ONE BEASTLY BEAST
Two Aliens, Three Inventors, Four Fantastic Tales
by Garth Nix & illustrated by Brian Biggs
These four lighthearted fantasy and science-fiction tales feature heroic children in extremely silly adventures. In “Blackbread the Pirate,” Peter needs to rescue his rented DVDs from video pirates. Straightforward enough—but the video pirates are cutlass-wielding rats aboard the pirate ship Nasty Cupboard, and Peter defeats them with the help of a valiant rat navy and a massive wheel of stinky cheese. Princess Rinda, of “The Princess and the Beastly Beast,” goes looking for adventure and finds it in the form of a clockwork monster. “Bill the Inventor” is an orphan boy who was found wrapped in a big banana skin and who deftly avoids getting adopted by all the wrong sorts of parents, the kind who aren’t inventors: pirates, a witch and a wizard, space aliens. And brilliant Serena of “Serena and the Sea Serpent” turns into a “penguinmaid” in her quest to rescue the people of Blubber Point from a sea serpent. Thoroughly ridiculous and hugely enjoyable. (Fantasy. 8-10)