The Giver by Lois Lowry

Jonas trudged to the bench beside the storehouse and sat down, overwhelmed with feelings of loss. His childhood, his friendship, he carefree sense of security -- all of these things seemed to be slipping away. With his new, heightened feelings, he was overwhelmed with sadness at the way the other had laughed and shouted, playing at war. Be he knew that they could not understand why, without the memories. He felt such love for Asher and Fiona. But they could not feel it back, without the memories. And he could not give them those. Jonas knew with certainty that he could change nothing.

Chris just reviewed this book a couple of weeks ago. I would mention that while I don't disagree with his description of this book as essentially 1984 for tweens, The Giver actually put me in mind of A Brave New World. Chris does a good job summing up the book. I agree with his assessment. I too wish I had read this book when I was in the 5th or 6th grade, because I think it would have had a profound effect on me. This is yet another in a long line of books that unfortunately landed on the chopping block at the Christian school I went to.