Beauty comes at a price. And no one knows that better than Ebenezer Tweezer, who has stayed beautiful for 511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as well as other presents.
But the beast grows ever greedier with each meal, and one day he announces that he’d like to eat a nice, juicy child next. Ebenezer has never done anything quite this terrible to hold onto his wonderful life. Still, he finds the absolutely snottiest, naughtiest, and most frankly unpleasant child he can and prepares to feed her to the beast.
The child, Bethany, may just be more than Ebenezer bargained for. She’s certainly a really rather rude houseguest, but Ebenezer still finds himself wishing she didn’t have to be gobbled up after all. Could it be Bethany is less meal-worthy and more…friend-worthy?
Book source ~ TWR Tour
Author ~ Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Illustrator ~ Isabelle Follath
Middle Grade | Fantasy
240 Pages
My Rating ~ 4 bites
Ebenezer Tweezer (hehe
it rhymes) is 511 yrs old. Say what? Yep. You read that right. Is he a vampire?
Is it magic? Nope and sorta. In order to stay young Ebenezer has to feed a
beast who lives in the attic of his 15 story (!) house. Feed the beast and the
beast coughs up a magical youth potion which The Ebmeister has to take once a
year. The rest of the year, the beast coughs up whatever Ebbie desires. Sounds
easy, right? And for a while it was. But then the beast started demanding more
exotic fare which bothered Ebenezer a bit, but not enough to give up his youth.
When the beast demands a child to eat, that’s when things fall to pieces. Not
literally though I wouldn’t have been surprised.
So, who wouldn’t want a
magical beast, no matter how gross and stinky, to barf up anything you want
including potions to stay young and all you had to do was feed it things it
considers nommable? Considering I cleaned up after six kids (not to mention
many furkids) I think I could handle that. But feeding a child to it? Even one
so extremely bratty as Bethany? I’d have to draw the line. Probably. I mean, definitely.
If you’re looking for a
wildly fantastic tail tale that is reminiscent of Lemony Snicket then
look no further. This is one middle grade fantasy that will entertain as well
as horrify, has great characters, a decent plot, and splashes of humor tossed
into the mix. In fact, I believe it would be perfect to feed to the beast.
Quite unique and eminently satisfying.
Pre-Order today!
Pubs October 1st on Amazon UK
Pubs December 8th elsewhere
Jack Meggitt Phillips is an incredibly exciting new talent. He is an author, scriptwriter and playwright whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on Radio 4. He is scriptwriter and presenter of The History of Advertising podcast. In his mind, Jack is an enormously talented ballroom dancer, however his enthusiasm far surpasses his actual talent. Jack lives in north London where he spends most of his time drinking peculiar teas and reading PG Wodehouse novels.
Isabelle Follath is an
illustrator who has worked in advertising, fashion magazines and book
publishing, but her true passion lies in illustrating children’s books. She
also loves drinking an alarming amount of coffee, learning new crafts and looking
for the perfect greenish-gold colour. Isabellelives in Zurich, Switzerland.
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