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Oct 13, 2011

Wendy Darling rated it:

Every once in awhile, a children's book comes along that whisks you away to another world--and if you're very lucky, at the end of the story, it's one that also illuminates your own. Liesl & Po extends a delightful invitation to wizardry and adventure, but it’s also a gentle and poignant rumination on love and loss.

Liesl has been locked away in her stepmother’s attic for a very long time, ever since her beloved father got sick. One night, a pensive ghost named Po appears in her room an More...

100 comments like (108 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Stephanie rated it:

Coincidences; mix-ups; harmless mistakes and switches. And so a story is born.

I usually do not read children's books, but when my good friend, Wendy, told me about it, I knew I couldn't resist. And I'm so glad I didn't. This book has that unputdownable quality to it. Lauren Oliver, this is the kind of magic that I fell in love with when I read Before I Fall.

Liesl is a young girl locked in an attic by her evil stepmother. It has been almost a year since she left the attic, let alo More...

9 comments like (17 people liked it)

Nov 20, 2011

Cait rated it:

If you don't have this on your to read list, put in not there right now.

Ahem. Come around, everyone, and join me and my cat in this amazing review of a truly amazing book.

Such a peaceful scene........my cat and me.

I know that I don't write many five-star reviews, or even give out many five-star ratings in general, which I why I waited a solid day to let my feelings germinate about whether or not that this book truly deserved such high praise from me. More...

25 comments like (31 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2011

K. rated it:

I must surrender my breath as it is threatening to choke me with all that this book put me through. Lauren Oliver's Liesl and Po is a beautiful, painfully moving declaration of love, loss, yearning, despair and discovery.

It is about a sad and lonely but hopeful and pretty little girl called Liesl who, with the help of her ghost friends boy-or-girl-but-most-likely-boy, Po and cat-or-dog-but-most-likely-dog, Bundle and young-but-poor-and-recently-homeless-former-apprentice, Will, sets o More...

7 comments like (11 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2011

Aly (Fantasy4eva) rated it:

From the moment you read the authors introduction which explains what inspired her to write this book - you find that the book is more than just another story, another project. It's a very big part of the author - it represents the passing of a best friend - it's personal. As the author mentions. LIESL & PO is the most personal book she has ever written. You flip to the first page with your eyes a little more wide open, aware, and even a little heavy hearted. Yet the world you discover beneath More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Giselle rated it:

A truly magical story! Liesl & Po will open your heart and make you reminisce on your childhood days when you believed in magic and when anything was possible.

The first thing I noticed and fell in love with in this book was the wonderful illustrations inside it's pages:

Also, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found under the dust jacket:

These added greatly to the imagination and increased the charm of the story immensely. I loved the way the charact More...

3 comments like (18 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2011

BritishWotsit rated it:

Oh I wish this could have been a book I had read as a child.
Brilliant, magical and inspiring.

Lauren Oliver is one of the only authors in which I truly love each and every one of her books. (Alongside J.K Rowling). Delirium, the first book I read by her, was brilliant. Before I fall, the second, amazing. Liesl and Po, no different.
I can imagine this story being purchased by Disney, or Pixar, at any moment.

The book itself (the hardcover version) Is a More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2011

Halley rated it:

This novel is absolutely stunning and ethereal.Liesl is a recent orphan who has been locked into the attic by her evil stepmother. Three days after her father dies, a child ghost named Po, and his pet, Bundle, cross into the living world in order to see why she no longer draws. At this same moment, an alchemist’s apprentice named Will is standing on the street, looking up into her attic, and wondering the same question. Incidentally, Will is also holding a box containing the most powerful More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2012

The Holy Terror rated it:

This is a lovely book recommended to me by Wendy Darling - go read her review for a much more in depth look into this book. I had never read Lauren Oliver's work before, but now I definitely want to seek her other books out. The story is one that reminds me a great deal of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, a book that I also enjoyed immensely, so if you liked Liesl and Po and want something similar to read I urge you to check out Valente's book.

Befor More...

14 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Tara Lindsay rated it:

Just finished the ARC of this. Probably the best middle grade book I have read since Gregor the Overlander, and better in some ways. Adorable, outstanding, phenomenal. Pick a positive adjective and it works for this book. It is beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, real, and fantastic.

The style reminded me of Lemony Snicket, clever with author's asides throughout; the tongue-in-cheek flavor of a ready-made classic. It has the feeling of comedy but the depth of drama, characters to love and More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

prettybooks rated it:

I met Lauren Oliver back in February 2011 and I thought she was lovely and so American (I hadn't met many Americans before!). All three of her novels: Before I Fall, Delirium, and Liesl & Po are very different from each other but are equally as good. She has a talent for writing realistic fiction, dystopian fiction and now children's fiction.

Liesl & Po is a story about a young girl's bereavement and how a ghost and a lonely alchemist's apprentice help her fulfil her father's wish: h More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2011

Paige rated it:

so. cute.

I recieved an ARC from a teen library group that I'm on. :D

So, first things first: I have wanted an ARC forever. I have always dreamed of it, wanted to see the typos and unfinished artwork, wanted to be one of those people who gets to see the story first. And finally, I got one.

I'd hoped that it would be amazing. But I promised myself, even if the story stunk, I would still keep it on my bookshelf. It would be an ARC, mine, something to be proud of. More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Alison rated it:

I thought the writing in this book was lovely, but I was underwhelmed by the story, which I felt was not especially unique and periodically bogged down by excessive detail. (There was WAY too much backstory on each of the adult characters!) All in all, this is a sweet, nice read, but it just didn't make any significant ripples for me.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Marika rated it:

I was immediately captivated by the cover of Liesl and Po. This was a magical book, a new fairy tale, a story with both great darkness and wondrous possibility. And then I started reading...and Oliver's text was exactly what the cover promised.

The story begins in a world without sunshine. Liesl is locked in the attic by her stepmother and her father is recently deceased. Po and Bundle are dark ghosts who are attracted to Liesl's drawings and Will is an orphaned alchemist's apprentice w More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Kyle rated it:

Since I'm a fan of procrastination, and I like writing reviews, I've decided to combine the two and procrastinate homework by writing a review (which I admittedly should do more of, but that's beside the point).

Now, I read Lauren Oliver's sophomore/debut in the dystopian genre novel, Delirium, back in November after going back and forth on it because of the slow pacing in the first quarter of the novel. I appreciated the wonderfully poetic writing, how plausible the love story felt, More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 03, 2011

Jona rated it:

I'd like to give a good review about this book, but you know, I'm lost of words. I really loved it, and just like the author, I guess this book also mean something to me.

It started a bit quite fast, Liesl seeing the ghost Po in his room. I thought it will start with her family background or anything in particular. And while reading it, books of Cornelia Funke came into my mind. It is somehow familiar with her book, The Thief Lord. Its just that Funke is way better than her, well I th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Liza rated it:

Fabulous book with cool drawings to accompany the story. I read the ARC of this MG novel by the brilliant Lauren Oliver back in August. It will be out on October 4th and I want to encourage everyone to put it on their to-read list. In a letter to the reader, Lauren says that she wrote the novel in a "concentrated two-month period at the end of 2009." She had recently lost one of her best friends and was working through the tough emotions connected to the loss, fantasizing about taking More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Laura rated it:

Pure magic! An adorable read with some powerful messages. It has it all from magic in powders and potions to magic in the heart, ghosts on this side and the other, and serendipitous connections that will make you shake your head in awe. A magical book I would recommend to readers of all ages (especially Lauren Oliver fans).

Lauren Oliver has this amazing knack of just ripping my heart out when I am not looking. Here I am reading a young, middle school aged book, fully emerged in t More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Shanyn rated it:

Ahhh I am so charmed by Liesl and Po!

I was first delighted by the fairy tale storytelling of Plain Kate by Erin Bow, which I found excellent; Liesl and Po is a book worthy of the same praises.

Liesl, Po, and Bundle are a quirky trio who are on an adventure together. Pair that with alternating chapters where we meet Will, and you'll be reading long into the night with a huge smile on your face.

This is a perfect read-aloud for a classroom or family, particularly More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2012

Barb rated it:

Liesl is locked in the attic by her evil stepmother. She is sad because she wasn’t able to see her sick father in the hospital and talk to him before he died. When a boy ghost, Po, comes to visit her, she asks him to find her dead dad and tell him she misses him and say, ”Goodbye.” At the same time the alchemist’s apprentice, Will, has accidentally delivered a box of powerful magic to Liesl’s house instead of her father’s ashes. When Liesl decides to runaway and bury what she thinks is her fathe More...

0 comments like

Feb 12, 2012

Amy rated it:

Although this features a young girl called Liesl and she rides on a train that sets her on a life changing journey, this is not The Book Thief.

Liesl and Po, is a essentially a fairy tale. It's about loss, lonelyness, friendship, family, adventure and magic!

Liesl is 11 years old and is imprisoned in a tiny attic room by her stepmother. She whiles away the endless hours staring out of the tiny window, sleeping and drawing in the early hours of the morning. Three nights ag More...

0 comments like

Feb 08, 2012

Heather rated it:

For months now, Liesl has sat at her attic window gazing out upon the town. Usually she sits and draws the world that she no longer enters. Months ago her stepmother told her that the world was too dangerous for her and that she must remain inside where it is safe. After her father passed away, Liesl was even restricted from leaving her tiny room.

Will, the alchemist's apprentice, has been watching that girl in her window and he wonders what she is doing up there every evenin More...

0 comments like

Jan 24, 2012

Dyah rated it:

The amount of coincidences in this book is ridiculous, but I think it's okay since this book is intended for young readers (age 8-12). I cant help but think about Lady Yuuko from XXXHOLIC's famous phrase "there is no such thing as coincidence, everything is foreordained." It is true with this book, where everything seems to be all over the place but in the end, every piece falls into place nicely.

This is not only a book about friendship, but also about the importance to have More...

0 comments like

Jan 20, 2012

Sandra rated it:

I have always loved ghost stories. It never mattered if they were funny or scary. This was a great ghost story. This was one of those ghost stories that was full of evil people and ghosts who reach out and touch your heart. Liesl has recently lost her father. She misses him terribly. Her step-mother has kept her locked in the attic for months slowly starving her while her very own daughter has been forced to play the role of Liesl.

Will was an orphan adopted by an alchemist to b More...

0 comments like

Jan 14, 2012

Wendy rated it:

After Liesl's father got so sick he had to go to the hospital, her hateful stepmother, Augusta, put Liesl in the attic. She has been in the attic for almost a year, never allowed out of the room. She is brought a dismal meal twice a day and spends her time drawing. When her father finally passes away, Liesl is not only grieving, but upset she wasn't allowed to see him and tell him goodbye.

On the third day after her father's death, a ghost appears in Liesl's room. His name is Po and More...

0 comments like

Dec 31, 2011

Kelly rated it:

This story, set in alternate, magical Londonish city, is strongly reminiscent of The Golden Compass, but Liesl is no Lyra. The alchemist's young apprentice Will first sees Liesl framed in the golden light of her attic window, and that is how she remains to the reader -- pretty, languid, and more insubstantial than her ghost friend Po. Po may be dead but shows more initiative than sleepwalking Liesl, who is mourning the death of her parents and is half ready to join them on The Other Side.
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0 comments like

Dec 07, 2011

Marissa rated it:

The sun hasn’t shown in over 1,000 days, and it’s been three days since Liesl’s father died. Liesl has been locked up in her step-mother’s tower—to keep her out of harm’s way, of course—since her father died. One night, a cookie-cutter figure of a person materializes in her dark room, along with its pet companion. The ghost’s name is Po and it came from the Other Side. When asked if it is a boy or a girl, Po explains it doesn’t remember; on the Other Side, things are different. So begins the fri More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 21, 2011

Ms.Gaye rated it:

Liesl & Po is a fantasy that reads like a fairy tale. After the death of her father, Liesl's cruel stepmother locks her in the attic where sometimes at night the orphan boy Will watches her in the high window as he runs errands for the mean alchemist he is apprenticed to.

On one particular night, Will is sent to deliver a box containing "great magic...huge magic...the biggest ever made" by the alchemist. He should have gone straight to the Lady Premiere to deliver the magi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Pam rated it:

"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."

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0 comments like

Nov 06, 2011

Book Angel Emma rated it:

The beginning of this book starts with a personal note from Lauren Oliver that touched my heart and made me personally invested in the book, it was just such a beautiful and individual thing to do.

I also have to mention how amazing the illustrations are within this book; Kei Acedera really captured the identity of the characters and their interactions. The illustrations really added that something extra to the book making it something to treasure and pass onto future generations.
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)