"Oh, Honey! Are you crying?" 
 My daughter nodded and sniffled as I sat down on the side of her bed and leaned over to hug her. 
 "Can you tell me what's wrong?" 
 After a pause she said, "That book," in a choked voice. I knew she meant The Giver. We'd gotten the paperback as a freebie at her pediatrician's office more than a year ago, and my 10yo had picked it up that morning and read the whole thing by bedtime, reading a bit here and there between her lessons. 
 "Oh, Honey!" I repeated. "It's a pretty intense book, isn't it?" 
 She nodded with her face hidden in my shoulder. 
 "Would you like me to read it tomorrow so we can talk about it?" 
 She nodded again. And so the next day, I read The Giver. 
 It was a quick read: engaging, emotional. I like the gradual way Lowry lets the story unfold and lets Jonas make the connections that he does. It's interesting to consider both the good and bad things we might give up for safety, especially with all of the opinions right now about whether to take in Syrian refugees or not in the wake of the Paris attacks last week. The ending was strange to me. It was good, but it read like a short story ending rather than the ending of a novel. I'll have to mull it over more to know what I mean; that's just how it feels to me. It gives my daughter an introduction to the uncertainty of literary fiction. 
 I finished it late last night and am reviewing it before breakfast (when I should be doing my morning workout), so I've not had a chance to talk with her about it, but I'm really looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see what stands out to her about the book and what she thinks about the tradeoffs Jonas and his community made.