“What are Lois Lowry Best Books?” We looked at all of Lowry’s authored bibliography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the books written by Lois Lowry and looked at their Goodreads, Amazon, and LibraryThing scores, ranking them against one another to see which books came out on top. The books are ranked in our list below based on which titles have the highest overall score between all 3 review sites in comparison with all of the other books by the same author. The process isn’t super scientific and in reality, most books aren’t “better” than other books as much as they are just different. That being said, we do enjoy seeing where our favorites landed, and if you aren’t familiar with the author at all, the rankings can help you see what books might be best to start with.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

The Top Book’s Of Lois Lowry

43 ) Your Move, J.P.! (1990)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 40
• Amazon: 43
• LibraryThing: 41

Lowry’s third novel about J.P. and his sister has J.P. in love and doing all sorts of weird things, such as wearing deodorant and even telling a lie to impress Angela.

42 ) The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline (1983)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 31
• Amazon: 36
• LibraryThing: 42

When their mother starts to date the mystery man on the fifth floor, who has been instructed by his agent to “eliminate the children” by the first of May, eleven-year-old Caroline and her older brother figure they’re targeted to be the victims of a savage crime.

41 ) The Birthday Ball (2010)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 41
• Amazon: 29
• LibraryThing: 38

Princess Patricia Priscilla is bored with her royal life and the excitement surrounding her sixteenth birthday ball. Doomed to endure courtship by three grotesquely unappealing noblemen, she escapes her fate—for a week. Disguised as a peasant, she attends the village school as the smart new girl, “Pat,” and attracts friends and the attention of the handsome schoolmaster. Disgusting suitors, lovable peasants, and the clueless king and queen collide at the ball, where Princess Patricia Priscilla calls the shots. What began as a cure for boredom becomes a chance for Princess Patricia Priscilla to break the rules and marry the man she loves.

39 ) Rabble Starkey (1987)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 36
• LibraryThing: 28

Many things change for twelve-year-old Rabble Starkey, her mother, and her best friend, Veronica Bigelow, when Veronica’s mother becomes mentally incapacitated and the Starkeys move in with the Bigelows.

39 ) Anastasia at This Address (1991)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 41
• LibraryThing: 33

“SWM, 28, boyish charm, inherited wealth, looking for tall young woman, nonsmoker, to share Caribbean vacations, reruns of Casablanca, and romance.” When thirteen-year-old Anastasia Krupnic sees this ad in a personal column, she decides to write back, even though it means stretching the truth more than a little bit. So what if her best friends have given up on boys. Anastasia is ready for romance. But is she ready for a pen pal who makes a shocking request? He wants to meet her!

38 ) Gooney Bird on the Map (2011)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 37
• Amazon: 40
• LibraryThing: 17

Mrs. Pidgeon’s second grade class has a lot to celebrate in February: presidents’ birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and school vacation. Of course, the students are talking about their awesome vacation plans every chance they get. It can be hard to focus on subtraction problems when you’re heading to Hawaii or Florida in seventeen minus seven days!

37 ) Gooney Bird and All Her Charms (2014)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 36

“It’s March!” Mrs. Pidgeon said as she wrote the day’s date on the chalkboard. “In like a lion, out like a lamb!” The morning bell has rung at Watertower Elementary School, and it’s time for Mrs. Pidgeon’s class to turn to page 52 in their science books to learn about one of the most spectacular scientific subjects of all—the human body! As usual, Gooney Bird has a special plan to make learning more fun. But what on earth is in that scary-looking box that her uncle, Dr. Oglethorpe, has brought to the second grade? And what does it have to do with the charms on Gooney’s jingling silver bracelet? It looks as if another special story is in the works!

36 ) Zooman Sam (1999)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 27
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 40

It’s Future Job Day at Sam’s school, and Sam knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up-a zookeeper, just like Zookeeper Jake in his favorite picture book. His mother and big sister, Anastasia, help Sam create a memorable costume-so memorable that Sam insists on wearing it long after Future Job Day has passed and the rest of his classmates are back in their regular clothes. Encouraged by Mrs. Bennett, his teacher, Sam embarks on a lengthy project to teach his preschool class about a zookeeper’s responsibilities, and along the way learns just how difficult a job teaching is. As always, the patient and loving Krupnik family stands by as Anastasia’s irrepressible little brother struggles with a set of nearly impossible goals. Children will delight in this latest story featuring the precocious and irresistible Sam.

34 ) Taking Care of Terrific (1983)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 30
• Amazon: 34
• LibraryThing: 23

Fourteen-year-old Enid Crowley can’t stand her name. When she takes a summer job baby-sitting young Joshua W. Cameron IV, Enid decides it’s time for a change: she calls herself Cynthia, and Joshua becomes Tom Terrific. Every day they’re off to Boston’s Public Garden, where Enid hopes to meet people and find excitement. It doesn’t take long before Enid and her new park friends – Hawk, the saxophone player, and the old bad lady – are involved in the wildest adventure the park has ever seen. Their project is top secret. Nothing can go wrong. Or can it?

34 ) Here in Kennebunkport (1978)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 43
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 43

33 ) Us and Uncle Fraud (1984)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 36
• LibraryThing: 8

Mysterious things begin to happen after Uncle Claude comes to stay with his sister’s family. Is Uncle Claude a thief, an imposter, or just a dream waver?

32 ) Bless This Mouse (2011)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 36
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 15

A church mouse is no ordinary mouse, and Hildegarde—the Mouse Mistress of Saint Bartholemew’s—is no ordinary mouse leader. It falls to her to keep all the church mice safe and out of sight. But when a few parishioners report mouse sightings, Hildegarde and the rest of the church mice must face a most dreadful consequence: the Great X. To complicate things, a ceremony called the Blessing of the Animals is fast approaching. Saint Bartholemew’s will soon be filled with pets . . . including cats! Oh, dear. Within the stately stone walls of the church, life is not as serene or safe as one might think. It will take the courage and patience of a—well, of a saint—to keep this scampering, squeaking tribe of Hildegarde’s intact

31 ) Anastasia’s Chosen Career (1987)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 15
• Amazon: 34
• LibraryThing: 32

The irrespressible Anastasia Krupnick returns for her sixth adventure in which she investigates career possibilities.

30 ) Anastasia Absolutely (1995)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 17
• LibraryThing: 33

Irrepressible Anastasia is in junior high now and participating in the “Values” curriculum through which students learn to make moral decisions. Early one morning she hits the Cambridge streets with her pooper-scooper to walk her new dog. In her half-awake groggy state Anastasia mixes up the two plastic bags she’s carrying: one containing letters to be deposited in the mailbox for her mother and the other with her responsible morning gatherings. She’s too embarrassed to call the post office to confess and she begins to feel more and more guilty and scared as she notices some intense local police activity in the vicinity of the mailbox. What will Anastasia do?

29 ) Attaboy Sam! (1992)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 39

In this second book about Anastasia Krupnik’s younger brother, Sam concocts a perfume made of his mother’s favorite smells to honor her request for only homemade gifts for her birthday.

26 ) Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye (1978)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 37
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 27

Natalie Armstrong has all a girl could want: beauty and intelligence, a loving family and a great boyfriend. But something is missing; the answer to a most important question: “Who is my mother?”To find that answer seventeen-year-old Natalie begins a journey that she hopes will lead to the identity of her biological mother. And what if Natalie finds her? What will happen when they meet face-to-face?

26 ) Anastasia at Your Service (1982)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 19
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 35

A long, boring summer–that’s what Anastasia has to look forward to when her best friend goes off to camp. She’s thrilled when old Mrs. Bellingham answers her ad for a job as a Lady’s Companion. Anastasia is sure her troubles are over–she’ll be busy and earn money! But she doesn’t expect to have to polish silver and serve at Mrs. Bellingham’s granddaughter’s birthday party as a maid! As if that isn’t bad enough, she accidentally drops a piece of silverware down the garbage disposal and must use her earnings to pay for it! Is the summer destined to be a disaster?

26 ) See You Around, Sam! (1996)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 37

Sam Krupnik decides to run away to Alaska when his mother won’t let him wear his new plastic fangs in the house. Sam stops at neighbors’ houses to say goodbye and is given so much gear and information, he wonders if he’s made the right choice.

25 ) The Silent Boy (2003)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 21

Precocious Katy Thatcher always knew she wanted to be a doctor like her father. She joins him on his rounds and has a keen interest in the people around her. She’s especially intrigued by Jacob, a gentle, silent boy who has a special sensitivity toward animals. While Jacob never speaks to or looks at Katy, they develop an unusual friendship and understanding. The townspeople dismiss Jacob as an imbecile. Katy just thinks of him as someone special who has a way of communicating with the animals through his sounds and movements. And only Katy comes to realize what the gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way.

24 ) Autumn Street (1980)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 36
• LibraryThing: 28

Elizabeth is forced to grow up when her father goes to fight in World War II. Her family moves in with her grandfather, and a special friend is struck by tragedy. An ALA Notable Children’s Book.

23 ) Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst (1984)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 41
• LibraryThing: 13

No one understands thirteen-year-old Anastasia Krupnik, least of all her parents and her little brother, Sam, who happens to be a genius. They’re such an embarrassment. Why can’t they be normal, like Anastasia? Then presto! Anastasia realizes that she has the problem–not her relatives–and she must find help immediately. There’s not a moment to lose. Though her parents insist she’s normal and won’t send her to an analyst, that doesn’t stop Anastasia. What will happen if they find out that Anastasia is secretly telling her troubles to the most famous analyst in the world?

22 ) Anastasia Again! (1981)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 15

Twelve-year-old Anastasia is horrified at her family’s decision to move from their city apartment to a house in the suburbs.

20 ) The Willoughbys (2008)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 27
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 17

Abandoned by their ill-humored parents to the care of an odious nanny, Tim, the twins, Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and their sister, Jane, attempt to fulfill their roles as good oldfashioned children. Following the models set in lauded tales from A Christmas Carol to Mary Poppins, the four Willoughbys hope to attain their proscribed happy ending too, or at least a satisfyingly maudlin one. However, it is an unquestionably ruthless act that sets in motion the transformations that lead to their salvation and to happy endings for not only the four children, but their nanny, an abandoned baby, a candy magnate, and his long-lost son too. Replete with a tongue-in-cheek glossary and bibliography, this hilarious and decidedly old-fashioned parody pays playful homage to classic works of children’s literature.

20 ) Gathering Blue (2000)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 20

In her strongest work to date, Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, she struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever. As she did in The Giver, Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, and what will be considered valuable. Every reader will be taken by Kira’s plight and will long ponder her haunting world and the hope for the future.

19 ) Switcharound (1985)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 37
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 24

Forced to spend a summer with their father and his “new” family, Caroline, age eleven, and J.P., age thirteen, are given unpleasant responsibilities for which they are determined to get revenge.

18 ) Gooney Bird and the Room Mother (2006)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 17
• Amazon: 17
• LibraryThing: 26

Gooney Bird Greene likes to be right smack in the middle of everything. That’s why she wants to have the lead role of Squanto in her class Thanksgiving pageant. But that role will go to whoever finds someone to be the room mother. All the parents are so busy, no one can bring cupcakes to the play. Gooney Bird Greene to the rescue! She finds a room mother alright, but promises not to tell who it is until the day of the play. Now the kids are really busy getting ready for the show. But will the mystery room mother really show up?

17 ) Gooney the Fabulous (2007)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 26
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 28

Mrs. Pidgeon has been reading Aesop’s fables to her second grade class. What’s a fable? Well, it’s a story that has animals as characters, and it teaches you something important, and . . . Once again it is Gooney Bird Greene who knows how to turn lessons into fun. She has an idea. A fabulous idea! What if each child creates his or her own fable, and tells it to the class? One by one Mrs. Pidgeon’s students create costumes and stories and morals and excitement. Everyone except Nicholas. What on earth is making Nicholas so unhappy? Leave it to Gooney Bird, of course, to help him solve his problem . . . in a truly fabulous way.

16 ) All about Sam (1988)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 21
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 24

Everyone knows Sam Krupnik. He’s Anastasia’s pesty but lovable younger brother.This is Sam’s big chance to tell things exactly the way he sees them. He has his own ideas about haircuts, nursery school, getting shots, and not eating broccoli. Sam thinks a lot about being bigger and stronger, about secret codes and show-and-tell.

15 ) Like the Willow Tree (2011)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 12
• Amazon: 29
• LibraryThing: 12

Two-time Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry brings a brand-new, beautiful diary to the Dear America series! Suddenly orphaned by the Spanish flu epidemic in the fall of 1918, eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce and her fourteen-year-old brother, Daniel, of Portland, Maine, are taken by their uncle to be raised in the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake. Thrust into the Shakers’ unfamiliar way of life, Lydia must grapple with a new world that is nothing like the one she used to know. Now separated from her beloved brother, for men and women do not mix in this community, Lydia must adjust to many changes. But in time, and with her courageous spirit, she learns to find the joy in life again.

14 ) Anastasia Has the Answers (1986)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 19
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 22

Humiliated. That’s how Anastasia Krupnik feels whenever she tries to climb the ropes in gym class. How come everyone else can climb up those hateful ropes? Since Anastasia has decided to become a journalist, it should be easy to answer most questions. Then why can’t she understand about Daphne Bellingham’s parents’ divorce? And why can’t she please Ms. Willoughby in gym class? Finally Anastasia thinks she has the answers! When a team of foreign educators comes to visit her school, she plans a big surprise that will amaze her classmates, Ms. Willoughby, and the visitors. What will she do when her big moment arrives?

13 ) Messenger (2004)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 9
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 19

Messenger is the masterful third novel in the Giver Quartet, which began with the dystopian bestseller The Giver, now a major motion picture. Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. Village once welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must risk everything to make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.

12 ) Anastasia on Her Own (1985)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 12
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 28

Help! Anastasia Krupnik’s mother must organize her chaotic life. So Anastasia, who is a very organized person, and her father invent the solution to Mrs. Krupnik’s problem: the Krupnik Family Nonsexist Housekeeping Schedule. But when Mrs. Krupnik goes to California on a ten-day business trip, Anastasia finds that the problem isn’t solved at all. It’s hard to stick to a schedule that doesn’t leave room for her little brother, Sam, who’s come down with the chicken pox, and her father’s former girlfriend, who’s invited herself to dinner. How is Anastasia supposed to cope with these interruptions when she’s planning her first dream-date dinner for Steve Harvey? It’s a cinch. As long as she sticks to the Krupnik Romantic Dinner Week Schedule, what could possibly go wrong?

11 ) Gossamer (2006)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 10
• Amazon: 17
• LibraryThing: 9

Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? Drawing on her rich imagination, two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare. In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.

10 ) Stay! Keeper’s Story (1997)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 10
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 10

This is the story of a dog who tells his own tale. As a pup he is separated from his mother and siblings. This unusual dog learns about living on the dangerous streets and even makes up poetry. He finds human friends, has the chance to win fame and fortune, and is given the name Keeper. Through it all Keeper can’t forget his long lost-little sister. If only they could be together again, life would be perfect. But an old enemy is watching and waiting to make his move.

8 ) Gooney Bird Is So Absurd (2009)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 17
• Amazon: 6
• LibraryThing: 5

It’s a cold January at the Watertower Elementary School—the perfect weather for Gooney Bird Greene to break out her special brain-warming hat! It’s a good thing she has one. Gooney Bird’s brain will need to be as warm as possible this month, because Mrs. Pidgeon is teaching her class about poetry. Who knew there could be so many different ways to write a poem? Haikus, couplets, limericks—Mrs. Pidgeon’s students soon find that writing good poetry takes a lot of hard work and creative thinking. Gooney Bird and her classmates are up to the challenge. But just when things are going well, the kids get some terrible news. Gooney Bird will need all the inspiration her brain can muster to organize the most important poem the class has ever written.

8 ) Son (2012)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 6
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 11

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver, as well as Gathering Blue and Messenger where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.

7 ) Anastasia Krupnik (1979)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 12
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 14

Anastasia’s tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother.

5 ) Crow Call (2009)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 4
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 1

Two-time Newbery medalist Lois Lowry has crafted a beautiful picture book about the power of longing and the importance of reconnection between a girl and her father in post-WWII America. This is the story of young Liz, her father, and their strained relationship. Dad has been away at WWII for longer than she can remember, and they begin their journey of reconnection through a hunting shirt, cherry pie, tender conversation, and the crow call. This allegorical story shows how, like the birds gathering above, the relationship between the girl and her father is graced with the chance to fly.

5 ) The Giver (1993)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 2
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 3

Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.

4 ) A Summer to Die (1977)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 5
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 6

Meg isn’t thrilled when she gets stuck sharing a bedroom with her older sister Molly. The two of them couldn’t be more different, and it’s hard for Meg to hide her resentment of Molly’s beauty and easy popularity. But now that the family has moved to a small house in the country, Meg has a lot to accept.Just as the sisters begin to adjust to their new home, Meg feels that Molly is starting up again by being a real nuisance. But Molly’s constant grouchiness, changing appearance, and other complaints are not just part of a new mood. And the day Molly is rushed to the hospital, Meg has to accept that there is something terribly wrong with her sister. That’s the day Meg’s world changes forever.

3 ) Gooney Bird Greene (2002)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 7

There’s never been anyone like Gooney Bird Greene at Watertower Elementary School. What other new kid comes to school wearing pajamas and cowboy boots one day and a polka-dot t-shirt and tutu on another? Gooney Bird has to sit right smack in the middle of the class because she likes to be in the middle of everything. She is the star of story time and keeps her teacher and classmates on the edge of their seats with her “absolutely true” stories. But what about her classmates? Do they have stories good enough to share?

2 ) Looking Back (1998)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 17
• LibraryThing: 2

People are constantly asking two-time Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry where she gets her ideas. In this fascinating memoir, Lowry answers this question, through recollections of childhood friends and pictures and memories that explore her rich family history. She recounts the pivotal moments that inspired her writing, describing how they magically turned into fiction along the complicated passageway called life. Lowry fans, as well as anyone interested in understanding the process of writing fiction, will benefit from this poignant trip through the past and the present of a remarkable writer.

1 ) Number the Stars (1989)

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 2
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 4

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It’s now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are “relocated,” Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen’s life.

Lois Lowry’s Best Books

Lois Lowry Review Website Bibliography Rankings