Newbery Award winner
Lois Lowry inspires writers.

There are many writers who take Lois Lowry books for all they're worth and capture the flavor she injects throughout them to make for their own wonderfully creative stories. She is an inspiration to many, and books such as Number the Stars and The Giver prove that she is truly deserving of the honors and accolades she often has the pleasure of receiving.

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Two-time Newbery Award winning author Lois Lowry is a writer of children's contemporary literature. Hearing her speak was an honor and pleasure, and I am happy to be able to share her musings with Writer's Block Help readers who are eager to learn more about authors and how they work so hard at their craft.

Lowry begins her presentation by letting the audience know that some in attendance may have heard her speak before, and they may hear some repetition. After all, she says, she only has one life and one childhood, and those are written in stone, so they remain the same. She was born in 1937 and had an older sister named Helen. When Lois was three, Helen was six, and Lois remembers listening very carefully while Helen read her a book. Lowry recollects that she cared about learning to read and Helen taught her how to do so. The first book that she remembers reading is called Humphrey: One Hundred Years Along the Wayside with a Box Turtle. The story and pictures were by Marjorie Flack.

Like most children growing up, the English language was something that boggled her mind a bit, and she remembers thinking that the "ph" in "Humphrey" should have been an "f" like in the author's last name (Flack), because, she says, "when you're little, you accept quirks like that."

It is interesting to note that this is something she relates to young people, because as writers, we must sometimes be "young" in our understanding of the world around us. Children are often more observant than adults and they note things that adults might otherwise overlook. As writers, we must sometimes take note of ideas in childlike ways. Beginning to understand the world around us and see it through new and creative perspectives can make or break our telling of a story or our passion for a topic.

When Lowry was eight years old, she recalls her mother reading a book to her that changed the way she thought about books. The book was The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Lowry professes to being a great lover of animals, just like Jody in The Yearling. She desperately loved the book, and it made her realize what a good book was capable of being. So, at the age of eight or nine, Lowry decided that writing was what she wanted to do with her life.

Lowry's presentation continues with an interlude into her family life. Her father was a fine photographer, and through his photography, she notes that a good portrait shows not just the facial features and how they're arranged, but the heart and soul of the person. When she said this, I couldn't help but think that the definition provided a strong analogy to writing. Good writing shows not just the surface features of characters, plot, setting, etc., but the heart and soul of the writer and why what he/she is writing matters so much and should be touted as highly impressive.

Lois Lowry grew up in houses that were filled with books, as well as houses in which her parents and grandparents shared their love of reading by reading to her. She solidifies the importance of valuing books and having parents read to their children. After all, a love of the written word never hurt anyone.

She goes on to discuss how when you care about something in your memory, it becomes bigger, more important, and more magnificent. She remembers one time when her father was home from the army. The air outside at the time smelled like Pennsylvania in the fall, and Lowry's father took Lois and Helen shopping. He bought her a "rainbow" colored shirt at a men's store, so it was quite large on her, but she wanted it so much, and she was so happy when he made it hers. This memory was one that led her to write Crow Call.

The trick to beginning a story like Crow Call, Lowry says, is to introduce your main character and give a hint that something is not quite right. The beginning of Crow Call reads: "I sat shyly in the car next to the stranger that was my father." The story then leads into the idea of reconciliation between father and daughter. After all, a father should hardly be a stranger to his daughter, and vice versa. The concept is compelling and makes readers eager to read more and understand the ways in which the familial relationship is lacking.

As a youngster, Lowry wrote diligently to a children's magazine called Jack and Jill. She was very excited for the first time she would see her name in print. However, she admits she was also painfully shy and introspective, so the thought of it being in print scared her a bit. She was very observant, though, and she makes a note of saying that, "people who are writers have to be observant."

The art of noticing, after all, is a necessary component of understanding those around us and how we can best interact with people, places, and things that make up our lives. Lois Lowry learned this at a young age. When she was ten years old, she went to an all girls' camp. The counselors were college-aged girls, and Lowry noticed early on that the counselors paid more attention to girls with college-aged brothers. So, being the imaginative child she was, Lois made up an older brother for herself. His name was David, he went to Princeton, and he drove a blue convertible (not too shabby for the late 1940s). As she expected, the counselors became very interested in her and constantly asked her when David was expected to visit her at camp. She put them off week after week, but when she found out she was published in Jack and Jill and her mother was sending it for her to see, she was quite afraid that she would be found out, since she had mentioned her older sister and younger brother in her submission, but never an older, college-aged brother. Luckily, she was able to read the article and stuff it away in her luggage before anyone became the wiser.

For her thirteenth birthday, Lois Lowry's father bought her a typewriter. She used it through college and even for typing her first book. This was before the age of computers, cell phones, and all the other technology that people rely on nowadays. Lois' typewriter made her happy and she was thrilled to have it.

Even though she was a good student and loved college, just past her nineteenth birthday, she dropped out and got married. She calls that part of her life creative, in the sense that she got married and had babies, creating something new and interesting for herself. She set aside her dreams of being a writer during that time, but when her youngest child started kindergarten, she went back to college. When she got to graduate school, she studied photography. She always thought it was so exciting to be in a dark room to create photos. I italicized the word 'create,' as I find it quite poetic that she wasn't just of the idea that she was taking photos, but rather creating them to her liking and specifications. She began writing magazine articles with portraits to accompany them.

Creativity stems from all the idiosyncrasies of our lives. The quirks, misunderstandings, and observations help make our writing come to life. Lowry says that when a character comes alive, readers can react from the heart. For example, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry allows readers to believe in the narrative and understand the passion and anguish of the characters. It was quite intriguing to learn that Sean Astin (Rudy, The Goonies, etc.) owns the film rights to Number the Stars. He is in the process of trying to get the film into production, so hopefully more news on that will be coming soon.

The idea for The Giver came when her father was very old and in an assisted living home. She and her family created albums and posted pictures to jog his memory. At the time, she was ready to begin a new book, but she didn't know exactly what she wanted it to be about quite yet. Then, she showed her father a picture of she and her sister when they were girls. Her sister, Helen, had died years before, and her father couldn't remember what had happened to Helen. After a couple times of her father questioning what happened to his eldest daughter, Lowry began to ponder the idea of what it would be like if there was a way to live without bad or sad memories. Would life be as meaningful?

The aforementioned idea, in effect, parallels a story without conflict. If there is nothing bad, sad, or uncertain in life, and everything just goes off without a hitch, leaving each and every aspect of life hunky dory, would everything matter quite as much? In a story without conflict, there is nothing to root for, nothing to hope for, nothing to wish for, and nothing to be eager to gain. If everything is always positive, then why is positivity so good? If it's an everyday, all the time occurrence, the level of happiness and wonderment you feel when something goes your way will lessen accordingly.

Just as her father gave her the idea, unknowingly, for The Giver, her mother gave her the idea for Gossamer. After her mother had a stroke, Lowry remembers her mother talking about a friend named Dorothy who lost a baby. When Lowry told her mother that this had happened fifty years previous to when she was telling about it, her mother said, "in the dream world, it doesn't matter." The idea quickly found relevance for Lois, as she created Gossamer and delved into the world of dreams.

Lois Lowry also finds that writing allows her to create characters that reflect what she wishes she could have been while growing up. For example, her Gooney Bird series allowed her to create an outgoing, self-confident character, much unlike herself when she was growing up. All of her books, including this series, introduce characters at the very beginning. She writes for kids, so the kids in her books are always winners when readers reach the conclusions.

One of the most recent books by the well-spoken and highly creative author Lois Lowry is titled, Bless This Mouse. It was published in March 2011, and it is illustrated by Eric Rohmann. If you are interested in reading more books by Lois Lowry, go to your local library or visit your local bookstore. You can also read more about her life as a writer by visiting her website.

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