Becuase my author has traveled all around the world, her experience and knowledge played a big role in this novel. Also, because her father was involved with the military, I think she had an interest in this topic. Some elements from Lowry's life that are included in the novel are the main characters are kids like her's. Lowry liked to write about her kids because she loved them and enjoyed spending time with them. An aspect Lowry didn't include is the amount of moving and traveling her family did when she was a kid. I think she excluded this because it would not be very interesting to read a book where the characters are always moving. Finally, I consider this book to hbe very authentic because it portrays real events and real emotions that children and families were going through during the Nazi Era. If the author can relate and reel in the reader, I consider it to be a good, succesful book.