The Giver series in order follows four connected novels by Lois Lowry, beginning with Jonas in the tightly controlled Community and expanding into other societies shaped by their own rules. The series blends dystopian fiction, science fiction, and fantasy while exploring memory, freedom, pain, choice, and responsibility.
Many readers first encounter The Giver in school, but the later books can be surprising because they don’t begin as direct sequels. Lowry shifts between protagonists and settings before bringing the storylines together, so the order matters more than it may seem at first.
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The Giver Series in Order
The Giver Quartet contains four novels and is complete. I recommend reading the books in publication order because each one builds on information revealed in the earlier installments.
- The Giver (1993)
- Gathering Blue (2000)
- Messenger (2004)
- Son (2012)
You may still see older editions or retailer listings call the first three books The Giver Trilogy. That name dates from before Son expanded the completed series to four books. The official name is now The Giver Quartet.
Does The Giver series have to be read in order?
The Giver can be read as a standalone novel because Lowry originally wrote it that way, and its ending remains intentionally ambiguous. But if you’re continuing with the quartet, my advice is to follow the publication order above.
Gathering Blue is the second published book and the one to read after The Giver, but it begins in a different society with a new protagonist, Kira. It feels more like a companion novel at first than an immediate continuation of Jonas’s story. Messenger follows characters from Gathering Blue and begins bringing the separate storylines together. Son is the first direct sequel to The Giver and the final book in the quartet, so I wouldn’t read it early.
There isn’t a useful separate whole-book chronological order. Son returns to events connected to The Giver before moving beyond the other novels, so a strict timeline would require splitting one book into sections. In my view, publication order is the simplest and strongest reading experience.
The Giver Adaptations
The first novel has been adapted as a graphic novel, stage play, opera, musical, and feature film. None of these adaptations adds another installment to the quartet or changes the reading order.
The Giver Graphic Novel
The Giver Graphic Novel (2019), adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell, retells the first novel in graphic form. It isn’t a fifth book and doesn’t add new story material. I’d read the original novel first, but the graphic adaptation is an interesting way to revisit Jonas’s world.
The Giver Stage, Opera, and Musical Adaptations
Eric Coble’s full-length stage adaptation premiered at Oregon Children’s Theatre on March 5, 2006. Dramatic Publishing offers both full-length and two-act versions for licensed performances.
Susan Kander wrote the music and libretto for a one-act chamber opera co-commissioned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Minnesota Opera. It was first performed in Kansas City in January 2012, followed by its Minnesota premiere that April.
A separate musical by Nathan Christensen and Scott Murphy began as a Theatreworks USA commission and later went through workshops, readings, and festival performances. In 2014, Christensen wrote that Lowry had authorized community-theater productions.
The Giver Movie
Only one feature-film adaptation has been released, so there isn’t a series of Giver movies to watch in order. The Giver (2014), directed by Phillip Noyce, adapts the first novel.
Brenton Thwaites stars as Jonas, Jeff Bridges plays the Giver, and Meryl Streep plays the Chief Elder. The cast also includes Alexander Skarsgård, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush, Cameron Monaghan, and Taylor Swift. The film changes several plot details and adds more action, so I recommend the novel for Lowry’s original version of the story.
About Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is a two-time Newbery Medal winner. She received the award in 1990 for Number the Stars and again in 1994 for The Giver. In 2007, the American Library Association honored her with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lasting contribution to writing for teens.
The Giver has also been challenged repeatedly in schools and libraries. It appeared on the American Library Association’s lists of the most frequently challenged books in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. I think that long-running debate is part of why the novel remains such a common classroom choice: its questions about memory, choice, authority, and individual responsibility continue to invite discussion.
Looking for more books in order?
If you want more science fiction authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Science Fiction Books in Order index.