Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye

Written by Lois Lowry

Narrated by Tina Wolstencroft

Award-winning and bestselling author Lois Lowry explores issues surrounding adoption in this poignant novel.



Natalie Armstrong has everything: she's smart and beautiful, has the perfect boyfriend, early acceptance to college, and a loving family. But the summer she turns seventeen, she finally decides to ask some unanswered questions: Who are her biological parents and why did they give her up when she was born?



These questions take her on a journey from the deep woods of Maine to the streets of New York City, from the pages of old phone books and a tattered yearbook photo to the realization that she might actually meet her biological mother face-to-face.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781705214220

Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry is the author of more than fifty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.

[Natalia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Light and heavy, a young girl with more wisdom under her belt than many adults I know. L love the granny’s character.

[froxgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Way back 40 years ago, Lois Lowry was able to identify the potential minefield that adoptees maneuver when seeking their birth parents. Natalie, a high school senior with a great life, sets out to find her origins with much trepidation from her adoptive parents. Well-plotted and short, her story has a twist or two, and once they come around to understanding her quest, she's got a superbly supportive family to fall back on. My only quibble is emphasis on her looks ("She walks in beauty" is her yearbook description), but her birth mother proves to be someone whose dependence on the surface provides a strong contrast.

[michcall · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's interesting to read older books of Lowry's and see how much her storytelling has matured. This is a good story, but not nearly the caliber of most of her books. It spelled out the moral of the tale a little too explicitly. She even openly acknowledged the cliche of getting pregnant after only one time, but yet it was still there. The characters were strong, but overall the plot was a bit slow.

[sadie_hamlin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is one of my favorites because of the very detailed description and the very complicated plot. The plot is of a girl who is just graduating from high school, she is adopted and really wants to find her biological mother. She has the summer to find her and she has no idea how to start except for the different documents that her parents received when she was given to them. I read this book and thought that it was good but that the characters were a little to stereo-typical for my liking. I am one for good character development and this book didn't have the best of it. I still really like it because of the great type of writing. She really describes the feelings of her character which I like.

[libraryomidas · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

6. Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye by Lois Lowry

Natalie Armstrong was raised in a happy home, full of love, and everything else she could have wanted. But at seventeen that wasn't enough. Natalie wanted to know where she really came from, why she had light eyes and dark hair, who her real family was. So, the summer before she leaves for college she embarks on a journey that will ultimately show her the true meaning of family. As an adopted child, I understand the questions that were going through the mind of this young woman. I think that Lois Lowry wrote a very touching story about the meaning of family.

[cwright_87 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye, by Lois Lowry, is an interesting story of a girl named Natalie, who has everything a girl could want. However, being anonymously adopted, she has always wondered where her real parents are and why they would give her up as a baby. Her parents don’t like to mention her adoption and are hurt that Natalie wants to find them, but as a graduation gift they give her all the documents they have and money so that she could spend the whole summer to find her biological mother. So, she begins a slow, hard journey to find her real mom and the truth behind her adoption.
This is not the best book ever but it is ok. The thing I disliked about it was the vocabulary was too easy which made the book very easy to read and didn’t last long. The characters all seem believable and the book is interesting because you feel as if you are in the shoes of the main character. The setting takes place in Maine and other places Natalie travels to as she tries to find her mother. I couldn’t relate so much to the character but it was fun to imagine yourself in her place. This is a great book to read.