Beanie the Bansheenie - Eoin Colfer - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Eoin Colfer

ILLUSTRATOR: Steve McCarthy

GENRE: Long-form Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: November 12, 2024

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A cute long-form picture book aimed at early readers, taking the Irish myth of the banshee and giving it a child-friendly twist. Didn’t expect a story with a banshee to be so sweet and heartening! I wanted more at the end, which is why my rating fell a bit.

Plot Preview:

Banshees are heralds of death. However, Beanie the titular banshee, or to be precise, a young bansheenie, missed out on crucial information about her human Rose due to an accident of nature. As a result, she doesn’t know when Rose is supposed to die. Instead of giving up, Beanie does her best to learn more about Rose, and as she channelizes her knowledge of nature and Rose together, Beanie realises some important truths about her role in Rose’s life.

Banshee is an old Irish word and means ‘fairy woman’. However, her appearance is bound to create jitters as she is always a harbinger of death. So a children’s book focussing on this oft-ignored mythical character and write a touching story about her is a rarity indeed. The idea is both original and whimsical.

Beanie is a fascinating titular character, as expected. I loved her never-give-up spirit and her willingness to do whatever it takes to do her job well. It was great to see a banshee portrayed with such depth and without being scary.

Beanie’s friends, the little atom fish in the ditch, are also adorable. I wish there had been more of them in the story. Even Rose is a wonderful character, with all the positives and negatives of a human child. A fourth important but unacknowledged character in the book is Nature. Whether through the experiences of the water-based atom fish or Beanie’s attempts to learn more about her job or the later events that affect Rose, nature has a powerful role to play in the plot.

The plot gets a tad too philosophical at the end. When I say this, you might assume that the story involves Rose’s death, since that is a banshee’s purpose after all. But no, there’s no character dying in the book. The philosophy is more from Beanie’s lessons from her friends and the nature around her. While the ending does work for a kid’s book, I believe many kids will ask the million-dollar question after reaching the finish line: what happens to Rose when her life finally nears its end?

The official target age for this book is specified as 5-9 years, but I feel that the book might be a tad too complex for younger kids. This isn’t just because of the tough-to-accept idea of impending death but also because there are some difficult words in the content. Plus, many of the pages have 10-15 lines of text, which could be overwhelming for independent beginner-level readers. The book might work better for kids aged 7 and above.

The illustrations are stunning in every way. Vivid colours, cute characters, excellent background details! Based on the art style, I’d recommend the physical copy over a digital one (if available) as the artwork is spread across both sides of the open pages.

Don’t miss the tiny author’s note at the start of the book about banshees and what they do. It is slightly hidden on the book details page but offers a great introduction to banshees and how to view them differently.

All in all, this is a one-of-a-kind children’s book that will appeal to kids looking for unusual characters in their story books. The valuable lessons are a bonus.

I haven’t read this author’s popular Artemis Fowl series, but based on this first experience of his writing, I am certainly curious to read more of his works.

Recommended! If for nothing else, then for Beanie the loveable bansheenie. (Probably the only time in my life I’ll call a banshee ‘loveable’!)

My thanks to Candlewick Press for providing the DRC of “Beanie the Bansheenie” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.