Beastly

 
Flinn, Alex. Beastly. HarperTeen, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-06-087416-2

There's a reason the Beauty and the Beast tale as been retold so many times. The basic concept, the moral of the story, is a truth that so many of us wrestle with: "true beauty is found within", "beauty is not skin deep", "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"...

Flinn takes a new twist on an old story. Just as Suzanne Collins had a young boy fall through a hole in New York City in Greggor the Overlander (a twist on Alice in Wonderland), Flinn writes about the son of a celebrity who angers a witch disguised as his classmate. Also in New York City. (What is it about NYC that is so magical? See the entry on Wondrous Strange for more details.)

But it is not only the fact that Flinn made the Beast the protagonist that I appreciated about this retelling. I also enjoyed her fun, humorous perception and the fact that her writing was most obviously aimed at tweens. The first pages of the book depict a session of an online chat support group called "Unexpected Changes" that involves such characters as SilentMaid (we know her as the Little Mermaid), and Froggie (whom we know as the Frog Prince). These characters are not major players, but simply add comic relief, setting the tone for this fable about ordinary, modern-day teens who undergo extreme circumstances.

There is nothing new about this story, but the way Flinn tells it is refreshing. We can clearly see the ego, shallowness and lack of value for humanity in our beast, Kyle. The high school setting is wrought with typical teenage drama, cliques, and stereotypes. Our heroine, Lindy, is described as plain, with crooked teeth and unremarkable personality traits. Furthermore, Kyle's transformation is slow - about a year - and he must learn, by his forced solitude, to appreciate people, life, and true love.

I smiled at the end of this book. It was a pleasant escape with the familiarity of an old tale.

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Sidney, Margaret. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Watermill Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8164-1460-6
This book will only appeal to a certain type of tween. I have known ten and eleven year-olds who have both loved and lost interest in this book. A classic, written in 1881, focuses primarily on the daily lives of five poor children living with their widowed mother in a small, dilapidated house. As is typical of novels written for children about poverty, the Pepper children knew they were poor, but did not feel poor, as they were constantly surrounded by love and family.

Small joys, generosity, overcoming illness, and making new friends are all themes visited in this book, the first in the Five Little Peppers series. Anyone who has read the Anne of Green Gables series will understand the ability of an author to take something seemingly mundane to adults (such as baking a birthday cake) and turning it into quite a comical, emotional ride with witty remarks and clever storytelling.

Peppers stands out as a classic, written in simple sentence structure for young readers, that will surely enlighten the reader, teaching moral values and the simple joys of life.

The book can be viewed in its entirety via Project Gutenberg at http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2770