Joel Stewart

Dexter Bexley scoots right into a BIG BLUE A BIG BLUE BEASTIE! The big blue beastie tells Dexter that he looks tasty and he wants to eat him up, but Dexter has a much better idea. They both scooted until the Beastie is bored again and wants to eat Dexter. In the end Dexter runs out of ideas but the beastie has an idea! He buys a lollipop and becomes full. The Beast is not so hungry or bored anymore now that he found a friend. This book teaches children about a unlikely unique friendship.

The purpose of this book is to entertain and provide the reader with an author’s critique of each of the thirteen tales. I enjoyed the many stories that were compiled in this book and most notably did so with the help of the author’s structure/organization of the stories and the illustrations. Before a story is introduced, the author includes the history and review of the story, giving the reader background knowledge to help them better understand the story. For example, the story The show more Tinderbox was a story “plucked from the Arabian Nights, from Grimm, and from other familiar folklore, Aladdin, Ali Baba,” etc. The reader also gets a chance to look at the illustration, title, and review of the authors critique before reading the story. The illustrations help reinforce the major events that are taking place in the stories. For example, in the story Thumbelina we notice that there is an illustration from the time she was born (tulip picture), from the time a toad, beetle, and mouse try to kidnap her. In the story The Emperor’s New Clothes, the illustration of the emperor (pg. 53) looking at himself in the mirror naked reinforce the plot that there are two tricksters that try to convince the emperor that if he can’t see his close then he is a fool. show less

Very good story with a developing and growing plot! The boy outsmarts the blue beastie who wants to eat him, and they eventually become friends!