One Beastly Beast

Garth Nix (author)

Allen & Unwin, Australia: 2008; 224pp

ISBN: 9781741754681

Genres: adventure, fantasy, short story

Issues: giftedness, identity, independence

These delightful stories, full of eccentric characters and unexpected endings are just made to be shared. Great for reading aloud to a class, Garth Nix has once again provided entertaining, page-turning adventures that will attract the most reluctant reader. Highly recommended.

'Blackbread the Pirate' tells of Peter, an imaginative boy who is robbed by some rascally video pirates as he's returning some DVDs to the store. The navy comes to the rescue and Peter finds himself being magically shrunk so that he can join their quest in Neverworld.

'The Princess and the Beastly Beast' explores the frustrations of Princess Chlorinda, a warrior-maiden-in-training who is bored during the holidays. All her dreams seem to come true when she comes across an oversize monster. Using all her best warrior-maiden-in-training techniques, Chlorinda sets about saving the kingdom. The only problem is that the beastly beast isn't responding quite according to the rules...

'Bill the Inventor' is set in an orphanage - a good one, run by a nice woman who is keen for all her children to find kind adoptive parents. Bill has rejected some perfectly respectable parents so far - a pair of pirates, a witch and wizard, and an alien couple. But Bill is an inventor and he is determined not to give up his passion just for the sake of having parents - unless the right ones happen to turn up, of course.

'Serena the Sea Serpent' is the best of the quartet. Serena is an extremely brainy, knowledgeable girl, always right and especially good at problem solving. Being right all the time has a way of annoying people and Serena has learnt to keep her brilliance within the privacy of her family - until the arrival of a dreadful Sea Serpent threatens local shipping.