No two books by Lois Lowry are ever the same!  Well… I guess she had a few sequel/series, but The Willoughbys is another unique entry on the Lowry shelf. 

I would like to say that fans of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” will enjoy The Willoughbys.  But I am NOT a fan of Lemony Snicket’s negative, no redeeming qualities, and depressing series so I can’t truly say whether they will like Lowry’s book.  (I’d venture to say Lowry was taking a jab at the Snicket books in creating this more literary work.) *

Like Snicket’s books, Lowry’s book assaults the sensibilities by including parents who are so uncaring that wicked isn’t an adequate description.  And there are oddities in it, such as Commander Melanoff’s desire that “if he were not such a decent man, he might be tempted to pat her [Nanny's] large behind affectionately as she bent over.” (p131)  Somehow I can set these aside (as I couldn’t with Snicket).  In “Unfortunate Events” all adults are either evil, or at best totally ineffective.   The Willoughbys includes the evil adults (in what feels like a not so subtle negative nod to Snicket), yet The Willoughbys offers the contrast of the good and decent adults in the Commander and Nanny.  (Commander Melanoff IS good despite his momentary preoccupation with Nanny’s bottom.)  And Lowry’s book slyly references all the classic orphan tales; in playing with themes of classic literature it is something akin to Fforde’s adult novel, The Eyre Affair.   Additionally Lowry’s book has an incredible vocabulary.  I admit, I’ve never used the word “lugubrious”!  The glossary and bibliography in the back are entertaining reading in themselves. 

I know I will be recommending this book to my teachers to read, however, I’m not sure how students will react to the narrative.  I know I won’t describe it to them as “funny”, for The Willoughbys can be called amusing or humorous, but not “funny”.   And it vascilates between fairly sophisticated humor and Napoleon Dynamite humor.  Perhaps Lowry was amusing herself with this book more than she was writing to an audience.  Yet it is my hope that students will ask me for Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, or the other classics after readingThe Willoughbys.  It should peak their interest.

* Snicket’s review of The Willoughbys in Publisher’s Weekly IS worth reading.  (Scroll to the bottom of the PW page for the review!)

Another from among the top-ten-from-my-childhood-favorites is The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, with drawings by Robert Lawson (Viking, 1936).  I must confess, the memory of Ferdinand is influenced by multi-media.  Walt Disney adapted the story as a short animated film entitled Ferdinand the Bull in 1938, winning that year’s Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).  I think I remember this as well as I remember the book.

Ferdinand was a story that I wanted to read straight through; I only broke the narrative twice while reading aloud.  In an effort to expand the students’ horizons, stimulate their curiosity, and sneak in a few basics of Information Literacy we discussed cork trees and bullfighting before starting the story.

I showed the students a coaster made from cork, asking them if they could identify the material.  Most couldn’t identify cork until I brought out a bottle stopper cork.  (It is a cork and is made of cork.)  I set up a rationale for learning about cork by saying the illustrator had some humor in the book, but unless you were educated about cork you couldn’t appreciate it.  Then I began sharing facts about cork:

• comes from the bark of a Cork Oak tree
• Some grow in the US, but mostly in Spain & Portugal and other Mediterranean countries.
• Cannot harvest until tree is 20-25 years old
• Renewable resource – can harvest again in 8-10 years
• Cork Oak trees can live as much as 150 years
• Shared pictures printed from Internet of a tree, closeup of trunk, and stacks of harvested cork.  (Do a Google image search on Cork Oak Tree.)

I then shifted discussion to how I knew these facts.  I had a C volume encyclopedia in my hand and told each class how I love to look things up to learn more about something.  I shared how my family’s dinner discussions often meant we brought an encyclopedia to the table.  At this point we also discussed how Internet can be a good source of information, too, if you don’t have a print encyclopedia.  Through questioning, the students and I discussed how Internet information is not necessarily written by credible sources like a print encyclopedia.  I stressed the importance of good authority when using information on-line.  (K-3 students aren’t ready to learn about databases vs Google, but this is laying groundwork!)

Then we talked about bullfighting.  These K-3 students were not familiar with the term Matador, but the red cape and routine were very familiar from cartoons.  Facts shared:

• Bull fighting is very popular in Spain, Portugal, Mexico and some South American countries
• Many stadiums in those places just for bull fighting.  Largest is in Mexico City – 55,000 seats.
• The sport is illegal in some countries, including ours because it is seen as extreme cruelty to the animal.
• Bulls are bred to be big and fierce, and fight wildly.
• Discussion on cruelty to animals included my caution that they should never do something deliberately to hurt or upset an animal such as teasing a dog behind a fence. 
• While Bullfighting might not be a good thing, Ferdinand IS a good story anyway!

At this point I began reading the story.  (Hint:  whenever Ferdinand sits quietly and smells the flowers, pause and take a deep sniff as if you are breathing in a wonderful fragrance.  The students will soon be quietly doing it with you.)  I only broke the narrative at the page which illustrates the cork tree with corks hanging from it in bunches like grapes.  After reading that page I asked the students to take a close look and, now that they know the real facts about cork, could they see where the illustrator was being funny?  Without the preparation they would have been clueless, but the students loved being an insider on this humor.  “See what educating yourself can do for you?”

I only paused one more time, briefly, after the entrance of the Banderilleros (who stick the bull with pins to make him mad) and the Picadores (who stick the bull with spears to make him madder).  At this point I made a quick editorial comment, “See, I told you bullfighting wasn’t very nice to the bull.”

There are all sorts of pacifist possibilities with Ferdinand, but while I will preach about renewable resources and not teasing the neighbor’s dog (or any animal) I prefer not to get overly political with K-3.  With a few classes, however, I did say I thought there was a playground lesson in the book.  I turned to the page where Ferdinand wouldn’t fight and the Matador ended up crying.  The point I stressed with the students was that it took two to make a fight.  Sitting quietly might mean a problem will fizzle out and go away. 

As with all of these oldie-but-goodies titles I’ve been reading aloud recently, the students responded warmly to The Story of Ferdinand.  I still love the phrase, “he still liked to sit just quietly under the cork tree and smell the flowers.”  Be careful to read it as written.  The ‘just quietly’ is unique.  And as for smelling flowers, perhaps Mac Davis was inspired by Ferdinand!?

Link to Lesson Plans and Activities