Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye

I thought I had read this book in childhood during my Lois Lowry obsession stage, along with the Anastasia Krupnik books and Number the Stars, but it seemed completely unfamiliar this time around. I think I must have buried all memory of it because it's so completely forgettable. While the plot appe......more

Lois Lowry is brilliant at writing good books for kids about emotionally difficult subjects. In this story, Natalie has always known that she was adopted, but she knows nothing about her birth parents or how they came to give her up. Her loving adoptive parents don't understand why this matters so m......more

I'll just say that this book did not end the way I thought it was going to, but not because of some elaborate, twist conclusion. I thought the protagonist, Natalie, would find her birth mother and discover that she was dying of some ravaging disease like cancer; hence, finding a stranger and then ha......more

Oh. My. Gosh. I thought I had read most of Lowry’s books, but I stumbled upon this book in a kindle search. I usually can judge a book based on the probability that one of my favorite students will throw it across the room- and this book has serious throwing power! 😉 It was a pretty quick read, and......more

So I actually enjoyed this book. I loved the adventure Natalie went on, discovering more about herself and maturing in the process. I thought it was interesting that she found her mother and was disappointed that her mom couldn't be happy with who she was, but in the process found her dying grandfat......more