The Willoughbys

Lois Lowry

Mar 2008 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

From the New York Times bestselling and two-time Newbery Medal-winning author of The Giver and Number the Stars comes a delightfully tongue-in-cheek story about parents trying to get rid of their four children and the children who are all too happy to lose their beastly parents and be on their own.

The Willoughby children—Timothy, twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and their sister Jane—are fond all old-fashioned things, but especially old-fashioned adventures. What they aren't fond of, however, are their parents. Truth be told, their parents aren't the fondest of them, either, and they're concocting an evil plan to get rid of their children once and for all!

Both parents and children have plenty of dastardly ideas and tricks up their sleeves. The only thing they don't have is any idea of what lies between them and a happily-ever-after.

Complete with a cheeky glossary and bibliography, this hilarious and wonderfully old-fashioned parody pays playful homage to classic works of children’s literature like Mary Poppins and A Christmas Carol. Now a Netflix animated film, starring Ricky Gervais, Maya Rudolph, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Will Forte, Alessia Cara, and Séan Cullen!

Ratings and reviews

I picked up the Willoughbys because it was advertised as a mish-mash of adolescent literature that transcends those limitations and places a new set of children into extraordinary circumstances. In reality, the work was an enjoyable tale of some "old-fashioned" children, their terrible parents, and a lovely nanny and benefactor who interject at just the right moments. More than reexamining the conditions of prior adolescent literature and reinterpreting it, The Willoughbys seems to give it a nod, using archetypal characters and plot points to cause a moment of deja vu in the reader. This is not to take away from the story at all. The Willoughby children themselves are adorable, and the work is well-written. The work overall is quite clever and includes a glossary in the back for some of those larger words (genius, I say) as well as a reference list of other books that the Willoughbys give a nod to. Overall, enjoyable, but not what I expected. - cdh, 1/05/09

This book reminds me of Lemony Snickets and Roald Dahl, this book isn't the type of book that you want to finish in one day, it is for kids and it was an enjoyable book. Anyone should read this if they like Lemony Snickets books.

Lowry, Lois. The Willoughbys. Illustrated by the author. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. ISBN978-0-618-97974-5. From the author of The Giver and Number the Stars, the newest offering of Lois Lowry is The Willoughbys, a fun romp unlike anything she’s previously published. A parody of traditional children’s orphan tales, the four Willoughby children suffer from nefarious parents who are inspired by the tale of Hansel and Gretel and set out to rid themselves of their children. Happily the feeling is mutual, and the children come up with an equally beastly plans to free themselves of their parents. Mix in a nanny, an abandon baby left on a doorstep, and plenty of other old-fashioned conceits for a diabolically good read. Middle readers and lovers of children’s literature will chuckle their way through this fabulous tale.

About the author

Lois Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.