When Lois Lowry won the USA’s Newbery medal for her teenage fantasy The Giver in 1994, she was praised for her creation of a frightening future society, rigid and closed. 

Gathering Blue follows a similar pattern, with a young character gradually realising the dangers in the strictly controlled structure that has surrounded her life.  Kira is a crippled orphan forced to prove her value, under threat of death, to the village after her mother dies.  Fortunately she has a skill that is rare, an almost magical artist’s ability with colour and weaving. 

While it does not help in the daily struggle to survive, the elders see it as essential to keep recording the world’s history on the Great Robe of the village Singer.  Kira must learn to make the coloured threads that will tell history, as the elders want it told. 

It is her search for the lost art of making blue that uncovers the frightening puzzles behind the village, her parents’ deaths and the other children with Talents.  She is left with the dilemma of escaping to safety from the threats, or turning to face them and the danger of destruction. 

This is a complex and intriguing novel, with layers of detail and meaning throughout the plot as Kira pieces clues together.  There are subtle references to our society’s attitudes towards people with disabilities and talents, but these are never preachy.   

As she did in The Giver, Lowry leaves the ending a little open, with several unanswered questions raising the possibility of a sequel.  This would certainly be worth waiting for, as Gathering Blue has created a scary fantasy world that is not too far away from our own.

Review by David Beagley

© 2004 David Beagley