When Lois Lowry was 13 years old, her grandfather gave her a typewriter, which helped her realize her dream of becoming an American author of children’s literature.
Lois Lowry, two-time Newbery Award winner, is coming to the Provo Library Ballroom on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. Lowry is going to sign a maximum of three books for patrons. Many readers embrace Lowry’s books, including her awarded books, “Number the Stars” in 1990 and “The Giver” in 1993.
“My books have varied in content and style,” she said on her blog. “Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections.”
Daniel Friend, 25, from Orange County, Calif., first read “The Giver” for middle school English class.
” ‘The Giver’ is important because it was one of the first dystopian novels that our generation was exposed to,” he said. “If you look at publishing right now, it’s all about dystopias, the best example being ‘The Hunger Games,’ but what makes ‘The Giver’ better is that there are reasons for the dystopia to exist as it does.”
Friend said many people like dystopian novels for good reason.
“There are compelling, understandable reasons why some people would want to live in that kind of society,” he said. “It’s not a purely evil empire. It could actually happen. And that makes it creepier. Lois Lowry’s books are a little slower-paced, compared to other books, than many young readers might expect or enjoy, but if you put in the the time and the effort, they get their point across very well.”
Provo Library will offer free event tickets to all Provo Library patrons, Provo residents and Orem Public Library cardholders on Sept. 29 from 9 to 10 a.m. in the library’s art gallery. Other patrons can purchase general tickets on Oct. 6.
Courtney Lowe, community relations coordinator at Provo Library, feels lucky to host Lowry at the library.
“Lois Lowry is one of the most respected authors for young people today,” she said. “We at the library believe it is important to connect readers to their favorite authors, as it fosters recreational reading in children, teens and adults.”
Mary Neve, 12, from Vancouver, Wash., read “The Giver” this summer.
“The book was entertaining to read and very juicy, but sad at the same time because it has a dystopias theme,” she said. “I read ‘The Messenger’ during school before the summer, too. It was easy for me to read because it was like ‘The Hunger Games,’ the same style of text writing.”
Friend has also read Lowry’s “Number the Stars.” “One of the most valuable aspects of ‘Number the Stars’ is that it gets kids to put themselves in someone else’s shoes — what if this had happened to me? And it does so in a way that is age-appropriate for its target audience.”
