title: Beast Friends Forever: Meet the Beast
author:  Nate Evans 
description: This well-plotted and fanciful opener promises a series that early chapter-book readers will appreciate. Nine-year-old Zeke and his little sister, Hannah, start having all manner of trouble after a package arrives from their father, who is stationed overseas. It turns out, after some preliminary investigation and humorous mini mysteries, that the source of the problem is Otto, a smelly but essentially sweet little monster who saved himself from drowning by hitching a ride on their fathers aircraft carrier. Set in the kids house, school, and neighborhood, the tale unfolds with a few nicely handled subplots, including one about a bully who is eventually bested by the beast. Its likely that the nasty fellow will need to be reconquered again in future episodes, adding a dynamic that readers will enjoy anticipating in addition to sillier high jinks from Otto. Bouncy cartoon illustrations and a few passages in comic-strip format punctuate the brief chapters, but the narrative is seamless despite these multiple storytelling approaches. A good start to the Beast Friends Forever series. Grades 2-4. --Francisca Goldsmith
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Age is just a number.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pryderi has known Nate was his mate for weeks—way too long not to tell him.
  But Pryderi grew up with rejection, and he isn’t sure he has the courage to
  possibly face it again, especially coming from the man he’s been falling in
  love with from afar and who represents his future. He’s not going to gain
  anything by watching Nate from afar, though.
  
  
  Nate’s world gets upended over just a few days. First Pryderi, the cute Nix
  he’s noticed more than he likes to admit, tells him they’re mates, then the
  brother he thought was dead for the past ten years suddenly comes back with
  the Beasts after him. Nate isn’t sure how to deal with any of them, but Calvin
  has always been the center of his world, and that hasn’t changed.
  
  
  Pryderi has a hard time getting through to Nate, who’s terrified of losing him
  like he thought he’d lost his brother. The fact that Pryderi is working
  undercover in Nate’s bar to try to find the last members of the Beasts still
  