The Beasties

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Summary: The Beasties
Review: The Beasties, by William Sleator, is nothing more than an over-the-top fantasy. The idea of hairy people with sewn on limbs and features is disgusting. And to add to it they live in secret underground tunnels. They also have a queen who is an unimportant hag. If yo ask me, you'd have more fun reading the dictionary than this book. In general it's about a family who has to move to the woods. The kids, Doug and Collete dicover a trap door that leads to underground tunnels. All in all you will find that the end is the dumbest part of all. There were some good parts in this book, but not very many. The desription of the "beasties" was vivid as well as the description of other characters too. Sleator does use good word choice to make the story easier to understand. So, it is a rather graphic book. His dialogue that he wrote was very good as well. And I suppose if you look at it from an ameteur perspective, you might say this is pretty good science-fiction. In conclusion, I would say read The Beasties if your're a semi sci-fi type of person. If you're not , then don't waste your time. If you want something truly wierd or supernatural then get a comic book or something. Based on this book, in my mind, Sleator is not showing true sci-fi author characteristics. True sci-fi writers are people like Gene Rodenberry or Isaac Asimov. So when it comes to a book like The Beasties, use your best judgement.

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Summary: Phat Book Great ending!!!!
Review: The book The Beasties is a horror story with a twist. It takes place in the middle forest. The two main characters are the narrator, who is afraid of almost everything, and his brainy sister Meg. They uncover a secret race of underground creatures called beasties. The beasties are trying to save the forest from lumberjacks and the kids try to help them. The lumberjacks find out about the beasties and confront them. Then there is a final fight between the beasties and the lumberjacks. The author is William Sleator and he is a great writer. He told the story using first person point of view and it was great. It was told by a boy and he didn't know everything that was going on, so you don't figure everything out until the very end. Kids my age can relate to this book because kids save the day. There aren't really any problems with the writing, but it does drag on from time to time. This book is much better than any other book I've read. I really like this book and I'm glad I read it.

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Summary: Exciting but maybe too scary for the age group
Review: There is no doubt this is an exciting book. It has suspense, danger and lots of unknowns. My concern is how literally kids take it. I would say this is a good junior high book for lower level readers but I don't think 9-11 year olds are really ready to handle some of the questions it brings up.

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Summary: Scary, but weird
Review: They wasa boy and a girl Maned Doug and Colette thier family moved out to the woods so that his father could do his research on fungus because he was a scientist. so on there way there they run into a park fanger with one ear and there house keeper had no nose so they thought they were coming up with clues about something. One day Doug and Colette went wondering aroud outside and found a little trapped door that showed them the way by puttinga baseball bat and a book by it colette went into it and they found the beasties.

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Summary: Beasties
Review: This a terrific book! I really loved it! I read it in language arts class. I think that teachers every where should read this book to their class and ask them what they thought of it.I've read this book two times because I just got it but I plan on reading it again and again. This book is about a boy {Doug} and a girl {Colette} moving to this house. The house looks like it has not been lived in for a long time. On the way they see some very weird stuff. I won't tell you any more about the book but later I will tell you about what the beasties look like. I truly think you will enjoy this book a lot if you read it. This book started off slow but toward the middle of the book it got ihnteresting. The beasties looks like this "It's shorter than a human, it has bristly white hair, pale skin, large eyes, two teeth curved up and two curved down, long noise, no chain, high cheeck bones." I also did not like the book in some parts. It gets confusing sometimes and you don't know what's going on but then you read it more and more then you will understand it. It took me a couple of times to get it but once you get it it is fun to read. If you're interested in science fiction then you will love this book. I know my teacher likes it and so do I. This is a great book and I suggest you read it. Enjoy!

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Summary: O.K. for what it is, but nothing impressive...
Review: This book did not really impress me... it seemed o.k. considering that it IS a preteen novel... but the characters where so undeveloped and the plotline seemed so repetitive... "the kids go underground with the beasties, they come out, they go back, they come out..." And the protagonist (main character for all of you kiddies out there), Doug, seemed such a wimp considering he was 15-year-old guy. Most 15-year-old guys I know would much rather be with their girlfriend or playing on some gaming system rather than being creeped out with their younger sister about some beings that steal body parts. And the whole ending thing? What was up with that? Very pathetic and again, unrealistic. This story seems to be plagued with undevoped false characters and unrealism. Two big thumbs way down.

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Summary: Awesome
Review: This book is about a family that moved from the city into the country. Their mom was referred to mom. Their dad was referred to as Dad. There was a sister. Her name was Colette. And there was a boy his name was Doug. The parents mostly kept to themselves until eating hours. Or whenever the kids were suspicious. Colette also kept to her self. She mostly read books and hated going outside. She hated the fact that she lived in the middle of nowhere. Doug he liked living out in the country. He loved to go hiking, camping, and all of that outdoorsman stuff like that. They also had a maid her name was Mrs. Sloan. She had a mask on because her nose was gone. Then there is the other race they are referred to as beasties. There were mainly two beasties that were tied into the plot. After I read this book I was so amazed by the ending. I would also like to recommend this book to anyone who likes a suspenseful, keep u on the edge of your seat, then this book is for you.

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Summary: The Beasties
Review: This book is definately a 4 star. It is excellent. It cleary sends the message that everyone deserves a second chance.In this story Doug and Colette are supposed to meet the Beasties but Doug, who is in the 10th grade, chickens out. Colette, who is in the 5th grade, goes and then the family (Beasties) decides they are going to kill Doug since he didn't show up. Fingers, an important Beastie, saves his life and he returns the favor. In order to be Queen, Fingers needs something, and at the end she might get that one thing. It's a win - win situation. There were a couple of things I didn't like such as the ending. It's a little too predictable. Also they did some things children wouldn't do such as going back in the tunnel. Children also would tell you that they saw something like the Beasties(family). Another thing is I didn't like was that they killed adults for no reason or wounded them. I think everyone should read The Beasties by William Sleator because it is so good. It teaches everyone a life lesson. You should always believe your friends even if they are a little crazy. Like Al he always was talking crazy. But when he told about his uncle getting his legged torn off by the Beasties it was true. William Sleator probably made Al up from Leah that you can read about in Odd Balls probably and it turned out that something's she said were true. So if you like great books and need a book to read then read Beasties by William Sleator.

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Summary: THE BEASTIES Book Review by: Ted Krause
Review: This book is intelegentely written, and peiced together to create a seat grasping plot. The Beasties is about a family that moves to the forest because of the father's work as a botanist. Doug, a 15 year old boy, and his 10 year old sister Colette, find an interesting surprise just after they arrive at their new house. Gifts for the both of them lying on the ground outside. The gifts lead them to finding a colony of beasties, that live underground. The strange friendship between the two kids and the beasties grow. The beasties soon send the children on a mission to find the logging camp and make a map of the whole place so they can raid it at night. The story breaks into a war between loggers and beasties. The war leads into a sacrifice by one of the kids. Which one will it be? Read William Sleator's THE BEASTIES to find out.

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Summary: One of William Sleators best! A must-read!
Review: This book is simple enough for anyone to understand, but has unbelievable and exciting plot twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It wonderfully tells the story for a child's unbaised view reminsent of "To Kill and Mocking Bird." Although some say it has an icky-ness to it, it plainy shows a truth behind deforestation and gives the reader a new insight into the conflicts between progress and nature.