Number the Stars
Lois Lowry was born in Hawaii, March 20, 1937. She was the middle child between an older sister and a younger brother. Lowry’s father was an army dentist causing them to move constantly. Books were her constant companions. When her dad had to go overseas her mother moved the family to Pennsylvania where she went to elementary school, her middle school was in Tokyo, but she graduated high school in New York City.
At nineteen Lowry married a naval officer, she had a duaghter in Connecticut, a son in South Carolina and after her husband left the service they settled in Maine where she had one more son and daughter. There Lowry went back to
school where she received her degree in English Literature and began to write professionally. Something she had been dreaming since her childhood. Her first novel was a Summer to Die. It was written about the tragic loss of her sister at an early age.
Her marriage ended in 1977 but then she met Martin a man who she was able to travel with or just sit at home, both equally happy and satisfying. Martin died in 2011. In 1995 Lowry lost her son Grey in a tragic military plane crash, which led her to write the book Looking Back for her granddaughter. Now she lives with her dog and cat in Maine, where she loves to spend time with her grandchildren.
She has written over 30 books for children. She has won two Newbery Medals for Number the Stars in 1990 and The Giver in 1994. Lowry is not afraid to cover controversial material in her books. She writes about death and the holocaust. Her book The Giver is the top ten of most challenged book according the American Library Association.