Just Finished Reading Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

After finishing reading The Giver, a short young adult dystopian fantasy/science fiction novel by Lois Lowry, I naturally decided to go on and read the rest of her same-titled, four-part series...I just completed the second book, titled Gathering Blue, from 2000.  It is set in the same time and place as The Giver, a far-off future on Earth following a planet-wide catastrophe called the Ruin where different small communities live in isolation from one another, each governed by its own peculiar rules and customs.  In Gathering Blue the protagonist is a girl named Kira, growing up in a brutal area in which the sick and deformed are taken to "the Field" where wild beasts are said to lurk in waiting to devour them.  Although Kira, born with a deformed leg and walking with a pronounced limp, has lost both her father and now her mother, she is allowed...thanks to the intervention of Jami-son, one of the community's elder rulers...to stay on due to her recognized talent in embroidery: her new project is to repair and improve upon the Singer's robe.  This article of clothing, which depicts in minute detail various aspects of humanity's history, adorns the official Singer, who annually in a community ceremony sings the song reflecting the robe's themes.  Kira discovers that there is something special in her talent that goes well beyond simple skill: at times she feels the fabric is creating itself as she works on it.  She also notices others in the town who have similar experiences, but in different areas of creative expression.  The story's title refers to the lack of the color blue in the available dyes, but Kira's feisty, much younger friend Matt discovers a source of the missing color and sets off on a dangerous quest to obtain it for her...in the process setting into motion a crisis that forces a profound decision on her part.  I liked Gathering Blue and felt that here, along with The Giver, are stories although written on an adventure and drama-filled narrative level with an appeal to younger readers, also carry within them deeper themes that examine how we often behave in our own "non-dystopian" society of today...and how we sometimes allow ourselves to be deceived by false narratives about the nature of reality.  I followed up on Gathering Blue with her 2004 third book in the series, titled Messenger: I'll review that one in a few days...