The Beast

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Four fast-paced, easy-to-read titles, Spin Out, The Beast, Micro Man, and Amy’s Wish are typical Series Canada material, designed to entice reluctant teenage readers into undemanding but confidence-inspiring encounters with the printed word. The subject matter varies, but each of the 90-odd-page swifties deals with a topic certain to lure the unbookish secondary school readership for whom it is intended. Large print and numerous line illustrations add to the crowd appeal of the stories: a hostage-taking incident in which an escaped convict commandeers a car and its teenage owner; the terror of a mysterious “ndaghani,” a kind of sasquatch, relentlessly stalking its young hunters through the frozen wilderness; computer crime in a high school setting; and a troubled teenager who seriously contemplates suicide. None of the above is a notable literary achievement, but all will adequately serve their intended purpose.