Lowry was born on March 20, 1937, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She attended Brown University from 1954 to 1956 and received a degree in English from the University of Southern Maine in 1972. ‘A Summer to Die' (1977), her first juvenile novel, won the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award. The story of a teenage girl dealing with her sister's leukemia, it loosely mirrored the author's own experience of having a sister die young.

Lowry continued to weave bits of her past into other works of fiction, including ‘Autumn Street' (1980), the tale of a girl struggling with traumatic events during World War II. Like the young narrator, Lowry, the daughter of a United States Army officer, moved in with her grandparents during the war.

‘Anastasia Krupnik' (1979) marked the debut of one of Lowry's most enduring characters. Centering around a 10-year-old dealing with problems common to someone her age, the book offers young readers a character with whom they can easily identify while simultaneously tackling preadolescent topics with insight and humor. Several sequels followed, including ‘Anastasia Again!' (1981) and ‘Anastasia's Chosen Career' (1987). Anastasia's little brother took center stage in ‘All About Sam' (1988).

Lowry won her first Newbery award in 1990 for ‘Number the Stars', the account of a young girl and her family helping Jewish neighbors escape Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943. Her second award came in 1994 for ‘The Giver', a novel about a futuristic world without social ills and a 12-year-old boy who questions his seemingly perfect society.

Among Lowry's other juvenile books were ‘Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye' (1978), ‘Switcharound' (1985), and ‘Rabble Starkey' (1987). Her works for adults included literature textbooks and magazine articles. She was an accomplished photographer, and her pictures appeared in her own publications and those of others.