An imaginative young boy admires the pictures in a book of beasts, creating a story about a brave knight but fails to notice the animals come out of the book and help him with his chores!

I received an electronic ARC from Getty Publications through NetGalley.
The illustrations are spectacular and bring the beasts to life in vivid colors.
The basic plotline involves a young peasant boy told to do his chores. Instead he finds the Book of Beasts being created for the Lady of the Castle. He uses his imagination to create a story of himself as a knight defeating beasts. The wizard brings the beasts to life and they complete the chores while being woven in Godfrey's tale. At the end, his mom returns, the wizard returns the animals to the book, and Godfrey gets the credit for the chores being done.
Don't miss the explanatory text at the end. Berry explores life in a medieval castle and includes information on the various beasts. She also explains why it was hard to determine fact from fiction when describing animals at that time.
The story feels disjointed - simply some vignettes to handle the chores to be done. Some of the pieces feel forced while making the animals solve the problems.
2.5 rating though the artwork alone would bring it to a 4 star rating.

A highly imaginative fantasy picture book where all the mythical beasties come to life! There wasn't much of a plot but it was still a fun read. The art work by April Lewis was fantastic, bright colors, lots of detail. Godfrey can't read his book because he has chores to do, when, lo and behold, the beasties start doing his chores for him. I wish the beasties could have stuck around longer
. Good explanations at the end of the book, explaining the different creatures. Loved the lion protecting the kittens. This book would work as supplemental reading for perhaps ages seven and up.

Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book by Julie Berry started out with promise. The elements introduced had me expecting a more exciting story. They include a boy with a daunting number of daily chores, an enigmatic bestiary artist with knowledge of the exotic creatures within, and the ability to call upon the beasts by speaking their names. Though it starts out strongly with solid text, the remainder of the story is captured in the images. The strong initial impression seemed to trickle away with each page. There was little, if any, character growth and the story lacked interaction between the characters. The balance between text and dialogue felt off-kilter and strained.

The book is beautifully illustrated by April Lee. The spreads are gorgeous and colorful, bright and engaging. Seeing each new beast appear among the already summoned creatures was entertaining.

After the story is a wealth of informative end matter. A note to the reader reveals why people in medieval times might have truly believed in creatures like unicorns, dragons, and other beasts. Extra information after the story explains bestiaries and the history surrounding them. Another section describes life in an English castle during the Middle Ages. Last but definitely not least is a collection of images and lore from actual surviving medieval bestiaries around the world.
3.5 stars, rounded up for the extra educational materials at the end of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Getty Publications for the opportunity to read this book. My review is honest and unbiased. #NetGalley #DontLetTheBeastiesEscapeThisBook

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Well, the idea was cute but the execution was not. The illustrations were delightful!! But the Kindle ARC was terribly, awfully formatted. The book wasn't in order, there were 4 frames on each page, it was a mess. I tried to get beyond it to the story itself. It was basically just a catalog of magical creatures. The dragon was my favorite illustration though.

The J. Paul Getty Museum has published a bestiary guaranteed to enthrall both parents and their children. Julie Berry’s tale of a forgetful but imaginative boy named Godfrey is only so-so, but the medieval annotations are very interesting. And the illustrations by April Lee? So beautiful that I could not stop looking at them. Definitely recommended.

The artwork is outstanding!! I would have liked even more of the pictures! The story line needs more detailed work! I received this book from NetGalley and this is my voluntary opinion.

I wrote the review on Goodreads under Jeannie Huie.

A gorgeous book on medieval manuscript artwork by the Getty Museum. The book drew its inspiration from the museum's exhibit "Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World" and features illustrations from their collections.

The main story is sure to delight young children. The story is fun and fresh, and the artwork is beautiful&#8212;detailed, colorful, and mimics medieval scribal techniques. For older children, the book has a section on medieval life in a castle and the medieval bestiary with actual illustrations of beasts and explanations as to their meaning. As a fan of children's picture books and an amateur student of medieval manuscripts, this was a book after my own heart.

The whimsical story follows an ordinary peasant boy dreaming of life as a valiant knight in the Late Middle Ages (thirteenth century): Sir Godfrey the Gallant, Sir Godfrey the Glorious, Sir Godfrey the Goodhearted. His favorite book is about medieval bestiaries but filled only with pictures. He is hoping that when the castle scribe ultimately finishes the book, it will tell a heroic tale of a bold, brave knight. As he goes about his chores, his imagination takes flight, and the mischievous animals walk out of the pages of the book, causing him to flex his knightly skills. Some of the beasts help him with his chores and interact with the regular farm animals.

This review will be posted on Cogitations & Meditations at the end of May.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley!!

Let me start this by saying i adored the illustrations in this book! This children's book contains information about life in the medieval ages.

Setting out on his daily chores, Godfrey becomes distracted by a bestiary full of fantastical creatures who, when accidentally released from the page, help the young boy unwittingly accomplish his tasks while his imagination runs wild. A humorous and informative introduction to medieval illuminated manuscripts, not to mention the beasts -- and chores -- of the Middle Ages.

Goodreads Rating: 2 stars

A companion book to Book of Beasts for kids. It has some pretty illustrations in it, but I think they tell the story better than the words do. It just wasn't engaging, but it did introduce a few beasties and the information at the end of the book elaborates the historical aspects of the story and what a bestiary is.

Godfrey is tasked with completing some chores around the castle grounds, but he picks up the work-in-progress bestiary from the scribe's bench and starts making up a story interweaving all the creatures so far illustrated. Whenever he speaks the name of one of the creatures, they pop off the page and help him accomplish his chores.

While I'm sure he was just caught up in narrating his story, I still thought it was too naive of Godfrey to not to notice the beasts coming to life around him. It also doesn't encourage the best message, suggesting you should ignore your chores and they'll just magically get done.

The illustrations were vividly done and while I didn't exactly like some of them (the griffin looked too much like a phoenix), the overall palette and layout was better storytelling than the story itself.

A good book for reading in class and using as a jumping off point for discussions about creatures, but as a story on its own, it just simply wasn't engaging.

I was intrigued by the title and cover art. However the story was only so so. A boy is doing his chores and unbeknownst to him the animals of the book come to life and help out. Better for older kids.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Mom: I was very interested in this book, just by the look of the cover. The illustrations and artwork within were great! Overall, I found the story cute. Most of the books story is narrated by the main character, Godfrey, telling his own story about the beasties – mythical creatures – in the book he “borrowed.” This was generally fine, but there were also parts spoken by other characters without attribution – it took either of us a minute to realize what was being said and realizing it was actually Godfrey’s mother speaking, etc.
There are also scrolls across the top of certain pages with “In which Godfrey [does a thing].” These tended to be clunky and didn’t add to the story.
MC: I really liked the pictures and I thought it was fun how the creatures did Godfrey’s chores for him.
Mom: The Note to the Reader and The Bestiary, at the end of the book were great additions to the book providing excellent introduction to the original artwork from the medieval era and overview of the time period.
MyChild: My favorite part was how the lion made friends with the kittens.

Illustrations are beautiful and engaging. I was excited to read this book with my kids, but the wording and phrases used weren't as easy to get through as most children's book. The concept is great, but my kids were a little confused at times, and at the end they gave it a solid "eh". I think it seemed a little too formal / less juvenile than they are used to. I think this is one that they will really love in a few years, or even after a few readings once the language & story become more familiar.

This is a lovely introduction for children into Medieval times! The artwork is fantastic, and it introduces some mythical creatures that are not as well-known along with some familiar favorites. The text in the back is very informative, and the legends from actual bestiaries would make a lovely addition to any bookshelf.

I love bestiaries. I love the illuminations, and the weird descriptions of creatures, and the entire concept of a book full of wonderful beasts! This picture book is a lovely introduction to some of the fantasy creatures you might meet in the pages of a real-life bestiary.

Visually, this book is a real treat, and I spent a long time looking at each page to capture all the details. The colours are incredible. You can see from the cover image how bright and enthralling they are – it’s really pretty and also very true to the actual look of an illuminated manuscript. The dusty brown of the courtyard evokes the parchment pages, and the beasts absolutely shine out from it, holding the eye and the imagination.

The story itself is very sweet, involving Geoffrey, a young boy who “borrows” a bestiary from a scribe and spends the rest of the day making up tales about a knight with his name who meets the beasties from the pages! As he mentions each beast, it pops out of the bestiary and comes to life, but Geoffrey is oblivious… It’s not a particularly convoluted plot, but it works to show off the creatures, and is, in a way, a bestiary itself! There’s a lot of subtle humour in the story, which I think would make this appeal to adults as well as children, and there’s plenty of charm in the writing. It would make a really cute gift, especially for historians who have young kids!

Five out of five stars!

Sono infinite le incombenze in un castello del 1200: lo sa bene Godfrey, che invece di sognare avventure e cavalleria deve nutrire il pollame, accendere il fuoco, raccogliere pere, spazzare - ed è solo l'inizio!

Ma come resistere alla tentazione di dare una sbirciata al ricco volume che un miniaturista sta decorando con immagini di animali fantastici su incarico della castellana?

E come resistere alla tentazione di nominare quelle bestie - unicorni, draghi, grifoni, leoni - nel raccontarsi un'avventura di Godfrey l'Intrepido?

Solo che Godfrey non sa che nominare le bestie è evocarle - e per fortuna che il caso le porta ad aiutarlo a sbrigare le sua mansioni, prima di rientrare fra le pagine!

Un volumetto ricchissimo, sia nelle bellissime illustrazioni sia nel garbo con cui credenze e vita comune nel Medioevo vengono presentate; utili e leggere le note storiche alla fine del testo, che invece è pieno di fantasia e ritmo.

Una vera gemma.

I quite liked this, although mostly my opinion is based on the wonderful artwork, which is detailed, expressive, vivid, and rather fun, all at the same time. If you feel your child needs to know about bestiaries and mediaeval books of beasts, this is a good way to deliver that lesson. A young serf gets so wrapped up in his imaginary monsters and fantastical creatures that they come to life, and manage to do all his chores for him. The actual education at the end doesn't really merge with the story, but either way these ancient volumes are brought to the modern, young audience, and I think fun is had. I certainly learnt about a creature I'd never even heard of before. More or less five stars for the art, and overall a strong four.

I <i>loved</i> the artwork for <i>Don't Let the Beasties Escape This Book</i> by Julie Berry and illustrated by the wonderfully talented April Lee. Travel back in time to have a look at some of the fantastical creatures that made their way into a medieval bestiary and the young boy who reads a very magical book aloud that he probably should have left alone. I think this book is an amazing way to get children interested history as they learn about the ways in which animals were documented in the past. And, even more wonderfully, there's even a bit at the end for those kiddos who want to read a little bit more into the work that was being put into the book that our dashing young main character, Godfrey, finds at the beginning of the story that touches base on what bestiaries are, how they work, and what impact they had on the past. While I loved the book already, I have to admit that this piece was something I was exceedingly excited about.

Our story begins with young Godfrey talking to his parents, peasants who work up at the castle who warn him to leave the scribe who is writing the newest addition to the king's bestiary collection be whilst he goes about doing his chores for the day. Of course, Godfrey who has a wild imagination and great dreams of being a brave knight--who didn't in that time period, though?--doesn't listen to his parents and sneaks in to take a peek at the book before snatching it up to imagine an adventure for himself. The scribe, someone whom is easily identified as a wizard seems to have been up to some mischief of his own and as Godfrey imagines his adventure, he reads aloud from the book. Each time he names a creature, it finds its way out from its pages.

This is a wonderfully amusing and engaging read, one I had great joy moving through. I found the main character relatable and fun, definitely someone that I would have looked up to had I read this story as a child. It's certainly the kind of book that I would love to get a kid of my own at some point in the future, if I ever have one. It's definitely a tale right up my alley and one I had a blast reading.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

A super cute and highly imaginative fantasy picture book where all the legendary beasties come to life! There wasn't much of a plot but that's okay. It's still a fun read. I wish the beasties had been fleshed out and stuck around a little longer. I do like how the different creatures were explained at the end of the book. My absolute favorite part was the lion protecting the kittens throughout the story! 😻🦁🐈🐾💕 

***All the gratitude to Netgalley and Getty Publications for the review copy.***