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Lois Lowry

ロイス・ローリー（ロイス・アン・ローリー）

Lois Lowry

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1937-03-20 （Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Honolulu, Hawaii → Brooklyn, New York → Carlisle, Pennsylvania → Tokyo, Japan (1948–1952) → Governors Island, New York → Portland, Maine → Naples, Florida

Career

Occupations
Writer, Author of children's and young adult literature
Active Years
1977-2025
Nominations
Hans Christian Andersen Award (finalist, 2000), Hans Christian Andersen Award (U.S. nominee, 2004), Hans Christian Andersen Award (finalist, 2016)

Education

Pembroke College (affiliated with Brown University)
Period: 1954–1956 (在籍、中途退学)
Country: United States
Left the college after marriage in 1956; later completed degree elsewhere.
University of Southern Maine
English literature
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Period: 1970–1972（学位取得）
Year of Graduation: 1972
Country: United States
Completed B.A. while raising her children.

Awards

Newbery Medal
1990
Work: Number the Stars
Organization: Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), American Library Association
Result: Winner
Newbery Medal
1994
Work: The Giver
Organization: Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), American Library Association
Result: Winner
Margaret A. Edwards Award
2007
Work: Noted works including The Giver
Organization: American Library Association (YALSA)
Result: Winner
National Jewish Book Award (Children's Literature)
1990
Work: Number the Stars
Organization: Jewish Book Council
Result: Winner
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
1991
Work: Number the Stars
Organization: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award organization
Result: Winner
Regina Medal
1994
Organization: Catholic Library Association
Result: Winner
Rhode Island Children's Book Award
2002
Work: Gooney Bird Greene
Organization: Rhode Island children's book award committee
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Giver

1993 Children's literature / Dystopia

In a controlled community that has suppressed memory and emotion, a boy named Jonas is chosen to receive the community's collective memories from the Giver and comes to question the society's practices and values.

memory and forgettingindividual vs. societyethics and choice
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Giver (film) / Phillip Noyce (2014)

Number the Stars

1989 Children's literature / Historical fiction

Set in Denmark during World War II, the novel follows children who become involved in efforts to help Jewish families escape persecution, exploring courage and friendship.

couragefriendshipHolocaust and rescue

Anastasia Krupnik

1979 Children's / Young reader novel

First in a humorous series about Anastasia, focusing on everyday events seen from a child's perspective.

growing upfamilyhumor

Rabble Starkey

1987 Children's literature / Novel

A novel about family, friendship, and children facing and growing through difficult circumstances.

familycoming of ageovercoming hardship

Bibliography

  • A Summer to Die (1977)
  • Anastasia Krupnik (1979)
  • Number the Stars (1989)
  • The Giver (1993)
  • Gathering Blue (2000)
  • Messenger (2004)
  • Son (2012)

Adaptations

  • The Giver (2014 film, dir. Phillip Noyce)
  • The Willoughbys (2020 animated film, Netflix)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Clear, direct prose for children and young adults that often addresses difficult themes.Uses symbolic imagery and concise narration to provoke readers' imagination.
Recurring Motifs
memory and lossfamily and connectionmoral choice

Legacy

Lois Lowry is one of the most influential children's authors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Works such as The Giver and Number the Stars are widely used in education but have also been frequently challenged. She is regarded as a pioneer in bringing complex themes and young-adult dystopian elements into children's literature.

Academic Societies

  • American Library Association (ALA)
  • International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)

In Popular Culture

  • Widely known through film adaptations such as The Giver (2014) and The Willoughbys (2020). Her books frequently appear in school curricula and banned-book debates.

Quotes

  • I read those lists, and my name often on them, with enormous sadness. I read them with a feeling that our children may be losing something very precious as the world of the imagination is increasingly endangered.
    Source: School Library Journal (interview) (2022)

Trivia

  • Won the Newbery Medal twice (1990 for Number the Stars; 1994 for The Giver).
  • The Giver was one of the most frequently challenged books in the 1990s according to the American Library Association.
  • Her son Grey died in a fighter plane crash in 1995.