Customer Reviews

My Brother Louis Measures Worms: And Other Louis Stories (Charlotte Zolotow Books)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A disappointment

My expectations were high when I ordered My Brother Louis Measures Worms. Barbara Robinson has written delightful books including The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. As her books were the first to encourage my son to independent reading, I was delighted to find another title by her. The book however was a great disappointment. The use of obscenities was a surprise and the preoccupation with pregnancy seemed out of proportion (the cat got pregnant, the cousin got pregnant, and the woman across the street got pregnant; everyone thought either Rhoda or Mrs. Lawson was pregnant.) I would highly recommend her Best School Year Ever or her Best Christmas Pageant Ever, but this book is simply not in a class with the others she has written.

This is one of the funniest--and sweet-hearted-- books I have ever read. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a better book, but My Brother Louis Measures Worms is the book that I own and have read over and over and over again. It takes place in the kind of timeless neighborhood that I grew up in where kids spend all day outside, coming in only at dusk. I don't know if neighborhoods exist like this anymore (I'm only 31 but still . . . ) so reading My Brother Louis Measures Worms may be a stroll down nostalgia lane. In many ways, it reminds me of the movie The Sandlot which captures to perfection my childhood memories of playing baseball with my brother (Daniel, not Louis).

The book's family is eccentric but not unbelievable. Robinson has the ability to create likeable and realistic (and intact) nuclear families without crossing the line into syrupy cliches. The book is split into short stories (that follow a consecutive timeline) and every scenario conveys the positive--if sometimes bewildering--aura of a happy childhood. My favorite story is probably the mother getting lost by following the wrong cars to flower shows but the story about the dog who comes and stays forever reminds me of my dad (who has never cared for pets).

Recommendation: It's not as classic as The Best Christmas Pageant Ever but is better than The Best School Year Ever. Buy it!

The Lawsons are a family with a daughter Mary Elizabeth , and a son named Louis. Louis is an 8 year old boy that loves to drive his mother's car.Other things Louis likes to do with his friend Albert is to measure how long worms get before they die.

Louis's third or fourth cousin Genevieve was over from her mothers side of the family.Louis asked why she was going to stay with them. He was told that Genevieve's mother, Ethel Fitch, was crazy.Genevieve was also going to have baby, but Louis and his sister didn't know that.At least not until she went into the hospital when she was ready to deliver.They just thought she was sick and fat.

On the 4th of July , Aunt Mildred dressed up in a old-fashioned costume and drove a tandem bike in the parade. She was funny. Louis wanted to join his aunt in the parade,but he didn't know how to ride a bike only a car.

When the Lawsons had a family reunion , all Louise's mom's nutty relatives came. Louella blew up her beer. Ralph left a baby on the bus. Blanche brought a convict home for supper. Janine and Willard are using the $3,000 Louis won in a magazine contest to get married!

I like this book and would recommend it for other kids to read because it is really funny! I enjoyed the antics of Louis and his nutty family.

This is a wonderful book, thoughtfully written. I love the perspective the author uses of family situations shared from a child's view. Although written for a young reader, I believe these stories will appeal to adults as well. I have purchased several copies to share with friends, especially those who are feeling discouraged, or are recovering from illness. A real pick me up. Barbara Robinson sure hit a home run with Louis and all his "kith and kin".

I don't know why they only market Robinson's books to children! The first time I read one of her stories was in a woman's magazine. We were driving somewhere and my mom read it out loud and we all nearly died laughing. Her stories are for adults who remember what it was like to be young, IMHO.

I love them all, though Louis's driving and the unexpected baby are my favorites.

The language in this book -- and I'm referring neither to obscenity not to mature thmes -- is over the heads of most children and is wasted on them, as are many of the plots and most of the humor. This book is a great nostalgic read for adults. Were anyone else to tell the same stories Robinson tells in this collectiom of independent but interrelated short stories, but without her unique descriptive passages, much of the essence of the stories would be lost. I agree with another postr who said that it doesn't rank as high AS THE BEST CRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest books ever written for children of the third through sixth grade range, but it's a solid second among Robinson's books.

Beware, this book is NOT for the 8 year old reader. The story is awful (and boring)! There is foul language and details about reproduction in common language. We read to page 27 and completely abandoned the book! What a waste of paper, and I'm curious if the editors have kids of their own if they thought this was worth publishing.

Robinson has compiled a collection of stories about a rather average family in the Midwest with some unusual quirks. The stories begin with nine year old Louis driving a car unnoticed and get wilder from there. I didn't find the stories to be very funny or very entertaining. Neither did the third and fourth graders that I field-tested it with.

The chapters are a little too long to use in a read aloud situation and not many upper elementary students were not able to hold their attention spans long enough to enjoy the book on their own.

Why 3 stars?:
I will keep this book on my shelf in the classroom, but will not use it for anything. It will be around for a child to read if he feels so inclined. The stories are too long and not very captivating, but if it gets a child to read, then it has some value.

My family and I all loved the Best Christmas Pagent ever and we enjoyed the Best School Year Ever. We had high hopes for this book, but were very disappointed. The humor was not as funny and there seemed to be alot of it devoted to pregnancies. We did not finish the book so this may only be a partial list of pregnancies: a cousin(whose husband is in jail), the fun, nice, unmarried nieghbor women(who didn't want to bother with a husband),and 2 neighborhood cats.