Reading Road Trip: “The Willoughbys”

May 18, 2009 at 8:33 am | Posted in Children's Book | 3 Comments

The Willoughbys is an instant classic.  A bit of satire, a bit of black comedy, it was hard to remember that this is supposed to be a children’s book.  It never occurred to me to wonder whether Lois Lowry could do humor, but the answer to that question is an emphatic yes.

My man Rocket Scientist and I are developing a family tradition, wherein we read books together on road trips.  Sweetie Junior, at 14, has adapted to this with enthusiasm.  So as we read The Willoughbys, it was hard to get through each chapter due to disruptive laughter.  We also had to stop to speculate what was going to happen next, which characters were the villains, etc.  Then I had to pass the book back so SJ could see the illustrations, and stop RS from trying to peek because he needed to keep his eyes on the road.

We really enjoyed this book, and I’m certain that anyone who liked A Series of Unfortunate Events would, too.