32-467: Lois Ann Lowry ( / ˈ l aʊər i / ; née Hammersberg ; born March 20, 1937) is an American writer. She is the author of several books for children and young adults, including The Giver Quartet , Number the Stars , and Rabble Starkey . She is known for writing about difficult subject matters, dystopias , and complex themes in works for young audiences. Lowry has won two Newbery Medals : for Number
64-443: A Doctorate of Letters by Brown University in 2014, St. Mary's College , University of Southern Maine , Elmhurst College , Wilson College, and Lesley University . The Giver Quartet The Giver Quartet is a series of four books about a dystopian world by Lois Lowry . The quartet consists of The Giver (1993), Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004), and Son (2012). The first book won
96-495: A banker, created the Christmas Club savings program in 1910. Initially, Lowry's parents named her "Cena" for her Norwegian grandmother, but upon hearing the news, her grandmother telegraphed and instructed Lowry's parents that the child should have an American name. Lowry was the middle child. She had an older sister named Helen, and a younger brother named Jon. Helen died of cancer in 1962, but Lowry and her brother still share
128-610: A book of poetry, called On the Horizon , charting her childhood memories of life in Hawaii and Tokyo, and the lives lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, American publishing company Scholastic Corporation asked Lowry to write a new introduction to Like the Willow Tree , a story of a young girl living in Portland, Maine, who
160-485: A book that will be discussed, debated and challenged for years to come...a perfect teen read." She's also won a Boston Globe-Hornbook Award , an Anne V. Zarrow Award , a Golden Kite Award , and a Hope S. Dean Memorial Award. In 2011 she gave the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture ; her lecture was titled "UNLEAVING: The Staying Power of Gold". She has been awarded honorary degrees from six universities, including
192-457: A boy, Jonas, in his twelfth and thirteenth years. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting itself to "Sameness," a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, who stores all of the past memories of the time before Sameness, in case the memories that the others lack are ever needed to aid the community leaders, or Elders, in their decisions. Jonas learns
224-541: A boy, Matty, who serves as a message bearer through the ominous and lethal Forest that surrounds the community. This book also tells the fate of Jonas and baby Gabe from The Giver . Son follows Claire, Gabriel's birth mother, who embarks on a harrowing and dangerous journey to eventually locate Gabriel. Claire is fourteen when she has Gabriel. At the end of the book, Claire reunites with Gabriel, and Kira and Jonas are married with two children named “Annabella and Matty”, to honor her two friends who died. A film adaptation of
256-641: A close relationship. Lowry's father was an army dentist, whose work moved the family all over the United States and to many parts of the world. Lowry and her family moved from Hawaii to Brooklyn , New York, in 1940, when Lowry was three years old. They relocated in 1942 to her mother's home town in Carlisle, Pennsylvania , when Lowry's father was deployed to the Pacific during World War II . Lowry began reading at three years old, and after first grade, she skipped second at
288-552: A mysterious illness. Since she is an orphan, Kira needs a reason for the Council of Edifice to keep her in the village, rather than to send her to the Field, which is certain death at the hands of the Beasts. Kira's mother did embroidery for the Council and taught Kira some of her craft. Kira's embroidery skill convinces the Council to keep her around to mend and update a beautiful robe, which shows
320-405: A relationship with Howard Corwin, a retired physician. Lowry's son Grey, a USAF major and flight instructor, was killed in the crash of his fighter plane in 1995. Lowry acknowledged that it was the most difficult day of her life, and she said, "His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world, but it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find
352-492: A theme running through all of her work is "the importance of human connections." By 2000, eight of her books had been challenged in schools and libraries in the United States. In particular, The Giver received a diversity of reactions from schools in America after its release in 1993. While some schools adopted it as a part of the mandatory curriculum, others prohibited the book's inclusion in their classroom studies. According to
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#1732863080954384-432: A way to end conflict on this very fragile earth." As of 2023, Lowry divides her time between Maine and Naples, Florida, and she still remains an active writer and speaker. Lowry first began her career as a freelance journalist. In the 1970s, she submitted a short story to Redbook magazine, which was intended for adult audiences, but was written from a child's perspective. An editor working at Houghton Mifflin who read
416-428: A young age. The novel is told from the perspective of a young girl who is sent to live with her grandfather during World War II , which is also based on her own experiences of having her father deployed during World War II. Of all the books she has published, Autumn Street is considered to be her most autobiographical. In the same year of publishing Autumn Street , Lowry also published her novel Anastasia Krupnik ,
448-471: Is a part of many middle schools' reading lists, but it also appeared in many challenging book lists, such as the American Library Association 's list of most challenged books of the 1990s. The novel forms a loose quartet with three other books set in the same future era: Gathering Blue (2001), Messenger (2004), and Son (2012). Gathering Blue is a 2000 children's dystopian novella that
480-408: Is set in the same future time period and displays some of the same themes as The Giver . The central character, Kira, who has a deformed leg, is orphaned and must learn to survive in a society that normally leaves the weak or disabled exposed to die in the fields. Kira's father was thought to have been taken by the Beasts while he was on a hunt before she was born. Kira's mother had died recently from
512-666: The New York Times in 2012, The Giver had been perennially near the top of the America Library Association's list of banned and challenged books since its publication. In a 2012 review of Son , the New York Times said the 1993 publication of The Giver had "shocked adult and child sensibilities alike". In 2020, Time magazine described The Giver as "a staple of both middle school curricular and banned book lists." According to biographer Joel Chaston, Lowry's most critically acclaimed works are Rabble Starkey , Number
544-839: The Newbery Medal in 1990 for her novel Number the Stars , and again in 1994 for The Giver . For Number the Stars , Lowry has also received the National Jewish Book Award in 1990, in the Children's Literature category, and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award in 1991. In 1994, Lowry was awarded the Regina Medal . In 2002, her book Gooney Bird Greene won the Rhode Island Children's Book Award. Lowry has been nominated three times for
576-650: The University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine , in 1972. After earning her bachelor of arts, she continued at the university to pursue graduate studies. In 1977, at 40 years old, Lowry's first book, A Summer to Die , was published. In the same year, she and Donald Lowry were divorced. Two years later she met Martin Small in Boston and was in a relationship with him for over 30 years, until his death in 2011. From 2014 she has been in
608-419: The 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies. The story takes place in the world of The Giver. Each book has a different protagonist, but is set in the same futuristic era. The Giver is a 1993 American children's novel, generally for young adults or older, which is set in a society that at first presented as a utopian society but gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel follows
640-800: The Franklin School in Carlisle. After World War II ended, Lowry moved with her family to Tokyo , Japan , where her father was stationed from 1948 to 1952. Lowry attended seventh and eighth grades at the American School in Japan , a school for dependents of those involved in the military. She returned to the United States when the Korean War began in 1950. Lowry and her family lived in Carlisle again in 1950, where she attended her freshman year in high school before moving to Governors Island , New York, when her father
672-552: The Redbook story suggested to Lowry that she should write a children's book. Lowry agreed and wrote her first book A Summer to Die, which was later published by Houghton Mifflin in 1977 when she was 40 years old. The book featured the theme of terminal illness , which is based on Lowry's own experiences with her sister Helen. Lowry continued to write about difficult topics in her next publication, Autumn Street (1979), which explores themes of coping with racism , grief , and fear at
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#1732863080954704-526: The Stars in 1990 and The Giver in 1994. Her book Gooney Bird Greene won the 2002 Rhode Island Children's Book Award. Many of her books have been challenged or even banned in some schools and libraries. The Giver , which is common in the curricula in some schools, has been prohibited in others. Lowry was born on March 20, 1937, in Honolulu , Territory of Hawaii , to Katherine Gordon Landis and Robert E. Hammersberg. Her maternal grandfather, Merkel Landis,
736-519: The Stars , and The Giver . Biographer Joel Chaston described her as "clearly one of the most important twentieth-century American writers for children". Robin Wasserman, a writer for The New York Times , said "In many ways, Lowry invented the contemporary young adult dystopian novel", pointing out that in 1993 it was "unusual and unsettling" for children's literature to address topics of political oppression, euthanasia, suicide, or murder. Lowry won
768-418: The annual award in 2007 for The Giver (published 1993). The citation observed that " The Giver was one of the most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 2000" — that is, the object of "a formal, written attempt to remove a book from a library or classroom." According to the panel chair, "The book has held a unique position in teen literature. Lowry's exceptional use of metaphors and subtle complexity make it
800-563: The biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award , the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. She was a finalist in 2000, a U.S. nominee in 2004, and a finalist in 2016. In 2007, she received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her contributions writing for teens. The ALA Margaret Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". Lowry won
832-480: The first installment in the Anastasia series. The series, which touches on serious themes with a humorous approach, continued through to 1995. Lowry published Number the Stars in 1989, which received multiple awards, including the 1990 Newbery Medal . Lowry received another Newbery in 1994, for The Giver (1993). After publishing The Giver , she went on to publish another three companion novels that take place in
864-436: The same universe: Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004), and finally Son (2012), which tied all three of the previous books together. Collectively, they are referred to as The Giver Quartet . The New York Times described the quartet as "less a speculative fiction than a kind of guide for teaching children (and their parents, if they're listening carefully) how to be a good person." In early 2020, she released
896-615: The society's history. She begins to learn the art of dyeing threads different colors except for blue, which nobody in her community knows how to make except Annabella, Kira's mentor. Kira also learns more about the truth of her village and the terrible secrets that it holds. She then finds her father, who tells the truth of what happened to him and about the Village he now lives on. Messenger takes place about eight years after The Giver and about six years after Gathering Blue . Set in an isolated community, known simply as Village, it focuses on
928-459: The truth about his utopian society and struggles with its weight. The Community lacks any color perception, climate variation, or terrain depth variation (such as hills and valleys); all terrain is completely flat. Sameness emphasizes the utopian qualities of the Community. The Giver won the 1999 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies. In Australia, Canada, and the United States, it
960-479: The university in 1956 after her marriage to Donald Grey Lowry, a U.S. Navy officer. The couple moved several times from San Diego to New London, Connecticut, to Key West, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina, to Cambridge, Massachusetts and finally to Portland, Maine. They had two daughters, Alix and Kristin, and two sons, Grey and Benjamin. While raising her children, Lowry completed her degree in English literature at
992-460: Was assigned to First Army Headquarters there. Lowry briefly attended Curtis High School , on Staten Island , then graduated from high school at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights , New York, attending from 1952 to 1954. She then attended Pembroke College , which became fully merged with Brown University in 1971. There she met her future husband, Donald Grey Lowry. Lowry left
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1024-551: Was orphaned during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic . The book was first published in 2011, before being reissued by Scholastic in September 2020. Throughout her works, Lowry has explored several complex issues, including racism, terminal illness, murder , the Holocaust , and the questioning of authority , among other challenging topics. Her writing on such matters has accumulated both praise and criticism. The Chicago Tribune has said
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