Newberry Medal winning children’s author Lois Lowry on the last in “The Giver” series, and J.K. Rowling after Harry Potter.

Lois Lowry, author of The Giver, at her home in Cambridge, MA.

American kids by the school-load read “The Giver” – Lois Lowry’s dystopic tale of a society where everything is planned and calm and colorless, and freedom is gone.  Jobs and mates are assigned.  Life is utterly predictable.  A few jobless college grads may be longing for just a piece of that right about now, but the bigger lesson has gone deep.

It takes some pain to know pleasure.  Some unknowns to know freedom.  Lowry has just written her last in “The Giver” series.  She’s with us.

This hour, On Point:  Lois Lowry and “Son.”  Plus, we’ll check in J.K. Rowling after Harry Potter.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Lois Lowry, author of the new book Son.

From Tom’s Reading List

L.A. Times “In 1993, Lois Lowry published “The Giver,” a young adult novel about a dystopian culture in which conformity is the standard and Sameness is a social goal. By then, Lowry was already a well-known writer for young readers: Her first book, “A Summer to Die,” came out in 1977, and her novel “Number the Stars,” which takes place during the Holocaust, won a 1990 Newbery Medal.”

C-Segment: J. K. Rowling

Lev Grossman, book critic for Time magazine. You can read his review of the latest J.K. Rowling book here.

Excerpt

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Video

Check out the trailer for the book here.