One Beastly Beast (Two Aliens, Three Inventors, Four Fantastic Tales)
October 6, 2007 by Kelly Phillips Erb
Filed under Parenting
What’s better than one story? Two? Three? Four!Garth Nix‘ One Beastly Beast is a great compilation of four distinct stories for kids ages 7-11.
Nix’ intro says that he wrote his stories for himself because he has always loved stories about pirates, inventors and aliens. No matter the inspiration, the collection works really well.Let’s face it. It takes some effort to compete with kids these days. There are PlayStations, Wiis and other things I can’t quite figure out. Books sometimes get left by the wayside. But a good book? It’s way better than a PlayStation. It can take you to another world – and back – on your own terms, on your own timing. And, it makes you smarter (but don’t tell that to the kids).
That’s the great thing about Nix’ book. It’s perfectly targeted to this demographic. Each of the four stories averages about 40 pages – with lots of cool illustrations mixed in between (by the oh so awesome Brian Biggs, who also designed the cover). The fantasy stories are about pirates, serpents, aliens, inventors and monsters. But don’t worry, it’s not a nightmare-inducing collection. Instead, it really is a flight of fancy into the fantastical worlds that kids dream about…
The book, released as hardback in 2007, retails for about $15.99 – perfect for a gift. And though the cover and title say “boy” to me, there are enough nods to both genders that I think girls will like it, too (that said, if your child is a girly-girl, it might take some prodding to get her to pick it up at first). A cool read, just in time for Halloween.
