By ARIELLA MONTI
Before she was old enough to put words on paper a four-year-old Lowry would draw pictures and narrate her stories to her mother, Annie, and father, Kevin. Her mother knew early on that writing would be in her oldest daughter's future. "Some of the things she was showing me were fabulous for her age!" said Annie. She admits that while she loves to read, she was never a writer and is unsure where her daughter got her talent.
At nine Mackenzie published her first article in the Fire Island News about a local ice cream shop called Ice Castle. She has a plethora of poems and short stories in her collection, but Pollywood is her first published book. The story follows Polly, a girl who was able to choose the path her life would take before she was born. Polly's life doesn't go as planned and the story follows her as she learns to deal with the unforeseen obstacles that lie ahead and find her purpose.
Lowry came up with the idea while traveling with her family. She would often encounter the homeless when visiting large cities. "I wondered what their lives would have been like if they could have planned them out," she said. She finished the book when she was 12 and with the help of a self-published friend of the family, she had her first book in her hands in June.
The avid Girl Scout plans to continue writing as she grows older and is thinking about becoming a teacher. She has a younger brother, Rudd, 11, and is entering eighth grade at St. Agnes Cathedral School. She loves to ski in Colorado and wants to scuba dive in Key West.
The book can be found on her Web site, mackenzielowry.web.com, at Klines in Ocean Beach, Fire Island, and on Amazon.com. She is donating 15 percent of the proceeds of her book to The Bowery Mission: Kids with a Promise. The charity helps poor and homeless families in New York City. "I wanted to use my writing, my talent, to find a way to help other people and I figured that would be a good way."
Readers can meet Lowry at her book signing on August 12 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Happily Ever After, 221 North Long Beach Road. For more information contact Happily Ever After at (516) 561-0136.
Comments about this story? AMonti@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
