Young Liesl lives in her attic bedroom, locked there by her
stepmother (the quintessential evil stepmother) since her beloved father
died. One night, a ghost named Po
appears in her room, and the two lonely souls find comfort in each other and
become friends.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, a young orphan named Will,
who is apprenticed to a cruel alchemist, mixes up two wooden boxes and delivers
them to the wrong recipients, with dire consequences. The two desperate
children each set out on their own quests to right wrongs, and their destinies
eventually intertwine in a magical story about friendship and family.
I really enjoyed this engaging adventure story, with
surprises around every corner. It
reminded me a bit, in tone and subject matter, of Neil Gaiman’s The
Graveyard Book, though Liesl and Po
has a wholly unique plot. Po is a
gentle, kind sort of ghost, but the bad guys in this story are truly evil, in
fairy tale style. In the end, good
triumphs over evil, and every character gets what he or she deserves in a
satisfying conclusion.
I thoroughly enjoyed the audio book, performed by the very
talented Jim Dale (narrator of the Harry Potter audios and many other excellent
audio books). However, I just saw
on Amazon that the paper book is illustrated with beautiful pencil drawings, so
I think that either format would be an excellent choice for middle-grade
readers and their families. You can listen to a sample of the audio here.
This video provides a peek at the beautiful illustrations:
Video Trailer for Liesl and Po
And here is a wonderful video interview with Lauren Oliver about the writing of Liesl and Po:
Interview with Lauren Oliver
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