What happens to all those children’s book
heroes and heroines once you finish the last
page?
Look no further than Lois Lowry’s The Willoughbys
to find out.
This week’s Pick is chock full of children’s
literature’s classic characters … but
you’ll be surprised by what happens to them
at the hands of Lois Lowry.
You can read The Willoughbys if you don’t
have a sense of humor … but I wouldn’t
recommend it.
You can also read The Willoughbys if you know
nothing about children’s literature … but
then you might miss some of that humor that
I just mentioned.
That’s because what Lois Lowry does in this
hilarious and brilliant book is take all the
elements of classic children’s stories—old-fashioned
families, evil parents, babies abandoned on
doorsteps, and so on—and turn them upside-down.
For example, the four Willoughby children—oldest
brother Tim, twins Barnaby and Barnaby, and
youngest sister Jane—plot to get rid of
their evil parents so they can reach their
full potential as worthy and deserving orphans.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby are busy
devising a scheme of their own.
(Just think Hansel and Gretel.)
Even if you’ve only read a handful of children’s
classics, you won’t be able to miss references
to The Secret Garden, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, and good old Mary Poppins.
But don’t worry.
Lois Lowry has thoroughly reinterpreted any
classic sappiness for her present-day audience—exchanging
the sentimental for the snarky and the cheesy
for the tongue-in-cheek … and topping it
all off with a happy (but not too happy) ending.
