Gathering Blue

’m reading Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. The first post I wrote was only upthrough page 12, but I am now up to page 106. Kira finds out from her little friend Matt that Vandara isgoing to try to get the Council of Guardians to kick her out of the village andgive the women her land for a place to pen in the village’s tykes (kids). The Council knows about Kira’s talentin weaving. They decide to giveKira’s land to Vandara and the other women, but Kira is saved for the job ofrepairing worn out parts of the Singer’s robe.


A little backgroundinformation:
The Singer is a person who sings a long song once ayear that describes the history of the villagers. The Singer wears a special robe has pictures of all the major eventsthat happened in the past. It isvery ancient and is kept in a special place. The Singer also carries a special shaft that has carvings onit to help him know where he is in the song.

Kira goes to live in a special part of the Council building,she is given all the tools and supplies she needs. Kira has a large living space with a real bathroom andrunning water, someone brings her good food. But there is one problem. She doesn’t know how to make the dyes needed for the threadsshe will be using since her mother died before she taught her. So Kira visits the person who worked onthe robe a long time ago and she teaches Kira how to make some of thedyes. Also living in the Councilbuilding is Thomas whose is assigned to work on the Singer’s shaft. Kira is not allowed to read or write(because she is a girl) so Thomas makes her a special box to store her threadsthat has pictures on it to help her remember which plants make whichcolors. There is a lot to rememberabout dying thread and Thomas helps by writing it down for her. She spends her days working on the robeand planning the garden she will plant to make dyes for her threads.

CAL