Need help finding a book

[svenm]

I loved this book as a child but I can't remember the name. I hope someone here can help... here is the general story:

Its about a futuristic society that determines the future occupation of every teenager based on tests taken in high-school, the skills of that occupation is implanted in their brain once they reach the age. The hero is a boy that dreams about becoming a pilot (If I remember), and all his friends receive their occupation assessments results, but him. He waits and waits, thinking that he might have failed all the tests and he wasn't chosen to do anything significant in life, until he is invited to a meeting were he is told that he was chosen to join the most elite group - which is some sort of a maker/creator of the things in this world.

Thats roughly the story and I would thank in advance for any help.

Sven

[acton bell]

Your description sounds a bit like Lois Lowrey's The Giver.

[svenm]

Hi Acton,

Many thanks, I looked up the book and the story does sound exactly like what I was looking for.

One thing is a bit strange, it looks as if the book was first published in 1993, and I am almost sure I read it much earlier almost a decade earlier somewhere in the 80's.

There is only one way to find out: I am going to get a copy of the book and read it :)

Thanks again !

[B5B7]

I have read a short story many years ago that has a plot very like that in your OP. I can't recall what it is, but it had a style possibly similar to that of an Asimov story (however I am not saying it is an Asimov story).

A couple of stories based on a similar theme are by Cyril M. Kornbluth - The Little Black Bag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Black_Bag) and The Matching Morons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons).

[rainswept]

The details don't match, but there is a thematic resemblance to Kieth Laumer's "Placement Test", anthologized in 9 by Laumer in 1967. Check it out here (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0743436067/0743436067__23.htm).