Guest Review: The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Today we have a very special first-time-ever guest review by my 8-year-old daughter Alexis, who would like to share with you her thoughts on The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips with illustrations by Isabelle Follath.
The following is transcribed by mom, who also read the book (her own commentary to be included at the end):
The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, Illustrated by Isabelle Follath
Alexis’ Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Series: Stand Alone/Book 1
Publisher: Aladdin (December 8, 2020)
Length: 240 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
So, this book I read is called The Beast and the Bethany, but the story is actually about a man named Ebenezer Tweezer who is 511 years old even though he doesn’t look a day over 20. He is able to stay so young because on the fifteenth floor of his gigantic house, there is this Beast—a big great grey blob with three black eyes, two tongues, and a huge mouth with lots of teeth. Whenever Ebenezer brings him very rare items to eat, like the world’s last dodo, the Beast would vomit out a youth potion for him to drink.
Then, one day, the Beast asks Ebenezer to bring him a human child to eat, because he’s never had one before. Ebenezer doesn’t want to, but he loves being young, handsome and alive more, so he is forced to do what the Beast says. First, he goes to the zoo to try to steal a kid there, but they screamed “Stranger danger!” and their parents got Ebenezer thrown out and a lifetime ban. So, then he tries to go to the orphanage to find the worst behaved kid to feed to the Beast. And that is how he meets Bethany, a rotten kid who would stick worms up other kids’ noses.
After a while though, Ebenezer becomes friends with Bethany and doesn’t really want to feed her to the Beast anymore, but if he doesn’t, that means he also won’t get his youth potion and he will die.
This was one of the best books I have ever read. It has a lot of action, because the characters come up with lots of interesting ways to solve their problems. The story is also very funny. There are a lot of jokes and I laughed a lot. One of my favorite parts was when Bethany made a huge mess out of Ebenezer’s house to make him angry, but he would just ignore her. Another funny part was the Beast, when he would try to play tricks. But he was also very mean and scary. The reason why I only give this book a 4.5 and not 5 stars is because there were also some sad parts.
My favorite character was Bethany, because I liked her personality. She wasn’t too bitter or too sweet, she was in the middle, kind of like me. Also, I loved how she stood up to the Beast even though he did some horrible things to her. At the beginning, I thought Ebenezer was kind of scary, feeding live things to the Beast. But then in the end he wasn’t that bad, and I kind of felt safer about him. He was a way better person at the end.
You should read this book because it’s really great, and it’s not that long and you can read it in a day. The pictures in it were really funny, and my favorite one was when Bethany was whacking Ebenezer’s face with a pillow because he said something to her that made her really angry (but I can’t tell you what it was, you have to read the book first). I think there will be a book two because there was a kind of to-be-continued ending. And what happened made me really nervous! But if there is another book, I would want to read it.
And there you have it! I have to say my daughter did take to this book in a way I’ve rarely seen, and even though the suggested age is 9-13, her reading and maturity levels made her the perfect target audience (of course, the fact that she likes fantasy and has a slightly twisted sense of humor also helped a lot). The writing was filled with rich detail to help kids remember, as well as the jokes that could also be appreciated by children and adults alike, as evidenced by the many chuckles the story elicited from me. No matter your age, you’ll find yourself completely enchanted and delighted by this wildly imaginative tale, hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure.
I was also pleased to find the blurb describing the book as “Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl” surprisingly accurate. It certainly does share many of the common themes and elements of my own childhood dark fantasy favorites like The Witches or The BFG, written in a similar captivating and crowd-pleasing style. If you have a child in your life who has a vivid imagination and loves to read, I would definitely recommend to them The Beast and the Bethany—they will be sure to have a blast with it.
The BiblioSanctum 
😀 well done
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She thanks everyone 🙂
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Congratulations on your first guest review Alexis, and welcome to the book-blogging world! 🙂
(and I’m sure Mama Mogsy is very, very proud…)
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Haha yep, I’m proud of her 😀
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Great girl, and a great review! I’ll pass that on to my eight-year-old granddaughter!
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Ooh, I think she’ll enjoy it very much!
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Fantastic review! This sounds like a great book, one that perhaps shows us that people aren’t always what we think, and that we can grow and change and become better people. You wouldn’t think Bethany and Ebenezer would become friends, being so different, so it’s interesting that they did. Glad to hear you both enjoyed this one.
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I think that’s the great thing about children’s books 😀
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This is adorable! Also I’m so impressed with Alexis’ writing: “She wasn’t too bitter or too sweet.” What 8 year old knows how to use the word “bitter”?😁
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She reads a lot, so I think for her age she’s got quite a decent vocabulary – I always have to encourage her to keep it up though, or else she’d rather be playing video games 😀
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Alexis did a great job reviewing this one Mogsy!!! I loved seeing this on your blog and a book having you laugh is always a gift!
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Thank you, I hope to make this a more regular feature if she’s up for it 🙂
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8 years old and already using half stars? I guess “somebody” in her life is a book reviewer! 😉
In a serious vein, your referencing Dahl gives this a HUGE boost for me. I love Dahl’s childrens book. His humor fits me to a T and I just laugh and laugh.
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LOL, I was actually shocked that she used a half star, I was sure she was going to give it a 5. She gave a good reason though, there were some not so happy moments (about Bethany being an orphan, etc), but for the most part, yes, lots of laughs! Definitely reminds me of my childhood days with a Roald Dahl book 🙂
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Lol, congrats to Alexis! Great review! 😀
I’m definitely interested in this one now 🙂
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Thank you for your kind words! Alexis appreciates it 😀
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Soon enough I’ll see her around WP with her own book blog, I’m sure! 😀
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Wow, this is awesome. Alexis is welcome to guest post on my blog whenever she’d like – I loved reading her thoughts on this.
Lynn 😀
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Haha, I’ll let her know your comment. I hope to get her reviewing more MG books in the future if she’s up for it 🙂
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This does sound fun!
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Yes, an MG book that actually feels MG but that I also enjoyed! 😀
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I enjoy reading MG fantasy and this does sound fun. I’m adding it to my TBR. I’m curious to see the illustrations.
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They were super cute! The story was also very enjoyable! I hope you get to check it out soon 🙂
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This seems really fun! I do need to get to more MG fantasy as well, I’ll keep it in mind. 🙂
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Sweet! It’s a good choice if you want a cute, swift read. Very uplifting at the end too 🙂
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