Technically well-crafted, this novel irked me again and again by reaching for the easiest stereotypes and reinforcing anti-feminist and body-shaming ideas.It's great to stare longingly at and then stalk a desirable and beautiful young girl!Young girls trapped by evil stepmothers want and need to be rescued and can have no agency in that other than drawing a picture in exchange for receiving help!If you are a horrible, evil person then you're big, heavy, and look like a toad! If you're wonderful (although naive and not very carefully thinking - but we hear you're good-hearted and everyone else is terrible and these two boys like you so you must be great), you're terribly pretty, and that of course means you're starvedly, waifishly, thin, blonde, pale, and have luminescent eyes!If someone seems like a good guy they are...and vice versa...and the solutions and problems are so carefully balanced and unsurprising it might kill you.But, the plotting is strong, the descriptions are well-crafted, and the audio book is read by Jim Dale and his voices for the characters made it irresistible. I had read a lot of buzz about this book when it came out and have had several students ask about a sequel to Oliver's Spindlers. I decided I needed to read Liesl and Po for those Oliver-loving students. Although I found throwing the bickering, reunited siblings into the ending annoying I really liked this book. I highlighted many sentences and paragraphs that I especially liked - I do enjoy her writing style. I think a lot of my students would enjoy this story. Grades 4-8. Read May, 2014
What do You think about Liesl And Po (2011)?
A little morbid, a lot about death, good for fans of Gaiman's Graveyard Book.
—Jasper
Magical, poignant, dark and with rich unexpected characters. Loved it.
—Jade
Una bella favola moderna dagli echi dickensiani.
—valeriekmoreno17
