The Write Reads Tour | Book Review | The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Simon and Schuster Children’s
TBP Dec 8th 2020
240 Pages

Beauty comes at a price. And no one knows that better than Ebenezer Tweezer, who has stayed beautiful for 511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as well as other presents.

But the beast grows ever greedier with each meal, and one day he announces that he’d like to eat a nice, juicy child next. Ebenezer has never done anything quite this terrible to hold onto his wonderful life. Still, he finds the absolutely snottiest, naughtiest, and most frankly unpleasant child he can and prepares to feed her to the beast.

The child, Bethany, may just be more than Ebenezer bargained for. She’s certainly a really rather rude houseguest, but Ebenezer still finds himself wishing she didn’t have to be gobbled up after all. Could it be Bethany is less meal-worthy and more…friend-worthy?- Goodreads

I love when books switch things up. And I also love when books remind me of thing. In particular this book gives me “Little Shop of Horror” vibes ( my favorite musical btw). You know Seymour finds this plant that names it Audrey and feeds it his blood to grow and then Audrey demands more specifically a full human, so he gives him the nastiest person he can think of. . . the dentist.

So when I saw the summary of this book, that is what I thought of and just fell in love.

The writing style of this book is detailed, fun and at the same time you don’t feel as if the author added a bunch of fluff to drag the book. Ebenezer is a great villain because he doesn’t know he is a villain. Its not one of those good intention situations but its because he just don’t know. So anything really goes such as kidnapping a child even if it is a mean one.

There are mean and nasty children in the world. Seeing Bethany, although I don’t wish any child harm was interesting to read. Because on one hand you’re like why are you like this and on the other you’re like… well.

The characters were written extremely well.  I loved the pace of the novel and its creativity.

Overall,

4 Pickles

Book Review: The Dollar Kids by Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Ryan Andrews (illustrator)

Candlewick Press
Aug. 7th, 32018
416 Pages

Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover, a budding comic-book artist, is still reeling from the shooting death of his friend Abe when he stumbles across an article about a former mill town giving away homes for just one dollar. It not only seems like the perfect escape from Flintlock and all of the awful memories associated with the city, but an opportunity for his mum to run her very own business.

Fortunately, his family is willing to give it a try. But is the Dollar Program too good to be true? The homes are in horrible shape, and the locals are less than welcoming. Will Millville and the dollar house be the answer to the Grovers’ troubles? Or will they find they’ve traded one set of problems for another? From the author of Small as an Elephant and Paper Things comes a heart-tugging novel about guilt and grief, family and friendship, and, above all, community. -Goodreads

Long read but definitely worth it. There were a lot of messages/themes within this book. However, the biggest one that bothered me the most or should I say affected me the most was how the adults treated the new families, specifically the children.

The whole purpose of those families moving into these crap houses, is to fix them up and bring business into a dying a community. But the town, which voted for each family, are fairly rude and disrespectful to new comers. This occurs throughout the entire book and it really bothers me. New comers to a town, school, work anything is very hard to deal with it. It is even worst when people generally don’t want you there. I felt so bad, mostly for the kids, who were being call the dollar kids by the adults.

The shooting of Abe is an important part of the book but it stays a bit in the back burner. It’s the elephant in the room that doesn’t exactly show itself all the time but you know it is there. When the truth comes out and that guilt is released, you exhale because its the tension within the novel and you’re just happy to let it go.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It is simple but then complicated (in a good way) with overlapping issues that push the reader’s involvement on a emotional level. You are able to connect to the characters, not just Lowen but to everyone in the family and that is a hard thing to do as a writer knowing that more than likely adults will read your book.

I would recommend this read, especially for kids who need to see grief play out and see a different way to deal with your past and what looks like your future.

3 Pickles