Bonus Features
Interview with Author Lois Lowry
Born:
Honolulu, Hawaii
On growing up:
Her family traveled a great deal and has lived all over the U.S., as well as Japan.
Schooling: She graduated from Boston University and has another degree from the University of Southern Maine
Work:
As well as writing for young adults she is a free-lance journalist and photographer
Awards:
A Summer to Die--Children’s Book Award
Number the Stars and The Giver-- Newbery Medal
Lois Lowry lives in Maine and has two sons and two daughters
How she got her ideas for The Giver:
She says there is no easy answer because her ideas usually come from memory, imagination and special moments in her life. One idea came from a moment she shared with her elderly father. She recalls that while visiting him in the nursing home, he loved talking about his family because that was what he cared about most. Family photographs lined the walls of his room so that Ms. Lowry and her father could revisit old times and share memories together. She noted that when he came to a particular photo of her sister, Helen, he could not remember what had happened to her. Ms. Lowry reminded him that she had died of cancer at a young age. Even though Ms. Lowry knew her father’s memory loss was due to aging brain cells, she pondered the idea of a way to block out bad memories, to avoid pain, tragedy, and subconsciously remember only the good times. This experience became one identifiable source for the book that became The Giver. Lowry’s fictionalized story of her sister is told in A Summer to Die.
Do you have a special method of writing?
It really just comes out of my head and into the computer. There is a lot of rewriting, but because it takes place throughout the process—each day I go back and rewrite the previous day’s work—it is difficult to tell how many rewrites I do.
Is there a theme that pervades all of your books?
The most important things to me in my own life, as well as in my books, are human relationships of all kinds. Although my books deal largely with families, I also attach a gred deal of importance to freindships. Those are the things that young people should pay attention to in their own lives.
Why are books important for young readers?
A book can be a vehicle for communication, and a book can alleviate the sense of isolation that sometimes makes growing up lonely. Walking through a scary place is easier if you know someone else has walked there once and survived.
When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.
When you wrote the ending, were you afraid some readers would want more details or did you want to leave the ending open to individual interpretation?
Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don’t do that. And the reason is because The Giver is so many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don’t want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds.