Beasts

Gr 7 Up–This Norwegian novella opens deep in the action, as 13-year-old Abdi treks through a catastrophic landscape that has been ravaged by beasts with his five-year-old sister Alva in tow. Their mother has been killed, and the siblings are trying to reach Djupevik so they can flee by boat to the island where their father was working when everything collapsed. On their journey, they narrowly escape the vicious beasts with their sleek coats, crooked necks, and terrifying claws; but sometimes it’s the other people trying to survive who are even more dangerous. In her first novel translated into English, Bjerkeland paints a bleak picture of postapocalyptic monster survival reminiscent of media like 28 Days Later and The Last of Us. Clocking in at under 200 pages, the plot maintains an engaging and brutal pace as Abdi struggles to keep his sister and himself alive. The children encounter trustworthy and untrustworthy adults, experiencing the best and worst of humanity in crisis. The abrupt, open ending may seem hopeful to some readers and dissatisfying to others hoping for any sort of closure to Abdi and Alva’s harrowing tale. Though the brutality of the circumstances does not ease up, the explicit violence and gore in this text are minimal, making this a suitable introductory genre text for young teens.