Lois Lowry Books in Order

Eleven-year-old Sophie’s best friend is her elderly neighbor, Sophie Gershowitz, whose memory is beginning to slip. As the two work with three simple words - tree, table, book - to practice for cognitive tests, stories from the older woman’s childhood in Poland slowly unfold alongside present-day worries about change and loss.

Blending history and story, this book imagines two possible lives for a young person whose body was found in a German peat bog in 1952. Lowry pairs accessible archaeology and context with gripping fictional tales of Estrild and Varick in an Iron Age tribe.

Thirty years after being frozen on a Swiss mountain, the dreadful Willoughby parents thaw out to find their children grown and the world transformed. Their return tangles with a ban on candy, a lonely heir, and the very poor Poore family in another arch, twisty adventure.

Written in spare verse, this book links Lois Lowry’s childhood memories in Hawaii and postwar Japan with the tragedies of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima, tracing the lives of sailors and civilians whose stories briefly cross on opposite sides of the ocean.

In this edition of the classic, Jonas’s training as Receiver of Memory still reveals the buried pain and joy his carefully managed Community has erased. As he absorbs the truth about “Sameness,” he faces a choice that could endanger both himself and a baby named Gabriel.

This photography book showcases Rania Matar’s portraits of girls on the edge of adolescence in the Middle East and the United States, accompanied by thoughtful text from Lois Lowry about growing up between childhood and adulthood.

While studying the human body, Gooney’s class borrows a full skeleton to label its parts. When the skeleton disappears, Gooney leads an enthusiastic investigation that mixes science facts with a lighthearted mystery.

Claire once served as a Birthmother in Jonas’s Community, but her child was taken from her and her memories blurred. Years later she sets out on a long, perilous search for her lost son, a quest that eventually collides with the lives of Jonas and Kira.

During the 1918 flu pandemic, eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce loses her parents and baby sister and is taken, with her brother, to live in a Shaker community in Maine. Separated by strict rules, she must learn a new way of life while slowly finding reasons to hope again.

Disappointed that their field trip has been canceled, Mrs. Pidgeon’s class cheers up when Gooney suggests building a giant map of the United States in the snow. The project turns geography into a hands-on, laugh-filled adventure on the playground.

Hildegarde, Mouse Mistress of the 219 mice living secretly in St. Bartholomew’s Church, must protect her colony from an exterminator and from cats arriving for the Blessing of the Animals. Her clever plans and one brave procession earn the tiny congregation an unexpected blessing.

Princess Patricia Priscilla dreads her sixteenth Birthday Ball, where she must choose a husband from a gaggle of ridiculous suitors. Disguised as a peasant girl, she sneaks off to attend the village school and hatches a plan that upends royal expectations.

On the day Gooney Bird wears a “brain-warming” hat to school, Mrs. Pidgeon introduces poetry. When upsetting news rocks the class, Gooney channels everyone’s feelings into creating a group poem that matters more than any assignment.

Shortly after World War II, Liz goes on a chilly November hunting trip with her father, who has just returned from overseas. Nervous around this near-stranger, she slowly reconnects with him over a too-big plaid shirt, slices of cherry pie, and the eerie magic of a crow call.

Tim, Jane, and twins Barnaby A and B yearn to be “old-fashioned orphans” with thrilling lives instead of children stuck with awful, self-absorbed parents. Their scheming collides with their parents’ own plans in a darkly funny parody of classic orphan tales.

Inspired by Aesop, Gooney Bird convinces her classmates to write and perform their own animal fables. As each child invents a story that quietly reflects home worries and hopes, the project turns into a funny, gentle look at the class’s many personalities.

A young dream-giver called Littlest is learning how to gather scraps of memories and turn them into gentle dreams for a lonely old woman and the angry foster boy who has come to live with her. As dark Sinisteeds spread nightmares, Littlest’s delicate touch becomes crucial.

Mrs. Pidgeon’s class needs a room mother to bring treats for their Thanksgiving play, but every parent is too busy. Gooney Bird strikes a secret bargain to supply one, earning the lead role in the pageant and keeping everyone guessing about their mysterious helper.

In an isolated place known simply as Village, Matty carries messages through a dangerous Forest. As neighbors begin trading away pieces of themselves for comfort and power, Matty must undertake one last journey that could cost him everything.

In a rural American town in the early 1900s, doctor’s daughter Katy befriends Jacob, a farm boy who never speaks but has a deep gift with animals. As Katy observes the adults’ choices around her, Jacob’s quiet presence shapes how she understands compassion and cruelty.

New student Gooney Bird Greene arrives in Mrs. Pidgeon’s second grade wearing outrageous outfits and insisting on telling only “absolutely true” stories. Her wild-sounding tales turn into a lesson in how good stories work for the whole class.

Orphaned and born with a twisted leg, Kira is spared execution when village leaders discover her gift for embroidery. Tasked with restoring a robe that records history, she uncovers disturbing truths about her harsh society and her own missing father.

For Future Job Day at nursery school, Sam dresses as a zookeeper and earns the chance to tell his class about a different animal each day. Being “Zooman Sam” is thrilling, but keeping everyone’s interest turns out to be harder than he expected.

In this photographic memoir, Lois Lowry arranges family snapshots, brief essays, and quotes from her novels to trace the moments that shaped her life, from wartime childhood to motherhood and loss, revealing how personal memories become the seeds of fiction.

Born in an alley and separated early from his litter, a stray dog who later takes the name Keeper learns to survive on city streets, befriends a homeless man, discovers a talent for poetry, and never stops searching for his fragile little sister, Wispy.

Forbidden to wear his new plastic fangs in the house, furious Sam Krupnik decides to run away to Alaska and live with the walruses. As he says goodbye to neighbors and loads himself with supplies, his grand plan grows heavier and less appealing.

An ethics class at school has Anastasia thinking hard about right and wrong. When a mix-up involving her dog’s mess and some delivered mail puts her in a truly awkward spot, she has to decide how honest she is willing to be.

In a seemingly perfect Community that has erased pain and strong emotion, twelve-year-old Jonas is chosen to receive memories of the past. As the Giver shares color, love, and loss with him, Jonas begins to question every rule that keeps his neighbors calm.

Part of a Celebrate Reading! program, this classroom anthology gathers short pieces around the theme of “making a difference,” offering upper-elementary readers fiction and nonfiction selections, including work associated with Lois Lowry, for discussion and reflection.

When Mrs. Krupnik asks for only homemade gifts for her birthday, Sam decides to create a custom perfume. He collects every smell his mother likes into a bottle, ignoring the growing stench in hopes that his present will somehow turn wonderful.

After swearing off boys with her friends, thirteen-year-old Anastasia secretly answers a personal ad from a sophisticated “SWM, 28.” When he writes back, her pretend grown-up life collides with reality, forcing her to untangle the lies she has spun.

Twelve-year-old J.P. Tate falls head over heels for Angela, the new girl with a British accent. Desperate to impress her, he invents a dramatic illness, only to find his small lie spiraling into a tangle he can barely control.

In Nazi-occupied Copenhagen, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen helps hide her Jewish best friend Ellen and joins a quiet network of Danes smuggling families to safety in Sweden. Her simple bravery shows how ordinary people can resist cruelty in small, vital ways.

This New Windmills school edition presents Lois Lowry’s World War II story about Elizabeth on Autumn Street for classroom reading, pairing the novel with study-friendly formatting and support for discussion and analysis.

Told entirely from Sam Krupnik’s point of view, this book follows him from birth through his toddler years as he learns to talk, gets into mischief, and drives his family crazy with an earnestness that is as funny as it is believable.

A lesser-known early work from Lois Lowry, this novel focuses on a young person facing change and uncertainty, with an emphasis on personal growth, responsibility, and the choices that shape the future.

Twelve-year-old Rabble and her mother move in with the Bigelow family when Rabble’s mom is hired to care for Mrs. Bigelow’s children during a deep depression. Rabble feels she has finally found a true home, until both families must decide what “best” really means for them.

For a school assignment, Anastasia must research a possible career, but she cannot pick just one. From glamorous dreams to more realistic options, her attempts to try on different futures show how messy, funny, and unpredictable planning a life can be.

Anastasia is determined to sound like a real reporter, so she begins writing up her life as if it were news. Between a new crush, a daring rope-climbing goal, and a visit from a grieving uncle, she learns there are some questions that do not have easy answers.

Nine years after their parents’ divorce, Caroline and J.P. Tate are sent to spend the summer with their father and his new family in Des Moines. Saddled with babysitting and coaching duties they never wanted, the two plot revenge but slowly discover unexpected strengths and affections.

When Anastasia’s mother flies to California for work, Anastasia and her father create a super-organized schedule so the household will run smoothly. Sick siblings, surprise guests, and a complicated first date quickly turn her dream of competence into comic disaster.

When charming, unreliable Uncle Claude arrives with only a shabby suitcase and a box of secrets, siblings Louise, Marcus, and Tom are fascinated. After a local mansion is robbed, their loyalty is tested as they try to decide whether their beloved uncle is hiding something serious.

Convinced she needs professional help, seventh-grader Anastasia buys a plaster bust of Freud at a yard sale and begins pouring out her problems to him. As family chaos and a science project spiral out of control, her silent “analyst” helps her see herself more clearly.

Eleven-year-old Caroline Tate finds a letter to her mother’s new boyfriend that seems to say the children “must be eliminated.” Convinced he is a murderer, Caroline and her brother J.P. launch a breathless, funny investigation that blurs imagination and reality.

Fourteen-year-old Enid renames herself Cynthia and her babysitting charge “Tom Terrific” as they roam Boston’s Public Garden. Drawn into the lives of a saxophone player and a so-called bag lady, she plans a wild midnight adventure that tests her ideas about class and kindness.

Stuck facing a boring summer while her best friend goes to camp, Anastasia answers an ad to be a “lady’s companion.” The job turns out to be more maid than companion, and one disastrous incident with the silver forces her to work off an embarrassing debt.

When Anastasia’s parents decide to leave their beloved city apartment for a rambling house in the suburbs, she is sure life is over. As she explores the new neighborhood, unwanted changes slowly turn into new friends, fresh problems, and surprising freedoms.

During World War II, young Elizabeth is sent with her pregnant mother and sister to live with her stern grandparents on Autumn Street in Pennsylvania. There she befriends Charles, the cook’s grandson, and slowly comes to understand racism, loss, and the shadows adults try to hide.

Adopted teenager Natalie Armstrong loves her quirky, supportive family, yet cannot stop wondering about her birth parents. Given a car, some documents, and reluctant blessings, she sets off to track down her origins and discovers how complicated “who you are” can be.

Ten-year-old Anastasia keeps a private list of things she loves and hates while juggling school, a poet father, an artist mother, and the unsettling news that a new baby is on the way. Her sharp, funny voice turns ordinary family life into a big adventure.

When thirteen-year-old Meg’s family moves to the country, she resents sharing a room with her pretty, confident older sister Molly. Molly’s sudden illness and diagnosis with leukemia force Meg to face jealousy, grief, and the fragile beauty of ordinary days.