cover image Beastie

Beastie

Georgess McHargue. Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers, $14 (179pp) ISBN 978-0-385-30589-1

Americans Mary, Scott and Theo are thrown together for the summer when their respective parents come to Scotland to take part in a research team investigating the ``Beastie'' said to inhabit the local loch. At loose ends, the children come up with an unsuccessful scheme to lure the creature within the range of the team's infra-red camera. Next, they create a bogus monster that fools the investigators. Finally, after discovering that the Beastie really does exist, and that the scientists have made plans to trap her, the three friends--with the help of a local child who can, conveniently enough, communicate telepathically with the monster--get to work on a rather lukewarm rescue plan. Though well-intentioned, this aimlessly told tale compares poorly with Peter Dickinson's Emma Tupper's Diary --another fictional investigation of a loch's inhabitants. The characters--though embellished with what are intended to be telling qualities--are in fact rather pallid and remote. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)