The Beasties - Hardcover

Sleator, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525455981 ISBN 13: 9780525455981

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers, 1997

Synopsis

When Doug's family moves to the desolate northern woods, they find themselves thrust into the middle of a war between the area's loggers and a dying race of woodland creatures whose survival depends on human body parts.

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Reviews

Grade 4-5?Doug and his precocious younger sister move to a deep forest when their botanist father has the opportunity to study a rare fungus. Before they leave, Doug's friend warns him to stay away from the shadowy woods or the "beasties" will get him. It's not long before the siblings are lured into an underground passage and meet up with the creatures. At this point, the hairs on readers' arms will start to rise and the plot takes the bizarre twist so familiar in Sleator's titles. Doug, presented with several dilemmas, is forced to make uncomfortable decisions without really understanding his choices. Using his trademark techniques, Sleator sets the scene within everyday situations, introduces unusual plot elements with vivid description, develops the story line by leading readers though a labyrinth, and builds to an explosive ending with a message. The Beasties follows this format and includes sibling rivalry, forest conservation, respect for those who are less valued or understood, choices and decisions, friendship, and a healthy dose of the creepy. This is a quick read, with lots of suspense, but its real effectiveness lies in the way it introduces and explores issues of human choice and compassion, and the lingering questions after the reading is complete. The Beasties invites discussion as it delves into issues for which there are no easy answers. Sure to be popular with the author's many fans and a good choice to introduce his work to others.?Molly S. Kinney, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sleator (The Night the Heads Came, 1996, etc.) stretches plenty of catgut in this latest shocker about physical dismemberment. When 15-year-old Doug learns that his botanist father plans to relocate the family to the local forest, he isn't pleased about leaving school or having only his ten-year-old sister, Colette, for a buddy. His unease blossoms into full-blown anxiety when the family reaches their isolated home, a postcard from Twin Peaks, including the housekeeper, Mrs. Sloan, who sports a Halloween mask to cover the nose she can't afford to fix. Colette is unfazed, however, and when the pair discover a trapdoor in their backyard, she jumps down and makes friends with the beasties--or ``the family,'' as they call themselves--subterranean sub-human life forms forced to borrow body parts from humans in order to survive. Fingers, the blind second-in-command, explains that the family's health is linked to the woodlands, which are being deforested by a logging company (Sleator is vague on the details). The plot moves quickly, and soon a war between the beasties and the loggers erupts: All too soon, the remaining beastie tribes are licking their wounds and Doug donates one of his eyes to make Fingers the new queen. The only authentically bizarre moment comes when the children must explain to their parents what happened to Doug's eye. Lots of cheap tricks add up to a rushed and silly sideshow. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525455981
• ISBN 13: 9780525455981
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208