Beasts and Dreams

"Beasts and Dreams" offers teen-fantasy bibliophiles not one but two wildly thrilling fabulistic journeys fraught with peril at every turn. These self-contained tales - "The Beasts of Beachboro" and "Dreams" - feature a colorful cast of mythological creatures, including three depressed dragons, two smooth-talking sea serpents and an uppity UK unicorn. The real script flippers, though, are Aspen, Athena, Theo and Faye - teens whose insatiable appetites for high-risk adventure make them death's perfect targets. In "The Beasts of Beachboro," Aspen and Athena unwittingly open an otherworldly portal that unleashes five beasts on an unsuspecting sleepy seaside hamlet. If Beachboro's death-defying teens cannot reopen the portal in time to usher the creatures back to where they belong, Beachboro may ultimately go up in either literal or metaphorical flames. In Dreams, Theo, his school's starting quarterback, and Faye, a vaguely "familiar" girl with "strawberry blonde hair," share a dream where exotic creatures help the two teens connect. But a much deeper connection may stem from the enchanted silver pendants draped around the teens' necks. The only problem is neither Theo nor Faye may ever discern the pendants' ultimate truth unless they can somehow survive their deadly dream world and reconnect on the other side ... if indeed another world even exists. **"Beasts and Dreams" merits extra kudos given that it was written and illustrated in 2021 by ninth graders attending Hillsboro High, a public school in Texas. Based on their literary debut, these now young adults have every reason to aspire to even greater artistic heights.