Lois Lowry was born on March 20, 1937 in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was educated at both Brown University and the University of Southern Maine. Lowry has written over twenty books for young adults including the Anastasia Krupnik series and Number the Stars, a book about the Holocaust. She has received the International Reading Association's Children's Literature Award, the American Library Association Notable Book Award Citation and a Newberry Medal for both Number the Stars and The Giver.