But it’s something else to be given the power over a character on the page. Sure, kids do this all the time through imaginative play. This is very empowering to children and can be a liberating story experience. “Fifty percent author, fifty percent you….” “I like to say that the best books leave a good portion of the experience to the reader’s own imaginative investment,” explains Deacon.

(For example, what caused Beegu to crash in the first place.) The joy of this is that there are no wrong (or right) answers! It’s as if the author has given them the reins and said, There you go, now you tell the story. In other words, they are put in the position of the storyteller. It will spark creativity in your kid as they fill in the blanks and come up with their own answers. And there lies Beegu.ĭeacon deliberately leaves certain aspects of the story ambiguous and open to interpretation, which is a smart move on his part. Interestingly, the title page places us at the scene post-event: In a dark, heavy landscape, a spacecraft is embedded in the ground, burning up from the inside. Unlike E.T., Beegu’s arrival (as already mentioned) is somewhat more dramatic. It jumped out at me then and really appealed to his interest in outer space – and the exciting notion of aliens! That was many years ago now, and Beegu (like E.T.) has stood the test of time. instructing Elliot to Be good.) I remember reading Beegu to Noah as a kid. So a picture book about a little lost alien is going to appeal! (If you say the name, Beegu, nice and slow, it even brings to mind E.T. Unfortunately, most of the Earth creatures she meets are big and unfriendly. Three eyes make Beegu suitably other-worldly, yet she retains the cuteness of a stuffed bunny. The next, they are raised quizzically – or held erect in alarm. With two long ear-like antennae, Beegu is highly expressive. Let’s get one thing straight: Beegu is adorable! She is a luminous, bright lemon yellow that bestows her (according to Publishers Weekly) with a ‘celestial simplicity’. She is not meant to be here – certainly not alone.

Beegu by Alexis Deacon is about a small alien who crashes on Earth.

Beegu book