"I would like to introduce you to this book. It has no plot. It is about moments, memories, fragments, falsehoods, and fantasies. It is about things that happened, which caused other things to happen, so that eventually stories emerged." Children as well as adults often ask Lois Lowry where the ideas for her stories came from. In this fascinating, moving autobiography, the Newbery Medalist answers this and many other questions. Her writing often transports readers into her own world. She explores her rich history through family pictures, memories, and recollections of childhood friends. She details pivotal moments that affected her life, inspired her writing, and that magically evolved into rich and wonderful stories that one is reluctant to put down. Lowry fans, and anyone interested in the writing process, will tremendously enjoy this poignant trip through a remarkable writer's past.
Looking Back: A Book of Memories
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Lowry (The Giver; Number the Stars) deftly dances between humorous and heartbreaking with this ingenious memoir. Unlike most autobiographies, this one forgoes a linear chronology in favor of a more inventive thematic organization. Lowry introduces each section with an excerpt from one of her novels, followed by one or more anecdotes?each inspired by a photograph of herself or her family. "Reaching Across," for example, features a photo of Lowry and her older sister, Helen, and offers insight into their closely knit relationship; the pair are the models for the exuberant younger and practical elder sisters who appear again and again in Lowry's fiction. Three chapters ("Dogs," "More Dogs" plus "And Dogs One More Time") explain why canines repeatedly show up in her books. In addition to recurring themes, Lowry cites examples of a single, powerful image that becomes a central idea in a novel. In "Bonds," for instance, a quote from The Giver introduces an idyllic picture of Lowry's daughter lying on the back of a horse in the Maine summer sun reading a book. Lowry, the daughter of an itinerant army major, then describes her wish to give her children the things she never had, "a house that was always ours, books that were always there to be read again and again, and pets that followed you home and were allowed to stay." Lowry tenderly relates the recent death of her eldest son Grey in "Sadness," alongside photographs of him with his wife and little girl, and demonstrates how families in fiction and in fact keep their loved ones alive by telling their stories. The unorthodox structure allows Lowry to take creative license to great effect: at critical junctures, she pairs pictures of her mother and herself at the same age and imagines what they might have said to each other at that stage of life. In one such vignette, Lowry recalls that she lost Grey within two years of the age at which her mother lost her daughter Helen (Lowry was 58, her mother was 56) and imagines a conversation between them, and how they might have comforted each other. Lowry unfolds her history in a glorious arc, invisibly threading its parts into a unified whole. Her connection of the everyday details of her life to the larger scope of her work adds a new dimension to her novels and may well encourage readers to speak and write honestly about their own experiences. A compelling and inspirational portrait of the author emerges from these vivid snapshots of life's joyful, sad and surprising moments. All ages.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up-Imagine sitting on a sofa with a friend and listening with fascination while she tells you about the pictures in her photo album. That is the feeling one has when browsing through this book of Lowry's family snapshots and reading her lively commentary on them. Readers will chuckle as they hear the tale of the frozen rat she attempted to revive by heating it in the oven and will smile knowingly at the unhappy look on her face when she was forced to wear lederhosen her mother brought home from Europe. The author's voice comes through strongly as she shares both her happiest and saddest times. Though the organization is somewhat chronological, many photos are loosely grouped by topic-"War," "Adolescence," "Opening a Trunk" and so forth-which allows her to make connections between people and events. She introduces each photo, or group, with a quotation from one of her books, making a connection between an event in her life and its fictional counterpart. In The Giver (Houghton, 1993), Lowry writes about the importance of memory, and here, she shows her readers the important role it plays in her own life-how she has used her memories in her work, how they have helped her get through difficult times, and how they enrich and connect us. Much more intimate and personal than many traditional memoirs, this work makes readers feel that Lowry is an old friend.
Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer. She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. After several years at Brown University, she turned to her family and to writing. She is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader.s Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded the International Reading Association.s Children.s Book Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com
author interview
A CONVERSATION WITH LOIS LOWRY ABOUT THE GIVER
Q. When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.
Q. What inspired you to write The Giver?
A. Kids always ask what inspired me to write a particular book or how did I get an idea for a particular book, and often it's very easy to answer that because books like the Anastasia books come from a specific thing; some little event triggers an idea. But a book like The Giver is a much more complicated book, and therefore it comes from much more complicated places--and many of them are probably things that I don't even recognize myself anymore, if I ever did. So it's not an easy question to answer.
I will say that the whole concept of memory is one that interests me a great deal. I'm not sure why that is, but I've always been fascinated by the thought of what memory is and what it does and how it works and what we learn from it. And so I think probably that interest of my own and that particular subject was the origin, one of many, of The Giver.
Q. How did you decide what Jonas should take on his journey?
A. Why does Jonas take what he does on his journey? He doesn't have much time when he sets out. He originally plans to make the trip farther along in time, and he plans to prepare for it better. But then, because of circumstances, he has to set out in a very hasty fashion. So what he chooses is out of necessity. He takes food because he needs to survive. He takes the bicycle because he needs to hurry and the bike is faster than legs. And he takes the baby because he is going out to create a future. And babies always represent the future in the same way children represent the future to adults. And so Jonas takes the baby so the baby's life will be saved, but he takes the baby also in order to begin again with a new life.
Q. 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?
A. Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don't do that. And the reason is because The Giver is 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.
Q. Is it an optimistic ending? Does Jonas survive?
A. I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they're out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that's true for the people they left behind as well.
Q. In what way is your book Gathering Blue a companion to The Giver?
A. Gathering Blue postulates a world of the future, as The Giver does. I simply created a different kind of world, one that had regressed instead of leaping forward technologically as the world of The Giver has. It was fascinating to explore the savagery of such a world. I began to feel that maybe it coexisted with Jonas's world . . . and that therefore Jonas could be a part of it in a tangential way. So there is a reference to a boy with light eyes at the end of Gathering Blue. He can be Jonas or not, as you wish.
author interview
A CONVERSATION WITH LOIS LOWRY ABOUT THE GIVER
Q. When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.
Q. What inspired you to write The Giver?
A. Kids always ask what inspired me to write a particular book or how did I get an idea for a particular book, and often it's very easy to answer that because books like the Anastasia books come from a specific thing; some little event triggers an idea. But a book like The Giver is a much more complicated book, and therefore it comes from much more complicated places--and many of them are probably things that I don't even recognize myself anymore, if I ever did. So it's not an easy question to answer.
I will say that the whole concept of memory is one that interests me a great deal. I'm not sure why that is, but I've always been fascinated by the thought of what memory is and what it does and how it works and what we learn from it. And so I think probably that interest of my own and that particular subject was the origin, one of many, of The Giver.
Q. How did you decide what Jonas should take on his journey?
A. Why does Jonas take what he does on his journey? He doesn't have much time when he sets out. He originally plans to make the trip farther along in time, and he plans to prepare for it better. But then, because of circumstances, he has to set out in a very hasty fashion. So what he chooses is out of necessity. He takes food because he needs to survive. He takes the bicycle because he needs to hurry and the bike is faster than legs. And he takes the baby because he is going out to create a future. And babies always represent the future in the same way children represent the future to adults. And so Jonas takes the baby so the baby's life will be saved, but he takes the baby also in order to begin again with a new life.
Q. 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?
A. Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don't do that. And the reason is because The Giver is 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.
Q. Is it an optimistic ending? Does Jonas survive?
A. I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they're out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that's true for the people they left behind as well.
Q. In what way is your book Gathering Blue a companion to The Giver?
A. Gathering Blue postulates a world of the future, as The Giver does. I simply created a different kind of world, one that had regressed instead of leaping forward technologically as the world of The Giver has. It was fascinating to explore the savagery of such a world. I began to feel that maybe it coexisted with Jonas's world . . . and that therefore Jonas could be a part of it in a tangential way. So there is a reference to a boy with light eyes at the end of Gathering Blue. He can be Jonas or not, as you wish.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A touching book that is real and true,
By A Customer
This review is from: Looking Back: A Book of Memories (Hardcover)
This book deserves an award! It is one of the best books I've ever read. It is basically a book about Lois Lowery's life. It has snapshots and even a passport. She talks all about her life in this book. It is written in first person, which has a way of making you feel like you're her best friend, or mother, or sister, or brother. Some parts are funny, some parts are sad. And some parts are just true, and they happen all the time in everyone's life. I read this book cover to cover in less than a day, and I'll bet a bunch of other people did too! Get this book today!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for any age,
By A Customer
This review is from: Looking Back: A Book of Memories (Hardcover)
If you are a child, parent, teacher, librarian, or just plain human - you will love this book. Especially if you have enjoyed the books of Lois Lowry, you will appreciate seeing how her own life experiences have shaped her later fiction. Not really an autobiography, not really a memoir, "Looking Back" is more a visit with a friend who tells wonderful stories and makes you feel very much at home. And the photographs are incredible. A great gift!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Go For It!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Looking Back: A Book of Memories (Hardcover)
I think that Lois Lowry's autobiography, Looking Back, is anot a book for people who want to learn about her recent experiences. It is, however, a great book for people who want to learn about her childhood. In this book, Lois shares with the reader many snapshots and memories. Some memories make you laugh and others make you cry. I like this book because it shows you what Lois liked to do as a kid. She had many funny experiences. This autobiography tells how she gets some of her inspiration. Lois gets a lot of her thoughts and ideas from her childhood. I like how this book shows that authors aren't just born with the power to write; they need to work hard, too. I would like to recommend this book to anybody-adults and children alike.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
I know the date because it is written on the back of the photograph, which was taken, developed, and printed by my great-aunt Mary, who exposed her negatives to daylight in the back yard instead of using the more complex enlarger and darkroom that first my father, and later I, too, would use. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Anastasia Krupnik, Bobby Hobaugh, The Secret Garden, Marcelle Cram, Modest Storewrecker, Nancy Drew, New Hampshire, Say Goodbye, The Yearling New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I know the date because it is written on the back of the photograph, which was taken, developed, and printed by my great-aunt Mary, who exposed her negatives to daylight in the back yard instead of using the more complex enlarger and darkroom that first my father, and later I, too, would use. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Anastasia Krupnik, Bobby Hobaugh, The Secret Garden, Marcelle Cram, Modest Storewrecker, Nancy Drew, New Hampshire, Say Goodbye, The Yearling New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 13
books:
See all 13 books this book cites
4
books
cite this book:
- The Secret Garden (Oxford Bookworms Green S, Stag) by F. Burnett on page 160
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett on page 160
- The Secret Garden by Hodgson Frances Burnett on page 160
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett on page 160
- The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett on page 160
See all 13 books this book cites
- Writing a Life: Teaching Memoir to Sharpen Insight, Shape Meaning--and Triumph Over Tests by Katherine Bomer on 4 pages
- Literature Pockets: Nonfiction, Grades 4-6+ by Jo Ellen Moore on page 92
- Authors by Request: An Inside Look at Your Favorite Writers by Janis Campbell on page 85
- Keep the Rest of the Class Reading & Writing... While You Teach Small Groups (Grades 3-6) by Susan Finney on page 100
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