Tuesday, 9 June 2020
#Booky100Keepers Day 37: "The Liszts" by Kyo Maclear and Julia Sarda (Andersen Children's Books)
Mama Liszt, Papa Liszt, Winifred, Edward, Frederick and Grandpa Liszt make lists all day long. Even their cat makes lists, but when a peculiar and eccentric stranger worms his way into their home, he's definitely NOT on any of their lists at all!
What does this stranger want? Is he a hairdresser (certainly not with the strange style he wears). Can he mend the roof? Is he here to drag Grandpa off kicking and screaming to face justice?
I remember reading this for the first time and wondering quite how Kyo Maclear and Julia Sarda got this through the rigorous children's publishing machine - but we're absolutely thankful that they did manage it somehow. For starters, this book brought Julia Sarda's truly amazing artwork to public attention for the first time, crammed with a ton of awesome little references and details, and truly stunning to behold (Julia has since gone on to illustrate so many of our "Book of the Week" books and may yet crop up again in our #Booky100Keepers list, watch out for her!)
The story is like a peculiar mash-up of The Addams Family (which we also love to bits, well the classic comic strips and stories, and the Raul Julia / Angelica Huston movies - certainly not the modern remake, ugh!) and weirdly also reminded us of Gerald Durrell's books.
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| There is order in this chaos. The order...of LISTS! |
When I was a teen I fell in love with a girl like Winifred as well, so that may also be why this one was a particular hit with me. In essence though, what you have here is the prime example of a children's picture book that picks up the rule book and punts it straight into the reeds. Brilliant, original, surreal and thoroughly unmissable.
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| I swear Winifred has the same vinyl collection I had as a teen. Nina Hagen and Bowie and Kraftwerk, oh my! |
Original Review Link:
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