When Author Lois Lowry, acclaimed author and two-time winner of the Newbery Medal, was asked to write a book for kids, she turned to her own past. A Summer to Die was inspired by the grief and loss of her older sister who died of cancer when they were both young women and ignited something in the author to continue writing children’s literature.
At 17, Author Lois Lowry headed to Brown University to study writing. She loved college, but it was the 1950s, so when her college boyfriend graduated two years before her, she dropped out and followed him to California. About 10 years later, with four young kids, she returned to get her degree.
As a tiny little girl of less than 22lbs, Author Lois Lowry remembers being paraded out like a party trick by her grandfather to recite to his fancy dinner guests the long, and rather boring poem that he loved and that she had memorized.
Author Lois Lowry published her Newbery Award-winning book, The Giver, in 1993. It won rave reviews, but it also frightened many people, landing and still residing on a list of most challenging books for children.
When you drive a car, you know intuitively when to slow down or speed up. Author Lois Lowry feels that same intuition when pacing her books, understanding intuitively how to move a story along.
