Lowry, Lois. Gathering blue.

Random House, Dell Laurel Leaf. 215p. c2000. 0-440-22949-9. $6.50. JS*

To quote from the KLIATT, September 2000, review of the hardcover edition:

Lowry has created a haunting alternative society in Gathering Blue just as she has done in The Giver--that is not to say that it is the same society in both books. The Giver is ideal for 4th-6th grade students and has become a classic in children's literature; Gathering Blue is more complex, less obvious, and a better YA choice.

The plant that provides the blue color Kira needs as she dyes threads is not easily found; it is outside of the authoritarian society in which she survives. In the village she knows, the adults are abusive, the children surly, the hierarchy unquestioned. She was born with a twisted foot, which would mean sure death except that her mother protected her and promised that she would be a contributing member of the society. Now, as the story opens, her mother is dead and the adolescent Kira is brought before the council on trial, accused of being useless, condemned to death. A council member defends her on the basis of her skill with cloth, a skill learned from Kira's mother, who was responsible for a crucial part of the annual rituals that hold this culture together. Kira is saved from death, brought into a comfortable Council Edifice, where she eventually meets two other creative young people, a wood carver and a singer, who are also there to prepare for the ceremonies. The greater theme Lowry explores here concerns the meaning of creativity and how artists can be controlled by authoritarian regimes.

One of the many good features of this story involves the hints about the destroyed past preserved in the rituals no one understands fully. How about: "ravaged all, bogo tabal, timore, toron, totoo now gone." Claire Rosser, KLIATT