Reader's Journal #5- Beastly by Alex Flinn

#5                                                  Reader’s Journal                                                  9/26/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            This week I started reading a folktale book called Beastly by Alex Flinn. Usually books take a while to get exciting, but I enjoyed it from the beginning.

           

            While reading, I noticed a quote on the first page that really stood out to me:

“’I am allowing the world to see you as you truly are,’ Kendra said. ‘A beast.’

And then I was pouncing on her, my claws dragging into the flesh of her neck. I was an animal, and my animal voice formed not words, but sounds I could’ve formed before. My animal claws raked her clothes, then her flesh. I smelled blood, and I knew without even having words for it that I could kill her like the animal I was.

But some human part of me made me say, ‘What have you done? Change me back! Change me back, or I’ll kill you.’ My voice was beyond recognition as I howled, ‘I’ll kill you.’

Then, suddenly, I felt myself being lifted off her. I started to see her ripped flesh, then her clothes repair themselves like they’ never been torn.

‘You cant ill me, she said. ‘I will simply move on to a new form, perhaps a bird or a fish or a lizard. And changing you back isn’t up to me. Its up to you.’”

            I chose this quote because it is such an important passage from the story. Also, it hooked me into reading the book. 

            While reading I used many different strategies. Before reading, I skimmed and scanned the book for text features. I noticed that the book was divided into different parts and chapters. There are 6 parts each with about 5 chapters in them. Also before reading read the synopsis and the excerpt from the book they chose (which was my quote), to make sure it would be interesting to me. While reading I wrote down figurative language I found throughout the book. I also predicted that Kyle would transform back to human. After reading, I compared Beastly to the original fairytale it was written after, Beauty and the Beast. Also, I tried to confirm my prediction but wasn’t able to because I didn’t finish the book yet so I just thought about the literary elements and plot structure.

            I found many literary elements while reading this book. The genre is folktale and the subgenre is contemporary fairytale, because it has fairytale-like characters in a modern day setting. The main characters are Kyle Kingsbury, Magda, Kyle’s dad, and Kendra. The book is written in 1^st person in Kyle’s perspective so the author’s perspective is biased. Since Kyle is biased he makes it obvious that Kendra, the witch, and his dad are the antagonists and he is the protagonist; however, in a way I believe that Kendra is a protagonist because all she is trying to do is help Kyle learn a lesson. All the main characters are round and dynamic. Some foil characters are Mr. Anderson, SilentMaid, Froggie, and Grizzlyguy. These characters are all part of Kyle’s Internet site for people who have transformed. They are very dynamic but not round enough to be considered protagonists or antagonists. The story takes place in New York City and then Brooklyn, New York in a “castle” in modern times. The weather conditions vary throughout the book and one social condition is that a witch tested Kyle to see if he didn’t judge people by looks and he didn’t pass. He was transformed into a beast.

            The exposition is when Kyle’s personality and the setting are explained. The rising action is when Kyle meets Kendra, goes to his school dance, and embarrasses her. The climax is when Kyle gets transformed into a beast. I am still on the falling action, which is when he tries to find a girl to break his curse. I didn’t see the movie but I think there is another climax. The theme is definitely not to judge a book by its cover. The tone is entertaining and the mood is amused. I hope to read more books by this author to find out his motif. The pattern of organization is climatic order and the author’s purpose is to entertain. The conflict is Man vs. Self because Kyle’s main conflict is that he has to find a girl to change him back to human.

            I didn’t indentify so many different figurative language because since this was fairytale, some of the things the author included were actually real things. However some I did find are, “’They’re sheep following the heard’” is a metaphor. “’I’m as old as the ages, and as young as dawn’” is a simile.

            In all, I really enjoyed reading this book. I think I might see the movie because of this book. I rate it a 10 out of 10 stars and recommend it to anyone in middle school and high school.

Sincerely,

Bailey Levy