Review / The Beatryce Prophecy

Book: The Beatryce Prophecy (2021)
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Genre: MG, Fantasy

Opening lines from the book …
Answelica was a goat with teeth that were the mirror of her soul—large, sharp, and uncompromising. One of the goat’s favorite games was to lull the monks of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing into a sense of complacency by arranging her features in a benign and indifferent expression. For weeks, she would bite no one.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK…

1) Let’s start with Answelica. I loved this goat! (I don’t think I’d like to meet her in real life, but I’m happy to meet her in the pages of a book.) What a character! And yet, she has a soft spot, which comes later in the book.

2) The next character we meet in the book is Brother Edik with the wandering eye (his left eye “would not stay quiet and still, but rolled around in his head…”) He’s the kind of sympathetic and slightly quirky character that we all love in a book like this one. He’s wary of the goat, but he has a heart of gold, especially when it comes to…

3) Beatryce! Yes, Beatryce is a lovely character. The goat practically melts under her touch. And the loyalty she gains from the other characters is definitely deserved. She just exudes a personality that demands loyalty. She seems to be the girl in the prophecy and ends up with a death warrant on her head from a very jealous king. (Okay, so not everybody likes Beatryce.)

4) And then there’s Jack Dory. I didn’t think there was any need to add to the cast of characters until we met him. Love his introduction: “I am Jack Dory!” (My one regret with this book is that we don’t get to know Granny Bibspeak. I really wanted to know her!)   

5) Finally, there’s Cannoc. (Spoiler! He turns out to be the King who walked away, leaving us with a horrible king that wants to kill Beatryce.) He was a lot quieter than the other characters, but I did like him.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I enjoyed this book. It reminded me a little of the Tale of Despereaux, which makes sense since it’s by the same author. Love the connection between the girl and the goat in this one.

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YOUR TURN…

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Note: I’m posting this for Greg Pattridge’s Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday…