A hungry beast, a magic potion, Ebenezer Tweezer, and a child who is about to be eaten. That pretty much sums up one of the most amazing and memorable books I have read. And let me say this, as a participant in the Battle of the Books club, I have been a bookworm lately. This highly illustrated and engaging book by Jack Meggitt Phillips entertains while teaching some solid life lessons.
A beast, a monster who keeps a man who is 512 years old, look young with a magic potion. Mr. Tweezer doesn't get to look young for free though. Mr. Tweezer brings the beast all kinds of exotic, unusual foods from rare birds to circus monkeys to a child. Wait what? Hold on there. I'm getting to that part. One day the beast tells Ebenezer that he wants something different. A child. Not just any but a fat, juicy, plump one. Talk about being demanding. Mr. Tweezer will die without the beast`s magic potion. But to feed a child to a monster! But now there might be one that is horrible enough and maybe deserves the gruesome fate. In comes Bethany. An orphan who is naughty, and mischievous, a rotten apple. The catch was Bethany was too skinny. And the solution? Ebenezer needs to fatten her up. And to keep her through the process of fattening, Tweezer tells Bethany that the monster will give her anything she wants if she behaves. However, Bethany is way too skinny. “I can fatten her up” thought Mr. Tweezer. So, he got her to his 15-story home and fed her cake and feasts. But after the second day, he can't bear her anymore. Ebenezer tells Bethany that if she behaves good, the beast will give her anything she wants. Twists and turns, many events later, Ebenezer faces the moral question of staying young versus feeding a child that is seemingly not as annoying as he thought. I don't want to give away the ending, for which I really recommend you should read the book but let me tell you why I love it so much. This book is very illustrative and helped me visualize the plot and characters which I personally find very interesting and imaginative. The book has a ton of emotions. For example, greed, confusion, change of heart, and a friendship between two unlike people.
The book made me smile, wonder, and feel sad. But it stayed with me due to the strong characters and a story that is one of a kind.