Lois Lowry is a prolific writer. Since her first book, A Summer to Die, was published in 1977, she has written over twenty novels for young adults and has won numerous awards. Her writing style varies from the lighthearted, humorous Anastasia books to the much more serious issues (evident in Lowry's two Newbery Medal winners, Number the Stars and The Giver) that are a part of the adult world young people are preparing to enter. Her books portray sensitive, intelligent, witty protagonists faced with challenges and choices. Lowry writes about life transitions, the importance of family, true friendship, and the need for caring relationships between all human beings despite their differences.
Lowry was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 20, 1937, to Robert E. Hammersberg, a United States Army dentist, and Katherine Landis Hammersberg. Because her father was a career Army officer, Lowry often moved during her childhood. Leaving Hawaii, her family moved to New York, and, in 1942 Lowry began kindergarten in a private school. She remembers wearing dog tags (identification tags) on a gold chain around her neck that were similar to the dog tags worn by her father. When her father was sent overseas, where he was stationed during most of World War II, her mother took Lowry and her older sister, Helen, to Pennsylvania to live with her family. During this time in Pennsylvania, Lowry's grandfather showered her with attention and affection, but her step-grandmother merely tolerated her. Because Lowry was a shy, introverted child, she sought companionship and entertainment in the wonderful worlds that existed within the books she found in her grandfather's library. While Lowry's father was overseas, her mother had a baby boy, named Jon, whom Lowry loved having in the house. After the war, Lowry and her family joined her father in Tokyo, Japan, where they lived for two years in an Americanized community.
