The Willoughbys

*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.

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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.

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