“A wonderfully imaginative, startlingly moving and at times wickedly funny fantasy. With nods to Dahl, Dickens, the Grimms and even Burnett, the author has made something truly original. Acedera’s frequent black-and-white illustrations are a perfect complement. An irresistible read: This book sings.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Classic fairy tale elements weave throughout this spirited, old-fashioned adventure. Invigorating and hopeful, this novel testifies to the power of friendship and generosity to conquer greed and depression.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “With her third book, Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall; Delirium) creates another highly original world, this one for middle-grade readers. Oliver introduces orphans Liesl and Will, a touch of magic, some delectable coincidences, and friendship that stretches from the Living Side to the Other Side.” — Shelf Awareness “A gorgeous story--timeless and magical.” — Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me “Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver brings much-needed magic to an increasingly neglected age group. It’s books like this, with its classic quest plot, intertwined with lyrical metaphysics, that can set a child up for life.” — The Sunday Telegraph “An absolute delight...Although aimed at younger readers, the lightness of touch and the tenderness of the message could make grown men weep.” — Daily Mail (London) Praise for Before I Fall: “Oliver’s debut novel is raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful....readers will love Samantha best as she hurtles toward an end as brave as it is heartbreaking.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Praise for Before I Fall: “Samantha’s attempts to save her life and right the wrongs she has caused are precisely what will draw readers into this complex story and keep them turning pages until Sam succeeds in living her last day the right way.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review) Praise for Before I Fall: “Oliver, in a pitch-perfect teen voice, explores the power we have to affect the people around us in this intensely believable first novel...This is a compelling book with a powerful message and should not be missed.” — ALA Booklist Praise for Before I Fall: “This story races forward, twisting in a new direction every few pages, its characters spinning my emotions from affection to frustration, anger to compassion. You’ll have no choice but to tear through this book!” — Jay Asher, author of the New York Times bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why Praise for Before I Fall: “Before I Fall is smart, complex, and heartbreakingly beautiful. Lauren Oliver has written an extraordinary debut novel about what it means to live―and die.” — Carolyn Mackler, author of Tangled and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, a Printz Honor book Praise for Delirium: “In [Oliver’s] dystopian America, love has been outlawed as the life-threatening source of all discord. Lena’s gradual awakening is set against a convincing backdrop of totalitarian horror. The abrupt ending leaves enough unanswered questions to set breathless readers up for volume two of this trilogy.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Praise for Delirium: “Strong characters, a vivid portrait of the lives of teens in a repressive society, and nagging questions that can be applied to our world today make this book especially compelling and discussable.” — School Library Journal (starred review) 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. From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver comes a luminous and magnificent novel that glows with rare magic, ghostly wonders, and a true friendship that lights even the darkest of places. Laurenxa0Oliver is the cofounder of media and content development company Glasstown Entertainment, where she serves as the President of Production. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the YA novels Replica , Vanishing Girls , Panic , and the Delirium trilogy: Delirium , Pandemonium , and Requiem , which have been translated into more than thirty languages. The film rights to both Replica andxa0Lauren's bestselling first novel, Before I Fall , were acquired by Awesomeness Films. Before I Fall was adapted into a major motion picture starring Zoey Deutch. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, garnering a wide release from Open Road Films that year. Oliver is a 2012 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award nominee for her middle-grade novel Liesl & Po , as well as author of the middle-grade fantasy novel The Spindlers and The Curiosity House series, co-written with H.C. Chester.xa0She has written one novel for adults, Rooms. Oliver co-founded Glasstown Entertainment with poet and author Lexa Hillyer. Since 2010, the company has developed and sold more than fifty-five novels for adults, young adults, and middle-grade readers. Some of its recent titles include the New York Times bestseller Everless , by Sara Holland; the critically acclaimed Bonfire , authored by the actress Krysten Ritter; and The Hunger by Alma Katsu, which received multiple starred reviews and was praised by Stephen King as “disturbing, hard to put down” and “not recommended…after dark.” Oliver is a narrative consultant for Illumination Entertainment and is writing features and TV shows for a number of production companies and studios. Oliver received an academic scholarship to the University of Chicago, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from New York University. www.laurenoliverbooks.com. Read more
Features & Highlights
From
New York Times
bestselling author Lauren Oliver comes a luminous novel that glows with rare magic, ghostly wonders, and a true friendship that lights even the darkest of places. An E. B. White Read-Aloud Honor Book, it’s perfect for fans of the author’s other middle grade novels:
The Spindlers
and the Curiosity House series.
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 named Po appears from the darkness.
That same evening, an alchemist's apprentice named Will makes an innocent mistake that has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.
Customer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
★★★★★
30%
(68)
★★★★
25%
(56)
★★★
15%
(34)
★★
7%
(16)
★
23%
(51)
Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
2.0
AHFRAASH4BVPTCCUGNHH...
✓ Verified Purchase
Magic without much magic
"The girls went to work in the Cloverstown factories, sewing day in and day out,
stitching cheap linens and hat linings until they eyes gave out and they went
blind, or stirring large vats of poisonous chemicals until, one day, their minds
went soft as cheese that had been left too long in the heat. The end result was
always the same: They ended up beggars, endlessly walking the filthy, teeming
streets; begging money from people hardly richer or better off than they were."
==========
I must say LIESL AND PO was not my cup of tea. I'm a person that likes dystopias, adores them really, but this was just oppressive without enough action and suspense to support the grim elements. THE ROAD was upbeat in comparison.
And I certainly would never ever consider giving this book to my 9 year old-son to read. Far too grim. Nor to my 11 year-old daughter for that matter. Though in the latter case because I can think of 100s of books she should try first. Books with great characters, innovative concepts, something to teach, something just plain fun... which this book doesn't offer. No I'd rather suggest Captain Underpants, or Hatchet, or Holes to her or other kids her age. There's a universe of fantasy, scifi, and just plain fun stuff to read before L&P.
So NOT for me and mine. But before you decide for yourself, read the other reviews, and remember "not all books are for all people".
**Suitable for middle-schoolers and older readers who like slow paced, macabre storylines.
**No Lexile reading information is available at present.
**Initial Accelerated Reading number suggest 4th Grade level.
Pam T~
mom/#kidlit blogger
23 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
AHLZE2JZTEHTEIOJ6PZY...
✓ Verified Purchase
Violent and disturbing
Adults abuse children (Liesl is 11) physically, mentally, and verbally to the point they flee for their lives. From being poisoned to threats of being skinned or chopped to pieces and sold to the butcher there are too many frightening concepts that will haunt the young readers more than Po ever could.
11 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
AG5HOM2MV6HTSGQ566PT...
✓ Verified Purchase
Magical. A modern classic.
When you look back to your childhood, what classic stories do you treasure? A Little Princess? The Secret Garden? Matilda? The books that linger in our memories as adults all seem to have a certain magic. Maybe the book actually is about magic or maybe it captures the figurative magic of childhood that we could bottle up as an elixir and drink. Liesl & Po is one of those magical books that children fifty years from now will love as much as children today.
Liesl & Po is a book of friendship and loneliness, of greed and generosity, of death and life. Liesl is mourning the death of her father and suffering alone in the attic, where her evil stepmother has locked her up. Alone that is until a ghost named Po shows up one night with his animal (maybe cat, maybe dog) named Bundle. Liesl needs Po to get in touch with her father. Po needs Liesl to reconnect with the living. Further away, Will walks the streets alone at night on errands for his boss, the Alchemist. He may not be locked up in an attic, but he is every much as trapped as Liesl. We watch as all three lives collide and then travel together in an exciting and heartwarming adventure.
Lauren Oliver created three fabulous characters. Liesl seems the essence of naivete as she sits in the attic not questioning her stepmother's actions. But we soon learn that she is creative, stubborn, and brave as she pushes Po to find her father and eventually escapes the attic. Po is by far my favorite character. It is young yet it is not. It has the knowledge and arrogance of an eternal soul, but expresses itself in the manner of a petulant child. Will is clumsy, somewhat immature, and has the insecurity of an abused child. Yet he is also kind, loyal and goofy.
With the exception of the Guard and Liesl's father, the adults are villains. Rather cardboard villains driven by greed and insensitive to the lives of others. One could argue the flat characters is a flaw of the book. Instead, I would say that many classic children's novels, particularly those by Roald Dahl, have simple villains and are still beloved. Similarly, the plot all gets cleaned up into a nice and tidy box by the end. There are certainly twists along the way, but it stays within the traditional fairy tale story model. There are a few elements that could have been explored further, particularly the guard's sister, but these are less important side plots.
The highlight of Liesl & Po is the writing. The prose is itself magical. Her words evoke all the emotions the characters are trying to display. Sadness, anger, embarrassment, hope. And they flow so smoothly that I felt like I was flying throughout the novel. The book is wonderful read in silence but would be even better read aloud. I love Lauren's young adult novels, but I think she could easily stay in the middle grade realm forever. Lauren does a wonderful job of incorporating the themes of death, closure, and healing. The simple sweetness of the novel will stay with me for a long time.
Rating: 4.5 / 5
10 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
AEGKLPSDGKXL5CH33SKR...
✓ Verified Purchase
Almost great
I LOVED the first three quarters of this book. Fast paced, funny, sweet, great characters and boy was I rooting for the good guys. But the ending is a hodgepodge of mismatched pieces that don't hold together. When I closed the book I did so with a very UNsatisfied sigh. It seemed to be building to such a hopeful place and instead things were settled in a hurry, leaving me wondering why the old woman was so hell bent on having people arrested, who PO really was, where the long lost sister and mother were and why the author had decided to end her wonderful story in this humdrum way. Obviously I'm in the minority on this one as the reviews were sparkling with stars so by all means read it yourself and make up your own mind.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
AFE5FKDVPY6SVXFPSQPO...
✓ Verified Purchase
slow starter
Liesl & Po jumps right into its alternate universe where the sun no longer shines and ghosts from The Other Side are able to communicate with The Living Side. The lack of setup resulted in me feeling frustrated a number of times. I stopped reading for over a month before I was able to get past my annoyance at plot points. Once I got through the first few chapters, Liesl & Po progressed into a much more enjoyable book. The initial chapters introduce the various characters, but there's no real sense of connection until they all come together late in the book. That's when the story picks up after an excruciatingly long introduction of characters and little action. The book is fairly grim with a stepmother attempting to kill Liesl (after killing the girl's father) so the evil woman can inherit all the money, which makes the suggested Middle Grade reading level a little young, in my opinion. Despite my early hesitations, I did enjoy Liesl & Po by the end.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
AHG7BUKLA7UN24S6UHFO...
✓ Verified Purchase
Interesting...but lacks some depth
ARC provided by netGalley
Liesl lives in a attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother after her father passed away. She's all alone, until one night Po appears from the side beyond the grave. Will, an alchemist's apprentice, messes up an important delivery--the most powerful magic the world has ever known. Will, Liesl, and Po's paths intertwine one night and the world is never the same afterwards.
While this was an interesting, and a somewhat engaging story, there were times where it made me want to rip my hair out. The author introduces seemingly random plot points that either have nothing to do with the story or everything to do with it, but without a lot of information. For example, we're told that Mo's sister is missing and it keeps being brought up until the author says something to the effect "but we won't discuss this anymore." Why did bring it up to begin with then? Or there's the case of the major plot point of the sun missing. All we're told is that it went missing, but nothing about when or why or is it gone everywhere...and then well its a pretty big plot point so I won't mention further.
One of the things the author does well is give a lot of information about the characters. We can picture them clearly in our mind and know what they look like with glorious detail. Yet at times this is also a downfall to the writing. Every minor character, even the ones that we only see for two seconds, are described with such detail it led me to believe that I would see them again, after all why describe in such depth the person that you see on the street if they don't have a central part to the story? I know it sounds like a weird thing to mention, but it started cluttering my head up with characters that I would never see again and didn't need to care about to begin with.
Perhaps I'm just not the right age for this book. Perhaps younger readers will just read and gloss over these things that bothered me. But, for me it's just not the right book. I'm glad to see it's the right book for others and I hope they'll be able to recommend it, but I just can't.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
AGQLIVRC4THQRBQB2UG2...
✓ Verified Purchase
Creative and Spooky Middle Reader
How dark can a middle reader book go? If you consider the Grimm Brother's fairy tales, they can be awfully grim (yeah, yeah, bad pun attempted!). In fact, I have often bought these classic fairy tales for baby showers, thinking I was doing a nice thing. After reading more and more of them this year, I realize I have been traumatizing all the young children in my family! So when I started reading Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, I was surprised by some of the darkness, but thrilled by the charming story underneath.
Liesl hasn't left the attic since her father's death. Her stepmother makes her stay there to keep her safe. Safe from what, Liesl doesn't know. Will is the orphaned assistant of a mean and nasty alchemist. His only highlight in running the alchemist's errands throughout the middle of the night is seeing the girl in the window of the attic. That girl is Liesl. She doesn't know he is out there, but he can't stop thinking about her. He thinks about her so much that he accidentally takes the wrong box to the Lady Premiere. He is supposed to bring her a box of the darkest and strongest magic the alchemist has every made, the same magic that has taken away the sun for over 1700 days, but instead he grabs the box of Liesl's father's ashes. The box of magic is inadvertently delivered to Liesl's stepmom instead of the ashes.
When Po, a ghost boy, comes to visit Liesl in the attic, he helps her connect to her father. There she learns her father wants his ashes brought to their old house where her mother is buried so he can finally cross over and be at peace. Po helps Liesl escape the attic so he can get her to the old house. Along the way, a series of mistakes, switches, misunderstandings, and plain old silliness leads to an adventure where Will, Po, and Liesl try to put her father to rest while everyone else in the countryside is out looking for them. What no one knows is that the magic box might be more powerful than any of them could imagine, but love is more powerful.
Some people might disagree, but I think you can have some darkness to a middle reader, especially if there is an ending where everything works out for the better. I think the Grimm's fairy tales are too dark even for my 30 year old self, of course! But this book had just enough dark and just enough softness to balance it out. You want Will and Liesl to make it to their destination, but all the mix-ups and silliness throughout the story keeps you hanging on until the last page thinking, "What could possibly happen NOW?!" I admit the story was a little hard to get into at first, and some key details weren't revealed until 1/3 of the book had passed. That, sadly, might make it too hard for the reader, especially a younger reader, to get into the book, at which point they would miss this exciting little gem!
As a middle reader, there isn't any sexual content, but there is some death and murder and Liesl is certainly abused by her stepmother. Nothing is too graphic or overdone, so the happy coincidences will balance those out fairly well. It is one of those fun stories where the circumstances change just by chance over and over again, helping the main characters out in ways they couldn't possibly know. It is a great way to make the reader feel most connected to the story- they know more than the characters do! I think this is a fun little ghost story, where the ghosts aren't what you should be afraid of!
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
AHEJYZGHJQJBIPV72KJV...
✓ Verified Purchase
A story that is equal parts dark and hopeful...
Did I like this book? Yes! Would I hand it to a child to read?... um... Maybe. I would be careful. This book talks about death, a lot. Po is a ghost, so it sort of goes with the territory. It will definitely raise questions about death, and the beyond. This is not a bad thing, but it is something for parents to keep in mind. Also, there is quite a bit of gross humor that boys might like. (mainly potions using nasty animals and people parts)
With that out of the way, I found this story to be dark, quirky, charming, hopeful, and interesting. Liesl escapes from attic of her step-mothers house with her new ghost-friend Po in order to bury a box filled with her father's ashes. Along the way she meets Will, a young boy who has an equally hard "home life", and together they dodge harmful and even misunderstood helpful adults to make their way to Liesl's designated burial spot.
There are a few beautiful quotes to be found, and the book's depth goes as far as the reader is willing to travel with it. My favorite line comes from Liesl, who has to explain to Po (the ghost who is losing touch with his humanity) why she is sorry that he feels tired. She says "People need other people to feel things for them...it gets lonely to feel things all by yourself." (p. 39)
And then my other favorite line, and the reason that I can classify this story as both dark and hopeful, comes towards the end, where the narrator tells us "...if you do not believe that hearts can bloom suddenly bigger, and that love can open like a flower out of even the hardest places, then I am afraid that for you the road will be long and brown and barren, and you will have trouble finding the light. But if you do believe, then you already know all about magic." (p. 306) I absolutely love that. The older I get, the more amazed I am at the spectrum of emotion a single human heart can feel, but underneath all of this, I would like to believe that love can heal, grow and change people- even in the midst of- or despite pain. That is a theme I hope every child learns.
3 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
AHLF4KHIC5DSUO77EQ2C...
✓ Verified Purchase
Read it. Listen to it. You won’t be disappointed.
I highly recommend listening to this book. The narrator is Jim Dale who, if you don’t know, narrated the Harry Potter series. This mans voice is everything!! However, I’ve noticed he only narrates the best of the best of books. And Liesl and Po? Is one of those books. I love the middle grade, fairy tale vibes from this story and world. Read it. Listen to it. You won’t be disappointed.
2 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
AGFXCRUOJGV7TEMBLX3O...
✓ Verified Purchase
An okay middle grade, though definitely not perfect
This book was just... okay. I thought the story was fine, characters were fine, plot was fine, and so on. But there were definitely things that bothered me. First of all, it was WAY too coincidental for my liking. Everyone just kind of stumbled into the situations they needed to be in. And secondly, the air always smelled of "mystery" and "hope" and "dreams" (or something along those lines). That would be fine if it was used sparingly, but it was used ALL THE TIME. It made me feel like the author was trying too hard to be "deep."
With that said, I did really like the setting. Though I wish there had been a little more detail into WHERE they were exactly or WHY the world was in the state it was in or WHAT it had been like before. So... it was good, but vague. And the overall idea of the plot was pretty nifty. It almost felt like a fairy tale.
But all-in-all it wasn't a favorite. Then again, I just don't really like middle grade. I'm not sure why I keep trying to read it. HOWEVER I don't think the coincidental-ness or the "deep" descriptions would bother a middle-grade reader. In which case this would probably be a GREAT book for MG readers that would appeal to both girls and boys.