As his parents go on a vacation without their children (to save their marriage), and his older sister sneaks off on her own vacation with friends, Victor finds himself home alone. Victor's plan is to do what every kid in this situation would do — enjoy the things he enjoys. In Victor's case, these things are: building model airplanes, watching news anchor Walter Cronkite, eating pizza with anchovies, going to the public swimming pool, and, of course, staying up late to watch horror movies.
That is how Victor first discovers the lizards and the music they are making, late at night on TV: Real lizards, with real instruments, and Victor just has to find out all about them.
But what starts off like the usual entertainment for the entire family, along the lines of "Kevin — Home Alone", however, turns into something else so about 25 pages into the book, I found myself thinking, "Oh no, please, not a Coming of Age story!" As Victor watches the horror movie "Invasion of the Pod People" — a movie of this name was actually produced in 2007; the movie Victor might have watched in the late 1970's was "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" — he understands how the concept of "pod people" refers to some people in his own life.
Now, a kid who is wondering about "becoming a pod" — that is definitely a Coming of Age story. But Mr. Pinkwater did not do to his protagonist what most authors of Coming of Age stories usually do — retelling their traumas, escalating conflicts until their total breakdown, and, by focusing on fighting the pod people, becoming pods themselves.
Not Victor. He makes friends with the Chicken Man, who tells him not worry too much about the pods, lest he become one of them.
They seem to be going through the motions of being human without really meaning it or understanding it Somehow, people who get all concerned about podism usually seem to wind up catching it.— the Chicken Man
And basically, that's it for the pods. The problem of podism will turn up in his life again and again, but Victor now has some good advice on how to deal with it, so he can go back to the more interesting issue of the lizards and their music.
Lizard Music is a stark contrast to another, less fictitious child of the late 1970s, Christiane F. (Christiane F. — Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo) Christiane F. was about Victor's age, and ended up ruining her life with heroin, directionless and confused. That book certainly inspired a new street fashion, and definitely added to my fascination for Berlin and David Bowie, but I can't remember learning anything from it, and I would not touch it with a pole of whatever length now.
Was Christiane F. a pod? Well, she lives in Berlin again, and the authorities took her child into custody. She did not do her homework; she just passed it on to the next generation, which is my definition of podism.
I will not tell you too much about Victor's adventures with the funky people he meets while looking for the lizards, or the adventures on the lizard island and Thunderbolt City. But it will not really lessen your joy in reading this book if I tell you that Victor will receive a very brief introduction to an alternative civilization, and concepts that might prove to be useful ammo against the conventions of the pod world.
Victor's adventure is not over after his short trip to the lizards; as the book ends, it is clear that Victor's real adventure is only just starting, and that he is well-equipped with all the things that all the other protagonists of Coming of Age stories usually just lose: hope, their sense of wonder, a plan, wishes, something useful to do, and confidence. Victor will be safe from drugs because no drugs could ever come close to Thunderbolt City and the Reynolds, the name by which the lizards are collectively known. Victor knows how to make friends, and explore the unknown; he will not have a major crisis fretting over how weird he is, or who he is to begin with, or if he will ever be loved, or be good enough.
So, as Lizard Music does address the issue of pod people (today, we might call them "sheeple"), I do not consider this a children's book: It should be one of the first books a kid reads once they are weaned off children's books. First and foremost, I want to recommend this book to parents who are worried their kid might become another Christiane F. Read Lizard Music, and then give it to your kid when she or he is about 9. It is also a good therapy book for everybody traumatized by other people's trauma stories.
The first book I ever read that was not a children's book was an an illustrated account of the Nazi crimes, and from what I can tell now, after years of undoing the brainwashing, this book was a continuation of the allied war propaganda. I will not attempt to describe what this book did to me, but it should be quite obvious that this was not suitable reading for a 7-year-old.
I first thought I would keep my copy of Lizard Music so I can re-read it, but now I think maybe my god child might want to learn English with this book, especially if he can listen to the author himself reading it.
A free audiobook, read by the author himself, can be downloaded from .
Apparently, Lizard Music is currently being made into a movie.
Two other upbeat movies about boys (with older, rebellious sisters) who are coming of age are "Almost Famous" and "Ferris Buler's Day Out".