I first read The Giver in a middle school English class, and much like many other readers, it has stuck with me ever since. With themes of hope amidst a dim, mundane society, it reminds readers how beautiful life as we know it truly is – and how often we take that beauty for granted every day.

Jonas is growing up in a dystopian future where every person is subject to government-enforced “Sameness.” They cannot see colors, they are assigned jobs based on their skills, and their family units are pieced together for them rather than naturally formed. Jonas is turning 12, the age when children learn the career they will hold for the rest of their lives. He is assigned the rarest and most important role of all: the Receiver.

The Receiver’s job is to hold all the memories of the world before Sameness and preserve them so the Elders can make decisions based on the wisdom of the past – without bearing the pain of those memories themselves. Jonas is expected to carry the suffering of all of history alone. He is trained by the previous Receiver, an old man who tells Jonas to call him the Giver.

Suddenly, Jonas begins experiencing things he has never been able to comprehend before. He can see color, feel snow and sunshine, and learn what it means to truly love. But these are all things he is expected to keep secret from everyone around him, because they live in a world where such experiences have been suppressed for generations.

It is a beautiful gift, but it comes with a price: to know true suffering when no one else around him could ever understand it. Can Jonas carry these new experiences gracefully, or will he crumble under the pressure like the girl chosen for the role ten years before him?

This is a wonderful entry point into dystopian fiction for young readers, while also being a beautiful book to revisit in adulthood. It is one of those rare stories that feels like a privilege to read. If you have never experienced The Giver, you are truly missing out on an important classic. Add this one to your summer reading list!