Kids Lit
Books and More for Children and Teens

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry.

Leave everything you know about Lowry and her type of book behind.  Now you are ready to enter the world of The Willoughbys.  The four Willoughby children are not adored by their parents.  In fact, their parents are desperate to escape.  Luckily, the children felt exactly the same way.  So when their parents head out on dangerous adventures, leaving them with a capable nanny, the children are overjoyed but worried that their parents may one day return.  Add into the mix an abandoned infant, a desperately depressed millionaire, and long-lost children and you have this novel.

Lowry has captured with great zest, fun and life a vintage feel, tipping her hat to great works of children's literature throughout.  Her tone is spot-on and at first child readers may wonder if it's OK to laugh, but it certainly is.  The book is light, quick and a blast to read.  Giggling is to be expected.

I am a huge fan of Lowry ever since The Giver and this is a new type of writing for her.  What a risk to take, but what a winner of a novel resulted!  This would make a great class read aloud for older elementary students or will happily be curled up with by anyone with a sense of humor.  Fans of Lemony Snicket will enjoy it immensely.

• Permalink

Comments

What about people who couldn't stand Lemony Snicket because of the grim tone and total lack of joy? I found it so devoid of hope that even the very clever humour was hard to enjoy. This Lowry books does sound like more fun, though...

Posted by: Jeremy | April 7, 2008 1:57 PM

I too am not a huge fan of Snicket. Lowry's humor is gentler and at no time are you really scared for the lives of the children or is hope ever really lost. But it revels in being depressing in the funniest of ways.

Posted by: Tasha | April 8, 2008 10:31 AM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments:

Security Code:
For added security, please enter the code displayed into the text box below it before posting comment.