The Beast and the Bethany is a wonderful book. ‘Wonderful’ isn’t a word that I used often to describe books, but in this case, it’s 100% appropriate. Sometimes we use ‘good’ to describe books, but that adjective can be subjective. What’s good for you, might not be good for me, or vice versa. Whereas ‘wonderful’ implies that it’s something that can be enjoyed by everyone at any time. The Beast and the Bethany is that sort of middle-school book. It’ll leave you smiling throughout, tickle your imagination in ways that the classic stories do and it has enough of a mean streak to intrigue those who normally wouldn’t touch it.
Older readers will immediately draw parallels between Lemony Snicket or some of the characters from Roald Dahl’s books, both of which are high praise. I would also include The Grinch Who Stole Christmas in those books. Ebenezer Tweezer lives with the beast in the book. He’s a 511-year-old man, living in a massive apartment building with just the two of them. And when The Beast and the Bethany starts, he’s as much of a Grinch as the spindly green creature who lives in the crags of that mountain ever was.
Tweezer is a dapper young adult who’s well-heeled with society and carries himself with confidence. As the book starts Ebenezer is looking for a rare bird. At their local bird store, he finds a lovely bird who can speak fluently and is highly intelligent. The shop keeper is quite proud of the bird and only wants him to go to the best home. As Tweezer seems like just the proper client for such a bird, the two leave the store and go back to his apartment. The beast is impressed with the bird also, and after a quick conversation between the two, the beast promptly eats the bird, sending plumes of feathers all about the apartment.
The beast has an appetite. The beast can also grant wishes beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. It has a potion that can make people never age. That’s why Tweezer is 511-years-old, yet looks like a man who is in his young 20’s. The beast can summon virtually anything from his stomach, from a piano to stacks of money. The only thing that the beast needs is to be fed and his appetite is getting stranger. Combine that with its surly demeanor, Tweezer’s desire to stay young forever, and a bratty girl at the orphanage named Bethany and you’ve got the ingredients of a whip-smart story.
What I found impressive about The Beast and the Bethany is how deft it was at evolving the characters throughout the book. Bethany and Tweezer enter into an adoptive relationship that’s on track to have a very short run. She shares information with the beast that turns things around and makes her one of the Whos in Whoville in our Grinch metaphor. Tweezer is a cruel, lying, unsympathetic character whose only devotion is to feeding the monster that he shares an apartment building with.
The Beast and the Bethany is a fun book that had me grinning from ear to ear when I was reading it. The ‘wonderful’ aspect carries over into how the book’s pacing is perfectly played out. It’s a natural progression that allows readers to experience a great heel in Tweezer and the beast, as well as, a crabby girl who just might have a great reason to be bitter, which we can also relate to.
The Beast and the Bethany is by Jack Meggitt-Phillips with illustrations by Isabelle Follath and on Simon & Schuster.
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