I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: OUT WITH THIS KIDS MUSIC MONTHLY PODCAST (2012).

I am bummed to have literally just discovered this cool podcast.  Each month Out with the Kids plays some ten songs that are kid-friendly.  They’re not all “kids songs” but they are kid friendly.  And it’s a fun way to learn about new music that kids may like.

The blog was started by Jeff Bogle, and he does proper DJ intros and outros (fortunately no “Morning Zoo zaniness”).  The songs are often connected thematically, and he plays a diverse collection of music (for his October podcast, I’d heard of none of the artists before, which is great if all of your kids music awareness comes via Dan Zanes and They Might Be Giants (nothing nothing nothing wrong with them, I love them both) or, heaven forbid Kidz Bop.

So, check him out, and subscribe via iTunes.  What have you got to lose?

I wasn’t all that excited to continue this series.  I liked some of the things in the first books, but I was on the fence about whether to continue.  But Clark enjoyed the series, so I figured I’d continue (but hopefully not do all 72 books).  Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this next series.  Although the formula is still in place, Adam Blade played around with the ideas a little bit and made them much more interesting.  Rather than having to rescue beasts who were turned evil, this time, Tom, the 12 (!) year old hero, must go in search of pieces of the golden armor.

But a step back first.  After competing the first 6 quests, Wizard Aduro shows Tom and Elenna the beautiful golden armor that resides in a special room in King Hugo’s castle.  But when they get there they discovered  that the armor has been stolen (in the prologue we see how the  armor was stolen and we know it was Malvel’s doing).  As Book 7 takes off we learn of Tom’s new quest–to find all of the stolen pieces of the armor which are now being guarded by beasts that Malvel has created.  It was kind of fun wondering what the six pieces of armor would be.  They turn out to be a helmet, chain mail, a breast plate, leg armor, boots and gloves and each one gives Tom a special power.

And yes, the formula continues–each book has Tom and Elenna with faithful Storm (Tom’s horse) and Silver (Elenna’s wolf), accompanying them as they trek (with the help of Aduro’s map) to find the latest Beast and retrieve the reward.

But the stakes are higher in this book because Malvel has also captured Aduro.  And Malvel makes it clear that the more Tom wants to give up, the more trouble Aduro will be in (there’s a pit of tar involved).  So not only does Tom have to defeat the beasts in order to win the armor, he also has to remain steadfast and true in his quest so that Malvel doesn’t harm Aduro.

Book 7’s Beast is Zepha, the Monster Squid.  In Book 2, Tom faced Sepron the Sea Serpent, one of his scariest quests of the first six.  Because yes, underwater quests are harder to fight, what with the whole unable to breathe thing.  So, when the first quest of this series is underwater, we know the stakes are high.  And plus, Zepha is a squid!  Tom may need extra help–and, amazingly he gets it.  Two things that I really enjoyed about the series was that the original six Beasts help out and that each piece of armor gives Tom a magical power.  Yes, I feel bad that Tom gets everything and Elenna gets nothing, but I guess it is his quest after all.  Anyhow, the helmet gives tom incredible sight–he can see very far distances.

Book 8 is Claw, the Giant Monkey.  Even though the Beasts in the first books where challenging in a fantastic way, these Beasts are all more real, and somehow seem more formidable, maybe because we know what a squid or a giant ape are actually capable of.  This quest takes the team into the jungle.  They are in the old stomping grounds of Ferno the Fire Dragon, who may have some advice or assistance to offer as Tom seeks the chain male, which will give him strength of heart.

Book 9 is Soltra, the Stone Charmer.  She is capable of turning people to stone.  This is the first beast who can project a danger (aside from fire of course), which raises the stakes.  And worse yet, she is heading towards Tom’s home village of Errinel.  In addition to finding the armor, Tom is given a gift from his uncle–a compass that was inscribed for Tom by his father Taladon.  The compass is not like most compasses  for it has only two directions–Danger and Destiny–simple commands that tell Tom is he is heading in the right direction   This book allows Tom to return home which is nice as he hasn’t been home in some time, but it is more frightening because his family is in danger.  The breastplate is designed to given him super strength.  Will Cypher be of some assistance?

Book 10 is Vipero, the Snake Man.  Tom knows he must leave his village for his new Quest. And this Quest takes them into the dessert–for me, this is the scariest quest-dehydrating, ack!  At stake is the leg armor, the armor that will give him incredible speed (and what speed he will have!).  Is there any chance that they’ll get help from Epos?

Book 11 is Arachnid, the King of Spiders.  Arachnid is a pretty darn scary monster.  How frightening would it be to wake up and find your whole room, your bed, your body covered in spiderwebs?  Ack!  But the golden gauntlets are at stake.  These gloves will give Tom incredible skill with his sword.  In a bit of foreshadowing, Elenna wins three stuffed Tartoks at a fair in town (remember the people know about the six original Beasts, but they believe that they are fairy tales).  Will Tartok make an appearance to help their Quest?

The final book in this series is Trillion, the Three-Headed Lion.  When the book opens we learn that Tagus is terribly wounded by Trillion.  This is the most damage we have seen against one of the Beasts, and it is quite a shock.  In the other quests the beasts were able to help but in this one Tom and Elenna really have two quests–to defeat Trillion and to save Tagus.  Oh, and of course to rescue Aduro.  And Trillion proves to be a super cool Beast with a special magical power.

In each of the first five books, when Tom defeats the Beasts, they disintegrate into a million small ones, but at the end of the 12th book, Trillion does not turn into a million little lions, he turns into a golden archway   It was clearly created by Malvel, but what would they find inside?  They must cross through to find out.  So this quest which seemed over, is not.

These books were all more dynamic that the first six.  I liked the return of the first beasts as assistants, and I liked the idea that each new piece of armor gave him a new strength, which he was able to use right away.  While the plotting and  structure of the book was basically the same, the extra elements gave the books a bit more excitement  a bit more coolness.  I really enjoyed these.

And as we finished this one and prepared to get the next series, Clark noticed that there was a special edition book listed on the back cover!  Indeed there were two!  We had missed the book that was supposed to come after 1-6, but we weren’t too late to read the Special Edition after books 7-12.  So let’s find out exactly what a special Edition book is in Beast Quest.

Oh, by the way, in my last post I bemoaned Scholastic’s lack of commitment to the series, since they clearly stopped publishing it.  But that appears t not be the case. Book 24 is coming out in October, so I gather Scholastic is releasing the books one at a time.  I hope they don’t wait too long between books though.  I mean, there are 72 after all.  Kids will be grown up if they do one every couple of months!