Beegu

Product Information

This is a sweet, touching story about a young rabbit-like alien who is stranded on Earth and looking for her mother. Beegu's spirits are sinking lower than ever just as the mother ship arrives, in this simple, bittersweet picture book that shows us our world through the three eyes of an innocent outsider with the help of stylish art and a wry, understated text.

Beegu experiences different environments/places on earth and expresses different feelings throughout his stay on earth. An important book which could be used for so many different ages and abilities especially as mentioned bellow with SEN and EAL children. The illustrations are brilliant and therefore useful to look at with children because they link clearly with the story and can express emotions to children. They remind me of Allie Brosh’s dog illustrations that manage to pack so much expression into a line drawing. Beegu and Jitterbug Jam, both of which he illustrated, were named as New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year.This is a fun, interesting and moving story with a happy ending, beautiful illustrations, colour palette and wonderful message. After a while of being isolated from creatures the same as her, a big ship which had her parents in, came to rescue her.

Deacon’s simple text and soft illustrations cleverly convey a child’s feelings of uncertainty and confusion when faced with new surroundings. The beautifully simplistic illustrations convey a lot of emotion, and children and adults alike will be able to interpret when Beegu is happy and sad. Here she seems sad from the way her, what looks like ears, are drooped back like a sad dog, as well as sadness in her eyes. The rest of the story offers good lessons on friendship and parental teaching as Beegu is redeemed in the end.She tells them all about how the big Earth creatures were unfriendly but the small ones seemed hopeful. This is shown as Beegu is seen to play with human toys and even given a hula hoop to keep by the children which she befriends at a school. In the end the Alien finds their mother and explains how earth people are cruel and rejecting but suggested there was still an opportunity for change. The story unravels to reveal that although the adult humans weren’t very helpful or even nice to Beegu, the children on Earth were.

Feeling bewildered and alone as she awaits a rescue signal from her mother Beegu sets off to find friends with the strange creatures she comes across. We loved the positive message that children generally accept differences more easily than adults and are more adaptable to change.

It would be an excellent book for teachers to use when welcoming new students into the classroom, encouraging the children to be considerate and make sure no one in the class feels anxious and isolated like Beegu. This book is charming and an excellent read for KS1 children, particularly Foundation stage and for classrooms with UAL and SEN children. Although the plot is relatively simple- alien lands on Earth, tries to find friends, rescued by parents, tells them about her short time on Earth- there is so much that can be taken from this and the poignant pictures on each page.

But the only friendly people she comes across are the children, while the big Earth creatures just don’t seem to understand. I enjoyed the style of the images, which seemed to echo through colour the mood Beegu was in throughout the story e. There are not too many words on each page, so this is suitable for the youngest child, but older children (and this adult) are likely to love it too. She tries to comunicate and form friendships although she is often pushed away, due to her being misunderstood and different. RAT LAW’ states that ‘Cheese Belongs To You’ – at least until someone bigger, stronger, faster, or scarier decides otherwise.g. yellow surrounding the children, where Beegu seemed happy and having fun, and then dark greys and browns, where Beegu is walking along the busy sidewalk surrounded by what looks like many adults rushing by and ignoring her.