For me and other adult readers of children's books, The Willoughbys is a tasty little treat. For young readers, I am not sure what they will make of it. And it matters to me what they will make of it.
The Willoughbys is, from start to finish, a playful joke, a parody that pokes fun at "old fashioned" children's stories while at the same time referring back to them by name and character. Lowry even provides a bibliography with brief descriptions as well as a glossary that defines all of the big vocabulary words (words that are used regularly in classic children's literature) in the back of book. This, in an of itself, is wonderful. As a child and as an adult, I love it when a book I am reading leads me to discover another book. However, my first concern is that most children who will read this book probably have not read Anne of Green Gables, Mary Poppins, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, Pollyana, Heidi, James and the Giant Peach and The Secret Garden, to name most of the books cited. However, I think it would be very admirable if those parents out there who enjoy reading aloud to their children and recognize the value in classic children's literature take it upon themselves to read as many of the books listed here out loud to their children in the time it takes for The Willougbys to go to paperback (15 months, in this specific instance.) If that is too large a task, I beg you to read this book out loud so you can fill your kids in on the "in jokes" and check in on them occasionally to see what they are making of the horrible adults, bossy children and deprived orphans depicted in the story.
The story: It is nefariously written and ignominiously written by Lois Lowry, author of Newbery Award winners The Giver and Number the Stars, two truly amazing, remarkable books - not just children's books. The other books that loosely follow The Giver, Gathering Blue and The Messenger, are among my favorites. They all illustrate Lowry's ability to distill a story into a brief (all three books hover around 200 pages) shining plot that carries you along like a leaf on a river, like poetry, like a dream, but with a dark, serious undercurrent. And, while this book is short, it does not have a dark undercurrent - it wears it's humorous menace right on its sleeve, or (book) jacket. Lowry's illustrations for The Willoughbys immediately call to mind the works of Edward Gorey, illustrator of Florence Parry Heide's Treehorn Trilogy, as well as many other books, all Gothic in their illustrative style and story telling, seemingly for children but really for adults. This cover is meant to be our signal of things that are to come...
What does come is a story of four sibling, some horrid, some timid, some woefully underdressed and under-named. Tim, the eldest, is a bossyboots with a despicable points game that allows him to make up the rules as he wishes and cause the other three children to lose points and the game as well as warm, clean bath water privileges. Next come Barnaby and Barnaby, the twins who share one sweater, commonly referred to as A and B. Finally, there is Jane, plain Jane, discriminated constanly against by Tim, but not so down trodden. She grows up to be a professor of feminist literature and mother of three excitingly named daughters, Lavender, Arpeggio and Noxzema. There is also a baby girl left on a doorstep (named Ruth because she is foisted off on Colonel Melanoff thus making the children the "Ruthless Willoughbys" as Tim notes), a grieving candy magnate living in squalor and an odious nanny who is really fabulous. Then there are the horrible adults. The Willoughby parents really just do not like their children. They leave on a cruise (one that the children secretly arranged through a third-rate agency, hoping their parents would perish and make them orphans just like in the old fashioned stories) and, while they do hire Nanny to look after the children, they also sell the house out from under the children, instructing them to hide in the coal bin whenever prospective buyers stop by. There is another set of awful adults, but they will remain anonymous as there are some surprises to be had in The Willoughbys.
As I began reading this book I could not help but think of Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, all of which I read out loud to my son a few years ago.
***POLEMIC WARNING: TOPIC: SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS***
(feel free to skip to the end of the review)
I did not enjoy the experience and felt ripped off at the end of book thirteen. I realize that there was a lot going on in the books that I failed to appreciated while I was reading them, even though I caught all of the literary references and snickered at the in jokes, even though they remain the most beautifully illustrated and packaged series of books for middle readers - followed closely by the Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley and Peter Ferguson and the Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. I realize that I was reading for plot and wanted the mysterious disappearance of the Beaudelaire parents resolved (and wanted the children not to be orphans...) and maybe that was the wrong perspective on my part. But, I maintain that, because of the huge popularity of these books, and based on the kind of kids I saw coming in and buying them as they were released, at least at my bookstore, the arty, intellectual, scholarly kids who WOULD get the jokes and references and vocabulary, or at least try to find out what they meant and feel proud of themselves when they did, made up about 5% of the kids I saw buying the books. They rest were kids who, above all else, looked like they had no interest in cracking a dictionary when they came across an unfamiliar word, which happens almost every page in those books, despite Snicket's "definitions." Where am I going with this? I'm not sure adults are doing most kids a service when they write witty, intellectual works for children, even though I whole heartedly support the idea that adult themes, ideas and concepts can be and should be employed in children's books. I'm not saying that I don't think Handler should have written those books - I'm glad he did and I know I will re-read them one day and be embarrassed by this rant, but, I think that a lot of kids wasted time and money following the SOUE "fad" and I wish they had used that time and money on books that would have better suited their interests and abilities. But, that's life, right? I can't protect every child from the experience of reading the wrong book, no matter how hard I try!!
However, I found that I soon shook the eerie feeling that Lowry was mimicking Lemony Snicket and enjoyed myself once she and I got into the groove of the story. There are very funny parts, good enough to read out loud to other adults, and there are characters in whom you will recognize traces of meanies from the works of Roald Dahl. And, I think that Lowry may even be having a little fun with the charming new girls on the block, sisters who could definitely be called old fashioned, The Penderwicks. I recommend this book to all of you kids who are advanced, avid readers. But I also beg you, no matter what your reading abilities, to get your mom and dad in on the game and have them read the book out loud to you.
8 comments:
Sounds interesting for an adult reader, definitely. My interest is piqued. (But WHOA! The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a kid's book? The issue of racism is so complexly presented in that particular book that it needs to be read very carefully and at multiple levels by all readers.)
I think Huckleberry Finn was considered a kid's book when it was written... And, people of a certain generation (pre-baby boomers) read stuff like that and Dumas' Three Musketeers and Bronte's Janey Eyre when they were kids since there wasn't the kidlit market there is today. I think Lowry is trying to remind readers of those classic books in a silly way with The Willoughbys...
Hey, Tanya, I like your blog. I am an adult lover of kids lit, especially YA fiction. My daughter & I have been listening to the Percy Jackson series on CD, which is great fun.
The Willoughby's sounds interesting to me . . . I'll have to check it out of the library.
Have you read The Mysterious Benedict Society?
I'll be back to explore your blog more thoroughly later, but I just wanted to say hi.
thanks for your kind words! it's great to meet another adult lover of kid's lit! I love listening to books on CD, too. I have started reading "The Mysterious Benedict Society" and was a bit bored by it. It LOOKED like the kind of book I would have loved as a kid and the idea sounds so perfect, too, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. I do plan to finish it and review it soon, though. I'm kind of opposed to kid's books over 350 pages unless they are written by JK Rowling... But, another reader (a dad) commented that he and his wife loved the book and tore through it. Sometimes you have to open a book at the right time for it to hit you. Thanks for reading my reviews!!! Keep commenting - I love to know what parents & kids think of books, especially if it's one I've read.
I thought this one was fun. I haven't read the Series of Unfortunate Events, so I wasn't making comparisons to it. I do have to wonder if I thought it was fun because I "got" a lot (though not all, I'm sure) of the references.
I wonder what kids think of this book. I always ask kids what they think of books when I am at work, but I'd love to find a way to bring kids into the blog conversations that we adults have about kid's books. We definitely are reading these books in a different way and getting different things out of them.
Ivy wasn't at all interested in this book until I basically forced her to try it (based entirely on this review)...and she loved it. Thanks for another great recommendation!
Glad she enjoyed it! I think the book has a pretty narrow audience, which definitely includes Ivy. She is well read enough to get the in-jokes, I'd imagine...
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