Review: Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver

Title: Liesl and Po

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publication Date: October 4th, 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: fantasy
Audience: middle grade

Pages: 307

Source: Own (signed copy won in Christy's giveaway last December at The Reader Bee - thank you Christy & Lauren!)
Rating: 3.5 I'd friend this book on Facebook

Summary from Goodreads: Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice,until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.

That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable.

Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

This was the top vote-getter on my last What's Next? post! I'll try to post my reviews for those books on every other Wednesday (the same weeks that I do my What's Next? post!).

My thoughts: I enjoyed this book. It is very fast-paced and a quick read. A solid middle grade read. The ghosts and the Other Side (ghost world) are unique and original, and I loved the way Po and Bundle are described. The characterization is clearly more middle grade with no deep character motivations, but an enjoyable story nonetheless. While the overall story arc is pretty predictable, the “getting there” is not, and that makes it special. I also wasn’t expecting this book to be sad, but I found myself feeling sad for Liesl, Po, and Will, all at various times. Liesl and Will have both been mistreated by their caretakers, and this kind of reminded me of Lemony Snicket’s A Bad Beginning (the only Series of Unfortunate Events I’ve read so far). And Po and Bundle are of course ghosts, and I got a little twinge of sadness when Liesl tried to hug Po and went right through it. (Another curious thing is the use of “it” to refer to Po and Bundle since it’s unknown whether either of them is a boy or a girl. It took me a bit to get used to this, but after a while, it stopped bothering me.) I found the ending satisfying, though.

The writing was lovely and imaginative: “‘I’ll draw you a train,’ she said passionately. She loved trains – the sound of them, at least. She heard their great horns blasting and the rattle of their wheels on the track and listened to them wailing farther and farther away, like birds calling to one another in the distance, and sometimes she confused the two sounds and imagined the train had wings that might carry its passengers up into the sky.” (16). Trains and flying (freedom) are big symbols in this story, and I liked that they kept popping up. The illustrations (done in pencil) are very detailed and give you a good sense of the characters.

There’s definitely a magical aspect to this book, which I think middle graders will enjoy, yet I think it will also have crossover appeal for adults who enjoy a good middle grade story. Overall, definitely worth a look. (Plus the dustjacket AND the cover beneath are both beautiful!)

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All reviews are solely the opinions of Becky and/or Randi. We are not paid in any way for our reviews, and all opinions are 100% honest.