[Answerland] Book stumper: YA book that has a feel like the Giver

[Emily Papagni]

 Hello Answerland!

We have a patron who is trying to remember the name of a book. The patron's
description sounds like The City of Ember, but that's not it. (It's in
LibAnswers: QID:6859727
<https://answerland.libanswers.com/admin/ticket?qid=6859727> for those of
you who have access.)

They remember a lot:

"Main character is a girl who is very nervous because all her classmates
are being chosen for their careers, but no career has been chosen for her.
It has a happy ending when she is chosen for a special, unique career,
involving a huge library.

 I believe the book is at least 20 years old.

- I believe the kids in the story were all graduating from their school at
around 14 years old.

- One of the kids who is graduating is assigned to do maintenance work in
tunnels. That is not something he is thrilled about, however he is happy
that he has been assigned a career.

- The main girl (who the book is about) eventually finds out that she is
going to be working learning & writing her own books to be used by the
whole community.

- The book may have been made into a movie, where the kids who already have
had careers assigned to them try to reassure the girl who hasn't had one
assigned to her. I may be remembering wrong, and this movie may not be
about the book, but in the movie I vaguely remember the graduation career
assignments occurring in a huge chamber like a meeting hall, and the
assignments are officially given by the leader of the community.

- The book has more of a “classics” type of feel than the "The Library of
Ever” books which have a more modern feel.

- The book has a similar vibe to Lois Lowry’s The Giver Quartet books,
though I'm not sure if it's meant to be a dystopian book.

- There were no illustrations in the book."

In the patron's reply saying that this is not the City of Ember:
"The book I'm thinking of is rather simple, with the main character going
to class each day and hearing that two or three more of her fellow students
have been chosen for various occupations. There is a little bit of time
spent outside of the classroom with her friends and her family, but it
mostly revolves around her not being selected for a career until the end of
the book"

Does this sound familiar to any of you?

Emily

Emily Papagni
Reference Librarian
Multnomah County Central Library
Sunday-Thursday
503.988.5123, x24894
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