction was precisely what the author intended. Each Newberry we read appeals in some new way, and The Giver shone to me for its deep layers of thought on life, choice, love and pain. As a Christian, the book provided a powerful platform for examining the values, beliefs, sacrifices, and challenges that I feel are defining of life. The Giver himself--who captures the pain, suffering, joy, and love that he is called upon to spare the community from--is compelled to be in the difficult position of a Christ-figure. 
 This book shines for the richness of the ideas imbued in its story and the world where, during the course of the story, there are only a handful of decisions ever made--but decisions to separate the living from the dead.