FlumeAward – Son Son by Lois Lowry
I was so looking forward to this book and it did not dissapoint. My all time favorite book is The Giver, with that said placing this book on the list we would have to assume that the anyone reading it would have read the trilogy. Susan Schatvet -Seabrook Library
I really liked this book! The story was meaningful, thoughtful, and surprisingly easy to read considering its depth. I think it could stand alone because it has a different main character from the other books – characters from the other books are present in this book but this is not "their" story. I read the first, second, skipped the third (it was missing from the library) and then read this one, so I might not have noticed if anything would have been hard to understand without reading the others first. The only downside is that it lets you know what eventually happened to characters in other books – a bit of a spoiler if you’re planning to go back to read them. I think think it will appeal to teens, both boys and girls, and would be happy to see it on the final thirteen list. -Katherine Bollenbach, Belmont Public Library.
I really liked this book, and loved revisiting favorite characters from The Giver and Gathering Blue. I felt, though, that the story was rich enough, and told in real time, that one didn’t have to have read the first three books to understand or enjoy Claire’s story. Although it’s a sci-fi / dystopian book, I’m not sure how appealing it would be to boys. There’s an awful lot of time spent on Claire’s maternal instincts and feelings. If boys can get past that, though, it’s a good adventure.
I found it thoroughly enjoyable right up until I felt that Lowry just had a need to end it, and did so, fairly suddenly, without a care for the history of the characters or world, or logic.
-Kirsten Rundquist Corbett, Lane Memorial Library, Hampton