Hardcover first edition / first printing of Lois Lowry's dystopian classic. Very Good- in Good- dust jacket, together yielding an overall Good copy. Pictorial dust jacket over bright red cloth-covered boards featuring gold titling on the spine. 180 pages. A small piece of the dust jacket on the front lower left cover has been torn away and lost (approximately 1 inch by .5 inch), and in a smaller section of the upper front corner of the jacket, a layer of the dust jacket paper has been torn away and lost from the back as well. Two moisture stains are visible on the top back of the dust jacket, and a matching moisture stain is faintly visible on the red cloth of the naked hardcover. Dust jacket bears some bumping to the edges, as well as a small scratch on the back cover. Clean pages. Jacket now protected in a protective mylar cover (not pictured). An affordable option for a much sought-after first edition. In Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal–winning classic, twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind his fragile community. Life in the community where Jonas lives is idyllic. Designated birthmothers produce newchildren, who are assigned to appropriate family units. Citizens are assigned their partners and their jobs. No one thinks to ask questions. Everyone obeys. Everyone is the same. Except Jonas. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Gradually Jonas learns that power lies in feelings. But when his own power is put to the test—when he must try to save someone he loves—he may not be ready. Is it too soon? Or too late? Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.