From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 1999 16:02:04 -0600

Mariana-- thanks for getting us off to a great start!

I, too, greatly appreciated "Looking Back." Lois Lowry so skillfully handles her journeys back and forth from present to past that the experience of reading her memoir is oddly comforting, almost like being rocked. There is a very personal, intimate tone to the narrative and photos, but she always manages to include young readers with the brief excerpts from her children's books. Structurally, I think is one of the most unusual author autobiographies I've seen to date. It's extremely fresh and original. And the artistic quality of the photos throughout the book add a great deal to the books as a whole. It's almost as if whole memories have been caught in the individual photographs.




Kathleen T. Horning (horning at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33

I will jump right into this discussion with my impression of Lois Lowry's autobiography, Looking Back. I loved it! I really enjoyed the pace and format, text with great family photos to illustrate. I had heard her in person at a library conference and was impressed with her manner of speaking and the personal story she told concerning her son. The book was done in much the same way. I learned so much about that generation and of course, her life, that I almost felt like I was looking at my own family scrapbook. The length of the book was perfect as well. Not so self-scrutinizing that I felt like I was in a therapy session but reflective enough to illuminate what helped make her the author she is.


Mariana Van Meter, Librarian Scottsdale Public Library Scottsdale, AZ mvanmete at ci.scottsdale.az.us
Received on Thu 01 Apr 1999 04:02:04 PM CST