Lois Lowry
And the Importance of Human Connections
Biography
Lois Lowry was born in Honolulu, HI. She now lives in Cambridge, MA. From the time Lowry was eight or nine she wanted to be a writer, that was also what she liked most in school. She was born in the middle of three, who lived in her own world full of books and her imagination. Part of how she became a writer was that she’d prefer to stay home and read. Her books have varied in different content and styles. The one particular theme that she uses is the importances of human connections.
She is an author of many famous books, like the series of The Giver. I focused on only four of her books, (The Giver, Anastasia On Her Own, Gathering Blue, and Number The Stars). These books have uses many sentence craft techniques such as “And” Lists, 3rd Person Narration, Chopping Dialogue, and Emphasized Fonts. Some of Lowry’s main goals in her writing would be to have her books set on a setting or exciting plot line (The Giver, Gathering Blue). When she writes more of a book for younger readers, she takes a serious topic and disguises the seriousness with humor. Another goal of her’s would be to show the importance of human connections, which she realized through her own children.
Website: www.loislowry.com/
Location: 205 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lalowry
Twitter: @loislowrywriter
Books that I studied
-Gathering Blue
-Anastasia On Her Own
-Number The Stars
Here are some of my favorites of Lowry's Techniques
“And” Lists
Lowry uses “And” Lists to make the lists in her books seem longer and more put together by using ‘and’. She does this by taking her list and inputting ‘and’ when taking out commas. (sometimes the commas are left in)
The Giver: “Poverty, and hunger, and terror.”
Number The Stars: “And there are mice in the attic, and my brown sweater ha a big moth hole in the sleeve, and if I don’t wash the windows soon…”
Anastasia On Her Own: “ And she looked like an owl, and she said sam had bleeping acne, and---”
3rd Person Narrative
She uses the 3rd Person Narrative in her writing to make the story in a different point of view that is not the main characters.
The Giver: “Jonas watched...he waited...Jonas said…” Jonas is the main character
Number The Stars: “Annamarie couldn’t hear...Annamarie laughed…” Annamarie is the main character
Gathering Blue: “ Kira knew that...she pointed...she called…” Kira is the main character
Chopping Dialogue
Lowry is interrupting the dialogue to tell who is saying the sentences, she wants to do this before the end of the dialogue. She mostly interrupts the dialogue with he said or she said.
The Giver: “ “You can understand, then, that that’s what I felt for Rosemary,” The Giver explained. “I loved her…” “
Number The Stars: “ “Shhh, Kristi,” Mama said. “Don’t chatter so.” “
Emphasized Font
She uses a different font to give special words a bit more emphasis if they have a bit more importance. It gives only one word emphasis in some sentences.
The Giver: “I had to, Jonas. It was my job.”
Number The Stars: “They were everywhere.”
Anastasia On Her Own: “That would be nice.”
Sentence Percentages In The Books
Common Themes In Lowry's Work
Lois Lowry’s books are usually based on the importance of human connections. She learned this is important through her own children. She also likes to have the main character learn a lesson.
In The Giver, Jonas lives in a community that is idyllic. Birthmothers have children that are assigned to family units. Everyone obeys. Everyone is the same. Jonas is chosen to be the receiver who doesn’t have to be the same as everyone else and learns many new things like, colors, words, and emotions. When Jonas escapes the community he takes the memories that he has received and the community is in danger, he also takes his little brother Gabriel and learns to take care of others. He also learns about the real truth with his community.
Bibliography
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1993.
--. Number the Stars. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1989.
--. Anastasia On Her Own. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985.
--. Gathering Blue. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000.