Jessica's Reviews > The Willoughbys

I get the sense that Lois Lowry wanted to write this parody of "old fashioned children's books" to do something in the vein of the Lemony Snicket books -- it has the same kind of arch tone, and even includes a glossary at the back with the same sort of definitions that are thrown into the text in the Lemony Snicket books. But this story doesn't have anywhere near the appeal of the Snicket characters -- they are underdeveloped, for one thing -- who are mostly odious and selfish, including the children. The plot isn't all that clever, and because the characters are mostly not very nice (or very interesting) it's hard to find anyone to root for, or hiss against. There is some enjoyment in trying to figure out which stories she's parodying -- Mary Poppins and the Bobbsey Twins come to mind -- but it's been done better.