#65 in Dystopian
Gathering Blue
- 219
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Gathering Blue” is a quiet companion to “The Giver” that raises the same hard questions about free will and indoctrination. The future is the same one, but the first book’s characters do not return, which some find disappointing, and some note threads left untied. Short and thoughtful, it is aimed at young readers who liked the earlier novel for its ideas.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Gathering Blue is a young adult-dystopian novel written by American author Lois Lowry and was published on September 25, 2000. A companion book to The Giver (1993), it is set in the same future time period and universe, treats some of the same themes, and is followed by Messenger (2004) and Son (2012) in The Giver Quartet.
Reading order · The Giver Quartet
Full order & progress →- The GiverStart here
8.08.0 / 10 - Gathering BlueThis book
7.47.4 / 10 - Messenger
7.57.5 / 10 - Son
7.77.7 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 473 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 76% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Dystopian average of 7.7. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 40 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 7.3 | 433 | 92% |
Frequently asked
What age is Gathering Blue for?
Gathering Blue sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 219 pages — shorter than 84% of the ranked books in Dystopian.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Dystopian — with scores between 7.3 and 8.0, closest to this book.
