Lois Lowry ( 1937 - )

Her Life:

She attended a public elementary school in Pennsylvania. She recalls, "I don't remember any encouragement of any creative act in my entire school experience." Yet even without teacher support, in 1947 (when she was 10) she wrote to Jack & Jill magazine and proclaimed that she was going to be writer.

Because she grew up in a military family she has lived all over the world. When she was eleven, the family moved to Tokyo. High school was back in New York City, but by the time she went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), her family was living in Washington, D.C.

Lois says that she married young; at nineteen - just after her sophomore year in college. She married a Naval officer which included more moving around. She lived in California, Connecticut (a daughter born there), Florida (a son), and South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when her husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. In Maine, she finished college, went to graduate school, and began to write professionally, which was her dream. Her marriage ended in 1977 (at 40) .

Lois presently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She says she gardens, feed birds, entertains friends, and reads.

Her Books:

In her first novel, Lowry portrays an adolescent's struggle with her older sister's illness and eventual death. When the Chalmers family moves to the country for the summer, thirteen-year-old Meg and fifteen-year-old Molly are forced to share a room. As her sister's condition deteriorates, Meg realizes that Molly is slowly dying of leukemia. For friendship, she turns to old Will Banks, a neighbor who encourages her interest in photography, and Ben and Maria, a hippie couple who invite Meg to take pictures at the birth of their child.

Natalie Armstrong has all a girl could want: beauty and intelligence, a loving family and a great boyfriend. But something is missing; the answer to a most important question: "Who is my mother?"
To find that answer seventeen-year-old Natalie begins a journey that she hopes will lead to the identity of her biological mother. And what if Natalie finds her? What will happen when they meet face-to-face?

In the first book of the series, Anastasia Krupnik, the ten-year-old heroine faces numerous comic crises, including a crush on a boy who is continually dribbling an imaginary basketball, and the coming arrival of a baby sibling. With the passing of each crisis Anastasia gains new insight into herself; by the book's close she is prepared to move on to a new level of maturity.

Liz, now grown, remembers a time in her childhood when her father was away in the army, her mother and sister busy, her grandparents remote. She turned for friendship to Tatie, a black cook, and Tatie's son Charles, a friendship that led to tragedy.

Twelve-year-old Anastasia Krupnik has just discovered that her parents are planning a move to the suburbs. And she happens to know that people in the suburbs have giant TV sets with bowls of fake fruit on top in the place of bookcases. One look at their future house in the suburbs, however, and Anastasia falls in love. It's not long before she's meeting the neighbors, including a handsome tennis player and a witch named Gertrude Stein.

Bored and in need of money, Anastasia, inspired by the novels of Mary Roberts Rinehart, seeks a job as a companion to a wealthy, elderly woman.
She has a series of disastrous experiences when, expecting to get a job as a lady's companion, she is hired to be a maid. --

Taking her overprotected young charge to the public park to broaden his horizons, fourteen-year-old baby sitter Enid enjoys unexpected friendships with a black saxophonist and a bag lady until she is charged with kidnapping.

Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud nobly aid her.

"In a more serious tale than the Anastasia novels, Lowry lightens tension with her same high-grade humor and brings thoughtful perceptions to a story that is also full of drama and adventure."
Mysterious things begin to happen after Uncle Claude comes to stay with his sister's family. Is Uncle Claude a thief, an imposter, or just a dream weaver? --

When their mother starts to date the mystery man on the fifth floor, who has been instructed by his agent to "eliminate the children" by the first of May, eleven-year-old Caroline and her older brother figure they're targeted to be the victims of a savage crime.

Anastasia Krupnik reappears in this "delicious " comedy, which PW proclaimed "a winner."
Her family's new, organized schedule for easy housekeeping makes Anastasia confident that she can run the household while her mother is out of town, until she hits unexpected complications.

A hilarious sequel to The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline, in which Caroline and her brother coach a baseball team and supervise 6-month-old twins when they spend the summer with their father and his new family.

Anastasia continues the perilous process of growing up as her thirteenth year involves her in conquering the art of rope climbing, playing Cupid for a recently widowered uncle, and surviving a crush on her gym teacher.

The twelve-year-old girl, Parable Ann ("Rabble"), was born when her mother was fourteen. She and her mother now live with the Bigelow family while Mrs. Bigelow is hospitalized for mental illness. The care of Mrs. Bigelow's infant son, Gunther, falls primarily on the shoulders of Rabble and the Bigelow's daughter Veronica. "Their adventures meld into a warm and often surprising chronicle of small-town life"

Anastasia Krupnik has exactly one week to work on her school assignment called "My Chosen Career." Determined to be a bookstore owner, she must first develop poise and self-confidence. So Anastasia takes the plunge and spends her life savings on a modeling course at Studio Charmante. She has one week to interview a bookstore owner, write a report, and complete her modeling course. Luckily her new friend Henry is with her most of the way. Is Anastasia destined to be a successful bookstore owner or a glamorous model? Only Anastasia has the answers!

Sam's big sister Anastasia thinks he's, well, weird. Their parents say he's precocious. And as the younger brother of the original drama queen herself, Anastasia, Sam deserves a book all to himself. From those early moments at the hospital, to his first steps and words, to his lively days of nursery school, Sam escorts the reader through his mischief-filled life.

Based on a factual account, the story is set in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her family are drawn into the resistance movement, shuttling Jews from Denmark into neutral Sweden. (During the World War II this type of heroism insured the survival of nearly all of Denmark's Jews.) "Lowry creates suspense and tension without wavering from the viewpoint of Annemarie, a child who shows the true meaning of courage."

J.P. is a 12 year old boy that was never ever going to fall in love with a girl! Until Angela Patricia Golswerthy, the new girl in J.P.'s Math class with the British accent and golden blonde hair, turn's J.P.'s world upside down. He walks into walls, trips over his own feet, and starts to use deodorant! J.P. gets caught up in telling one little lie to impress Angela, and that little lie spins out of control for J.P. J.P. loves chess and building mechanical stuff from junk. He's very smart and kind of a nerd. Angela is the pretty new girl in school and very popular.

"SWM, 28, boyish charm, inherited wealth, looking for tall young woman, nonsmoker, to share Caribbean vacations, reruns of Casablanca, and romance." To 13-year-old Anastasia Krupnik, this Single White Male from the magazine personals section sounds perfect. And really, she's not lying when she writes to say she is tall, young, hates smoking, has seen Casablanca so many times she can recite some of it, is quite sure she would like Caribbean vacations, and is definitely ready for romance. And later, when she writes to say she owns a sloop and that she races occasionally, well, that's not exactly a lie either.

In this second book in the series, the precocious preschooler creates homemade perfume for his mother's birthday. When his research reveals that she loves the smells of pipe tobacco, clean hair, and babies, he logically adds tobacco leaves, his own hair, and baby diaper droppings to his creation. Lowry perfectly captures the inside of a four-year-old's mind in a way that adds depth and insight.

Lowry creates a futuristic utopian world where every aspect of life--birth, death, families, career choices, emotions, even the weather--is strictly controlled in order to create a safe and comfortable community with no fear or violence. Jonas is twelve years old and is looking forward to the ceremony in which he, along with all children his age, will be assigned a life's vocation. Jonas is bewildered when he is skipped during the ceremony. Jonas will become the new Receiver, the prestigious and powerful person who holds all the memories of the community. In his lessons with the old Receiver, whom Jonas calls the Giver, Jonas begins learning about the things--memories, emotions, and knowledge--that the community has given up in favor of peacefulness. At first, these memories are pleasant: images of snow, colors, feelings of love. But then Jonas encounters the darker aspects of human experience--war, death, and pain--and discovers that community members who are "Released" are actually being euthanized. This discovery leads Jonas to escape from the community with his young foster brother Gabriel. In an interestingly ambiguous ending, readers can decide for themselves whether the boys have safely reached "Elsewhere," been intercepted by their community's security forces, or died from hunger and exposure.

Anastasia is in junior high now and participating in the "Values" curriculum through which students learn to make moral decisions. Early one morning she hits the Cambridge streets with her pooper-scooper to walk her new dog. In her half-awake groggy state Anastasia mixes up the two plastic bags she's carrying: one containing letters and the other with her dog poop. She's too embarrassed to call the post office to confess and she begins to feel more and more guilty and scared as she notices some intense local police activity in the vicinity of the mailbox. What will Anastasia do?

When his normally understanding mother exhibits an unreasonably negative reaction to his plastic vampire mouthpiece (a result of the fangphobia she developed while watching that Tom Cruise movie), Sam decides his only recourse is to run away to Alaska. (Walrus tusks are commonplace, so fangs shouldn't cause a stir there.)

Born between a board fence and a set of trash cans, the hero of this novel is a lowly stray dog. Abandoned at an early age by his mother and separated from his siblings, he faces every challenge with his nose upturned and his lustrous tail held high. His journey out of puppyhood, during which he becomes the loyal companion to a homeless man, discovers an ear for poetry, and meets his match in his brutal rival, Scar, is a story of perseverance in a world of danger. But through it all, he cannot forget his frail little sister, Wispy, and he does not rest until he finds her again.

This book has no plot. " It is about moments, memories, fragments, falsehoods, and fantasies. It is about things that happened, which caused other things to happen, so that eventually stories emerged." Lois Lowry answers questions about where the ideas for her stories came from.

It's Future Job Day at Sam's school, and Sam knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up-a zookeeper. His mother and big sister, Anastasia, help Sam create a costume-so memorable that Sam insists on wearing it long after Future Job Day has passed and the rest of his classmates are back in their regular clothes. Encouraged by Mrs. Bennett, his teacher, Sam embarks on a lengthy project to teach his preschool class about a zookeeper's responsibilities, and along the way learns just how difficult a job teaching is.

Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, lives in a world where the weak are cast aside. She fears for her future until she is spared by the all-powerful Council of Guardians. Kira is a gifted weaver and is given a task that no other community member can do. While her talent keeps her alive and brings certain privileges, Kira soon realizes she is surrounded by many mysteries and secrets. No one must know of her plans to uncover the truth about her world and see what places exist beyond.

Katy Thatcher was the bright and curious daughter of the town doctor. She knew that she too wanted to be a doctor. She wanted to know about people. Although Jacob never spoke to her or even looked at her directly, Katy grew to understand him from the moments they spent together quietly singing to the horses. She knew there was meaning in the sounds he made and purpose behind his movements. So when events took an unexpected and tragic turn, it was Katy alone who could unravel the mystery of what had occurred, and why.

Second-grader Gooney Bird Greene is new to Watertower Elementary School. She tells fantastic stories, which are "always absolutely true." Her clothes are always unusual, ranging from pajamas with cowboy boots to a pink tutu over green stretch pants. In seven chapters, she captivates her classmates with her wild tales about "How Gooney Bird Came from China on a Flying Carpet" and "The Prince, the Palace, and the Diamond Earrings."

Strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village"s closing and try to convince Seer"s daughter to return with him before it"s too late. But Forest has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand.

Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? Drawing on her rich imagination, two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare. In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.