DEXTER BEXLEY AND THE BIG BLUE BEASTIE

When a little boy encounters a fantastical creature, he uses his imagination to keep his new friend entertained. Dexter Bexley accidentally rides his scooter into a Big Blue Beastie who threatens to eat the “small and tasty” Dexter. But Dexter has a “much better idea,” and invites the Beastie to go scooting with him. Soon the Beastie is bored and hungry again, so Dexter proposes a “much better idea,” and the enterprising duo start a successful flower-delivery business until the Beastie becomes bored and hungry. Dexter swiftly suggests another “much better idea” and the playful pair become “Bexley and Beast: Private Detectives,” solving imaginative mysteries like the Missing Marmoset and The Great Sausage Heist. But how long can Dexter come up with better ideas to assuage Beastie’s seemingly insatiable appetite? Beastie himself eventually offers a solution. Very whimsical line-and-color illustrations focus on the not-too-scary, but quite rotund Beastie in his striped T-shirt and bowler hat cavorting and capering with his new playmate. Fanciful fun. (Picture book. 4-8)