Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Lizard Music Review

Lizard Music by D. Manus Pinkwater

(from the book jacket)
When Victor’s parents go away for two weeks, leaving his older sister in charge, he is glad when she takes off on a vacation of her own.  Home alone, Victor can do anything he wants.  He stays up late, eats his pizza with anchovies, visits the zoo, and enjoys his favorite TV news program without interruption.

It is while staying up late watching television that he discovers evidence of a secret community of intelligent lizards, and that there seems to have been an invasion from outer space that went almost unnoticed.  In the course of some detective work, he meets Chicken Man, an eccentric with a hen in his hat who knows about these things.  Together, they visit the lizards in Thunderbolt City.




Victor is left all alone at home.  And what he does with his freedom is watch Walter Cronkite.  There is something endearing about this boy who is a little different from the other children he knows.  And as things that he cannot understand start to happen around him and he is all alone to figure it out he learns about what he is capable of.  Chicken Man, who helps him with his quest, is a quirky fun character.  (As is his chicken.)  Actually the whole story is quirky and fun.  It has a surreal feel to it because Victor and Chicken Man seem to see and know things the rest of the world doesn’t.  The world goes on around them as truly spectacular things happen and they are the only ones who notice.  I found it a fun read but it is dated and I think some things children today might not get.  But it is a light read, which I found nice.  It’s not that there is no thinking involved but there is no fighting for your life, or war or other horrible stuff going on.  It is a fun fantasy story.