"Generally speaking, books don't cause much harm. Except when you read them, that is. Then they cause all kinds of problems.
"Books can, for example, give you ideas. I don't know if you've ever had an idea before, but, if you have, you know how much trouble an idea can get you into.
"Books can also provoke emotions. And emotions sometimes are even more troublesome than ideas. Emotions have let people to do all sorts of things they later regret -- . . ."
This poem by Rita Dove also fits well with themes found in The Giver:
Poem: The First Book, by Rita Dove
Open it.
Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well...maybe a little.
More a nip, like. A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.
You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.
Sure, it's hard to get started;
remember learning to use
knife and fork? Dig in:
you'll never reach bottom.
It's not like it's the end of the world-
just the world as you think
you know it.
Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well...maybe a little.
More a nip, like. A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.
You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.
Sure, it's hard to get started;
remember learning to use
knife and fork? Dig in:
you'll never reach bottom.
It's not like it's the end of the world-
just the world as you think
you know it.
--found at http://thechocolatechipwaffle.blogspot.com/2009/02/poem-first-book-by-rita-dove.html
