My Brother Louis Measures Worms [Paperback]

Barbara Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Eleven-year-old Mary Elizabeth tells about her family's quirks in this warm and funny chronicle by the author of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. "Robinson's skill at pushing a plot line to the brink, then doubling back with an off-the-wall twist, will leave readers in stitches."--Booklist.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Robinson has written many popular books for children, including The Best School Year Ever and My Brother Louis Measures Worms and Other Louis Stories. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is an ALA Notable Children's Book and was filmed as a television movie.

In Her Own Words ...

I grew up in a small southern Ohio town, and began writing when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, as a hobby and for fun. I'm happy to say it's still fun today, probably because every book I write has to be a book that I also want very much to read. I'm like the reader who turns the page to see what happens next - except, of course, that the page is blank. But I then get to fill it up with whatever seems exciting, funny, scary, happy or sad ... and with characters who become as real to me as my next-door-neighbors - so real, in fact, that sometimes they just step in and show me 'what happens next.'

Since I'm one of those writers whose story ideas spring more from people than from plot, I spend a lot of time with my characters, so they tend to be people I like to spend time with - even the wild and woolly Herdmans, who inhabit two of my books, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and The Best School Year Ever. I have a special fondness for the Herdman adventures, probably because boys and girls have told me that these are their favorites, and that's the most important thing to me.

Since leaving my small town - though I don't think writers ever really leave the place where they grew up; certainly the flavor of a small town is present in everything I write - I've lived in Pittsburgh, Boston, and, now, in a suburb of Philadelphia where I write, read a lot (boys' and girls' books mostly because they're the best), walk two or three miles a day, watch baseball games and, when the mood is on me, bake terrific cookies!

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 149 pages
• Publisher: HarperTrophy (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064403629
• ISBN-13: 978-0064403627
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,003,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, April 2, 2000

By 

Victoria Rommel - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brother Louis Measures Worms (Paperback)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, July 15, 2002

By 

Katherine Woodbury "Woody" (Portland, ME) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Brother Louis Measures Worms (Paperback)

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!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There is never a dull moment with the Lawsons., November 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Brother Louis Measures Worms (Paperback)

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.