The Giver Quartet begins with--no kidding--The Giver, a story set in a seemingly utopian society. In the Community, there are no choices. Children are assigned to families, jobs are assigned, all clothing is uniform, there are no real feelings or colors and there are no abnormalities. Disabled or inconvenient individuals are "Released"--murdered by lethal injection. Twelve-year-old Jonas is assigned as the next Reciever of Memory, a job which requires him to take on centuries of memory and experiences from The Giver. As Jonas learns about the past he begins to see color and have real feelings, and he and The Giver come up with a plan to introduce these things back into the Community. But one night, Jonas is forced to make a decision of life or death for a baby sentenced to Release the next morning. He must flee into the wilderness with the child and nothing but his memories to help them.

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Gathering Blue follows the story of Kira, a physically flawed girl in a society which discards of the weak and disabled. Recently orphaned and scared, Kira is summoned by The Council of Guardians and prepares to fight for her life. But the Council does not sentence her to death by the Beasts. Instead, they offer her the opportunity to use her almost magical gifts with needle and thread. Kira is temporarily happy, but soon discovers that all is not as it seems with the Council--and with the society as a whole.

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Messenger is the story of Matty, a young boy with whom Kira was good friends, back in their society. Now living in Village, refuge to those of special talents and physical disabilities, Matty must find his own way and make his own name. While he is friends with Forest and yearns to be called Messenger, it appears as though he has other abilities he was not formerly aware of: the power to heal. He can heal small things: a frog, a sick dog. But when a man named Trademaster enters Village and begins trading impossible things for people's best qualities and virtues, Village and Forest themselves become terribly sick and Matty does not know how to heal them. Matty must fight Forest itself as it is overcome with darkness, when he embarks on a dangerous quest through Forest to recover Kira.

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The final book in The Giver Quartet, Son, returns to Jonas' Community where a Birthmother named Claire searches for her lost child. At the age of twelve, Claire is assigned the task of Birthmother. At fourteen, she gives birth to her first child ("product"), but there are complications and she is retired to a fishery. Desperate to find her son, Claire leaves the Community after Jonas flees with Gabe. Memory loss, physical trials and an encounter with the evil Trademaster do not deter Claire from finding Gabe. But once she reaches Village and her son, will he be able to save her from the cruelty Trademaster has inflicted upon her during her journey?