Before there was A Court of Thorns and Roses, before there was The Hunger Games, and before there was even Harry Potter, finding edgy-yet-accessible books for young adult readers was a lot more difficult. But one bright spark in this era was Lois Lowry, who wrote thoughtful novels for school-aged children that managed to tackle complicated topics like poverty, mental illness, and the Holocaust and present them in a way that made them unforgettable for readers even as they grew up.
