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  • Messenger by Lois Lowry book cover
  • Messenger by Lois Lowry book cover
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Messenger

by Lois Lowry Publisher: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Critically Recognized
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A journey through a changing Village

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Kirkus starred review

    Starred review praising the book's prose and describing it as a powerful tale of great beauty.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A journey through a changing Village

In the third novel of Lois Lowry’s Giver Quartet, Village’s welcome to strangers is giving way to a decision to shut its borders. Matty, one of the few able to cross the Forest, is sent to tell Seer’s daughter Kira and persuade her to return with him. The route is no longer safe: the Forest has turned hostile, and Matty must rely on a power he does not yet understand. The journey links a community’s change in direction with Matty’s uncertain abilities, bringing the book’s dystopian setting into focus through questions of belonging, exclusion, and the risks of acting on behalf of others. The story is described as a companion to The Giver and Gathering Blue, while also standing on its own.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers following the Giver Quartet, especially after The Giver and Gathering Blue.
  • Teen and young adult readers interested in dystopian fiction and journeys through dangerous settings.
  • Readers drawn to stories about community, outsiders, and unexplained abilities.

Themes

Belonging and exclusionCommunity changeDuty and riskEmerging abilities

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

The third book in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet, which began with the bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning The Giver.

Trouble is brewing in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on welcoming strangers, Village will soon be cut off to all outsiders.

As one of the few able to traverse the forbidding Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village's closing and try to convince Seer's daughter Kira to return with him before it's too late. But Forest is now hostile to Matty as well. Now he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand.

"Told in simple, evocative prose, this companion to The Giver and Gathering Blue can stand on its own as a powerful tale of great beauty." --Kirkus (starred review)

Messenger is the masterful third novel in Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet, which includes The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Son.

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Customer reviews

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AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

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Ella

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.