Great Lois Lowry Article

The Boston Globe recently ran a great article on Lois Lowry. Lowry's most famous work may be The Giver, though it is not her only Newbery winner, and she is the author of a well-known humor series. The Giver is one of my favorites, though I will admit to not understanding the ending. That may be a big part of why it's one of my favorites.

One of the things Lowry talks about in this article is how children speak to her about publishing--how they can get their stories published, how they can get an agent. Lowry says, ''I tell them what they don't want to hear: They shouldn't even be thinking about that. If they want to be writers, they should be practicing writing; they should be reading writing;" To which I say, "Thank God. I thought I was the only person who felt that way."

Over and over again I'm hearing talk about "publishing" in grade schools. Sometimes they're talking about school papers, school literary magazines and literary boards, sometimes they're talking about "books" the kids make in class, sometimes they're talking about publishing in some kind of forum outside the school. Getting "published" seems more important than learning to write, learning to be open-minded about what's going on around you so you'll recognize writing subjects, and accepting that at the age of 8, 10, 14, 18, and, let's face it, 20 and up, you still have lots and lots to learn.

But don't take my word for it. Lois Lowry is a two time Newbery winner. Check out what she has to say about it.