Jean, Mentor’s daughter whom Matty has a crush on, confirms Matty’s suspicions that Trade Mart changed Mentor. He also appears to lose much of his kindness and patience and begins leading a group of villagers who wish to close Village to outsiders. As Mentor attends Trade Mart, however, his birthmark begins to fade, he grows hair over any bald spots, and he loses the hunch in his shoulders. Mentor is known for the bright red birthmark covering his face, but he is loved by his students for his kindness, patience, and passion for teaching. Mentor, Matty’s old and beloved schoolteacher, is one of the villagers who frequents Trade Mart. Villagers go to Trade Mart with nothing in their hands and trade away parts of themselves to get new furniture or a gaming machine or even to change their physical characteristics to earn someone’s affection. Trade Mart, a sinister market for immaterial things, is becoming popular. While Matty tries to understand his power, changes happen around him. His unexpected healing power leaves him upset, confused, and physically exhausted. He keeps his abilities a secret even when he heals a mother dog and puppy. He feels guilty about doing so because Village prizes honesty. Surprised and frightened, he hides the event from the Seer.

The story’s inciting incident occurs when Matty accidentally heals a frog. Matty hopes that Leader will assign him the true name “Messenger,” just like Leader assigned the blind man’s true name, “Seer.” While Forest has been known to strangle and kill many who enter, Forest has never hurt or threatened Matty but instead appears to aid him in his tasks. This means that Matty frequently travels in Forest. Matty often serves as a messenger for Leader, a young man with exceptional ability and piercing blue eyes. Matty came from a town on the other side of the dense and dangerous Forest, relocating to Village when he was six years old. In Village, those with differences are welcomed and valued, which sets the town apart from other societies in this fictional world. Many of the villagers have some sort of physical difference that made life in their homelands difficult or impossible. Matty and Seer live in Village, where people have come to escape from cruel and unjust governments in their homelands. Seer is the father of Kira, the protagonist of the previous book, Gathering Blue. The book begins with Matty cooking over a fire in a simple house with his adopted father, a blind man called Seer. It recounts events change his village and how he works to reverse those changes. The book tells the story of Matty, a teenage boy who lives in a utopian village where are all welcomed. While the setting of Messenger is not stated in this book, earlier books in the series show civilizations that exist sometime in the future after present-day civilizations were destroyed.

The gathering lois lowry