Lizard Music

An ALA Notable BookKids ages 9-12 will delight in [the] oddness of this Home Alone-style tale set in the 1970sfrom a prolific childrens author who captures a magic thats not like anyone elses (Neil Gaiman). With Victors parents out of town, he is free to investigate the mysterious lizard musicians who have recently appeared on TV . . Things Victor loves: pizza with anchovies, grape soda, B movies aired at midnight, the evening news. And with his parents off at a resort and his older sister shirking her babysitting duties, Victor has plenty of time to indulge himself and to try a few things hes been curious about. Exploring the nearby city of Hogboro, he runs into a curious character known as the Chicken Man (a reference to his companion, an intelligent hen named Claudia who lives under his hat). The Chicken Man speaks brilliant nonsense, but he seems to be hip to the lizard musicians (real lizards, not men in lizard suits) whove begun appearing on Victors television after the broadcast of the late-late movie. Are the lizards from outer space? From other space? Together Victor and the Chicken Man, guided by the able Claudia, journey to the lizards floating island, a strange and fantastic place that operates with an inspired logic of its own.