The Willoughbys

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Series
Willoughbys volume 1
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Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
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Language
English

Description

Soon to be an animated film on Netflix starring Ricky Gervais, Maya Rudolph, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, and Sean Cullen!A beautiful new edition of New York Times bestseller The Willoughbys, including an excerpt from the sequel, The Willoughbys Return This "sparklingly smart" (Kirkus, starred review) and "hilarious" (Booklist, starred review) story follows four children in an old-fashioned kind of family with parents that—well, they're not all that one would hope for. The Willoughbys—Timothy; the twins, Barnaby A and Barnaby B; and their sister, Jane—concoct a diabolical plot to turn themselves into worthy and winsome orphans. Little do they know that Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby, their odious mother and father, have already begun to formulate their own thoroughly despicable plan. Soon a stern nanny, an abandoned baby, a candy magnate and his long-lost son, and even a Swiss postman are pulled into the Willoughby children's schemes to escape their mother and father and live happily ever after...or something like that. Replete with a tongue-in-cheek glossary and bibliography, this hilarious parody pays playful homage to classic works of children’s literature with a fresh twist sure to please. 

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ISBN
9780618979745
9780547345055
9780739364048
9780739364031

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Also in this Series

  • The Willoughbys (Willoughbys Volume 1) Cover
  • The Willoughbys return (Willoughbys Volume 2) Cover

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NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These series have the appeal factors darkly humorous and wordplay-filled, and they have the genres "humorous stories" and "satire and parodies"; the subjects "siblings," "orphans," and "abandoned babies"; and characters that are "exaggerated characters."
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These series have the appeal factors funny, offbeat, and wordplay-filled, and they have the genres "humorous stories" and "satire and parodies"; the subject "siblings"; and characters that are "exaggerated characters."
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Neglected children find the care that they need under the tutelage of an attentive nanny in these witty, old-fashioned stories about quirky characters searching for the families that they deserve. The dark elements of both stories are balanced by humor. -- Sarah Stanley
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Although Lois Lowry ventures into speculative territory, unlike Judy Blume, both prolific youth literature legends specialize in authentic, believable characters. As pioneers in the middle grade and YA fields, their beloved works remain controversial despite constant, long-lasting acclaim from librarians and readers. -- Autumn Winters
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Published Reviews

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* The ever-versatile Lowry offers what she calls an "old-fashioned story," complete with stock elements such as a baby left on a doorstep and a nanny who transforms her initially ill-behaved charges. Sly humor and a certain deadpan zaniness give literary conventions an ironic twist, with hilarious results. The Willoughby family consists of bossy elder brother Tim, twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, little sister Jane, and their parents, who are despicable. Mrs. Willoughby insists that the twins share one sweater, and Mr. Willoughby abruptly stops reading aloud "Hansel and Gretel" one evening because the mother in the story has given him an idea—abandon the children! The parents take a vacation and, while away, sell their house, leaving the children and nanny to shift for themselves. Meanwhile, the children plot how to become orphans, "like children in an old-fashioned book." Many are the ways used by children's novelists to get their protagonists' parents out of the way, but Lowry's solution here is particularly inventive and wickedly amusing. A glossary humorously defines words seldom seen in newfangled books (the new nanny: villainous, lugubrious, or odious?), and an annotated bibliography comments on 13 old-fashioned children's books referenced within the story. Great fun. Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

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Reviewed by Lemony Snicket

Lois Lowry, who casts her noble and enviable shadow wide across the landscape of children's literature, from fantasy to realism, here turns her quick, sly gaze to parody, a word which in this case means "a short novel mocking the conventions of old-fashioned children's books stuffed with orphans, nannies and long-lost heirs." These clichs are ripe if familiar targets, but Ms. Lowry knocks off these barrel-dwelling fish with admirable aplomb in The Willoughbys , in which two wicked parents cannot wait to rid themselves of their four precocious children, and vice versa, and vice versa versa, and so on. The nanny adds a spoonful of sugar and a neighboring candy magnate a side order of Dahl, if you follow me, as the book's lightning pace traipses through the hallmarks of classic orphan literature helpfully listed in the bibliography, from the baby on the doorstep to the tardy yet timely arrival of a crucial piece of correspondence.

The characters, too, find these tropes familiar—"What would good old-fashioned people do in this situation?" one asks—as does the omniscient, woolgathery narrator, who begins with "Once upon a time" and announces an epilogue with "Oh, what is there to say at the happy conclusion of an old-fashioned story?" This critic even vaguely recognizes the stratagem of a glossary, in which the more toothsome words are defined unreliably and digressively. (He cannot put his finger on it, at least not in public.) Never you mind. The novel does make a few gambits for anachronistic musings ("Oh goodness, do we have to walk them into a dark forest? I don't have the right shoes for that") and even wry commentary ("That is how we billionaires exist," says the man who is not Willy Wonka. "We profit on the misfortune of others") but mostly the book plays us for laughs, closer to the Brothers Zucker than the Brothers Grimm, and by my count the hits (mock German dialogue, e.g., "It makesch me vant to womit") far outnumber the misses (an infant named Baby Ruth, oy).

There are those who will find that this novel pales in comparison to Ms. Lowry's more straight-faced efforts, such as The Giver . Such people are invited to take tea with the Bobbsey Twins. Ms. Lowry and I will be across town downing something stronger mixed by Anastasia Krupnik, whom one suspects of sneaking sips of Ms. Lowry's bewitching brew. Tchin-tchin!

Lemony Snicket is the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

[Page 57]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

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School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 4–7— Timothy, twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and Jane Willoughby live in an imposing Victorian house. Their uncaring parents would like to get rid of them, and the feeling is mutual. The adults go off on vacation, leaving the young Willoughbys in the care of a nanny, and try to sell the house in absentia. This leads to some of the more hilarious moments as prospective buyers arrive and the children disguise themselves as lamp shades and coat hangers. The day a baby is left on their doorstep, events are set in motion that bring about some desired changes and an "all's well that ends well" resolution. Lowry continually reminds readers that the characters and events in this story are meant to recall those found in "old fashioned" children's books, a bibliography of which she includes at the end. The plot is understandably dependent on coincidence, but the ultimate effect is to render the characters emotionally distant, leaving readers with little empathy for them. However, the glossary of terms such as "lugubrious" and "obsequious" at the end of the book is absolutely choice, and Lowry's cover and interior illustrations show that she has an entirely untapped talent. Children will enjoy the story's absurd humor while adults may be put off by its dark elements. Lowry is never afraid to expand her boundaries as a writer, and this book, even if somewhat flawed, belongs in most collections.—Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ

[Page 144]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

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