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Feed the Beast
The gamer squad must face a fierce dragon in an Open World fantasy level! Thirteen-year-old Mason guides his friends as they collect ingredients for a meal that's key to beating the beast. But IRL, his leadership skills have no effect on his little brother. Tasked with making supper while their parents work evenings, Mason battles to please the eight-year-old and is struggling to keep his cool. With help from his squad, can Mason find victory dealing with the dragon and his sibling? Game on with Open World Squad, an illustrated hi-lo chapter book series featuring exciting video game action and a winning mix of easy-to-read narrative text and in-game chat conversations.
72 pages, Library Binding
Published January 1, 2024
3 people want to read
About the author
Michael Anthony Steele
141 books29 followersMichael Anthony Steele is an author and screenwriter living in Dallas, Texas. He’s written for a wide variety of entertainment and educational properties from Barney & Friends to the novelization of the recent film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He’s written over 60 licensed books for such major properties as Shrek, Penguins of Madagascar, Wordgirl, The Batman, Garfield, Spider-man, Speed Racer, Winx Club, Sly Cooper, and many more. Anthony’s television experience begins with the award-winning PBS series Wishbone and carries him all the way to writing 25 episodes of Barney & Friends and 4 DVDs of Boz: The Green Bear Next Door.
Between writing projects, Anthony is thrilled to give presentations to schools and libraries across the country. Having been fortunate enough to write for so many famous brands, his appearances require very little preparation on the part of the instructors because, most likely, the kids are fans of one or more of the properties for which he’s written.
Anthony’s current presentation features multimedia elements and tells the story of how he became a writer—following an exciting path through a career in photography and special effects. His appearances have been described as the “rock-n-roll” author visits since he comes with an animated presentation, humor, audio/visual elements, loads of energy, and a guitar—that’s right, a guitar!
His life’s journey has given him unique experience and the ability to share behind-the-scenes knowledge, tell stories, and answer questions not only about writing but also about the film and television industry. More importantly, the main theme of his program is how, with hard work and determination, the students can achieve anything they wish. Anthony was in elementary school when he was first inspired to become a writer and they too can get inspired right now! It’s just that simple and exciting!
Between writing projects, Anthony is thrilled to give presentations to schools and libraries across the country. Having been fortunate enough to write for so many famous brands, his appearances require very little preparation on the part of the instructors because, most likely, the kids are fans of one or more of the properties for which he’s written.
Anthony’s current presentation features multimedia elements and tells the story of how he became a writer—following an exciting path through a career in photography and special effects. His appearances have been described as the “rock-n-roll” author visits since he comes with an animated presentation, humor, audio/visual elements, loads of energy, and a guitar—that’s right, a guitar!
His life’s journey has given him unique experience and the ability to share behind-the-scenes knowledge, tell stories, and answer questions not only about writing but also about the film and television industry. More importantly, the main theme of his program is how, with hard work and determination, the students can achieve anything they wish. Anthony was in elementary school when he was first inspired to become a writer and they too can get inspired right now! It’s just that simple and exciting!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 14, 2024
What has an interesting premise falls short of its goals. Interestingly, the publishing site labels this as a book whose interest level targets 4-6 graders, but the reading level is 2-3 graders.
Anyone would know these are vastly different age groups, and I don't think this book can reach either range too well. Perhaps the younger second grade crowd, but even then, I found the book to be too boring to hold a child's attention without quite a lot of finesse from a tutor, parent, or teacher putting in the effort to make it exciting.
For a story about an open-world MMORPG, this book doesn't touch much of the world. It's an incredibly short book, just barely setting the scene for any gaming experience. You aren't ever immersed in it, there's very little detail about what the world feels like or looks like, and the game is spoken about in the vaguest terms. A major tenant of reading comprehension for this age range relies on illustrious prose to nurture the ability for a young reader to picture the setting and action in their mind and be able to discuss it thoroughly to show their comprehension and thoughtfulness about the media they're consuming. These are skills that any storyteller should want to foster with their audience, but particularly a children's author should want to nurture this the most. Only another MMORPG gamer would be able to fill in the blanks and create an image in their head for what OW (the game) is supposed to be like for players.
At this, it's worth pointing out most children in the aforementioned age ranges won't quite connect with that online experience to fill in any gaps. Some parents might allow their young children to play Roblox, Minecraft, or Fortnite online, but these experiences don't even scratch the surface of true open-world MMORPGs. Had Steele wanted to draw a picture of what this game truly could be, and the life these kids had in it, he could have taken the extra care to do so. Instead, it felt like a shortcut to push out multiple books with little effort.
Feed the Beast feels like a half- or quarter-formed kid's version of Ready Player One with none of the "IRL" intrigue to round out the characters and their draw towards an immersive world like OW is supposed to be. The characters were very basic with hardly any real personality outside of "Mason doesn't get along with his little brother" and "there are skeletons in the game". The integration of in-game chat throughout the story is an interesting touch, but it risks so much in doing so.
For the age ranges this targets (or at least was scaled to target), you're doing a major disservice to the children by complicating their reading experience with an abundance of chat-speak and abbreviations - most of which aren't even truly used in most gaming experiences or enough that an online kiddo would know what they're looking at. This age range does demand some concern for literacy and adaptivity of language. With such simplistic, dull storytelling to then be interrupted with this chat-speak, I highly doubt that a second or third grader is going to inherit any positive reading and writing comprehension from the story. While there is something to be said, linguistically, for the adaptation of online slang, I believe that's a high enough concept to perhaps leave for maybe the sixth grader that would be more inclined to pick up a book about an MMORPG. However, that sixth grader will be disappointed by this book in doing so.
Because of the flat world, dull story and "conflict," incredibly short length, and very generic characters, Feed the Beast does very little to tell a story that warrants being even a tiny chapter book. At best, it reads like some of the most generic picture books I've read out loud to my students, and most of those picture books have sought to do more: expose students to different languages, cultures, and grounded and real-world conflicts. Even the conflict here was fairly generic (a little brother being a pain while the older brother deals with their mom and dad always being busy with work and having to take care of things in their stead). Low stakes conflict in a simple children's story doesn't have to be a bad thing, but when Mason's predicament is described as "hopeless" it felt like a strange hyperbole to take on for something so easily fixable in his world. Perhaps if Steele hadn't used the word "hopeless" to describe sibling issues, or had done more to make us care for Mason and Devon, this wouldn't have fallen so flat. But even when we pivot to the in-game conflicts, those stakes feel incredibly low because nothing is done to make us really see and experience this world through these characters. It felt like the type of story where because you say there are monsters, the kids during read-along time are just supposed to gasp and play along without the drama being earned.
Children don't have to be exposed to heavy bouts of trauma in their literature, but they are far more capable of understanding, learning, and sympathizing with more sincere conflicts in stories. In fact, most delight in having something to emote about. Feed the Beast isn't going to be the story to give them any of that, though.
I would love to see someone take a shot at writing something more creatively immersive, more meaningful and engaging prose for the readers, and with well-rounded characters who experience a full rising action, climax, and satisfying resolution. At the very least, perhaps Feed the Beast could have been more successful with time taken to pull the readers in through a different format, such as a younger-grades graphic novel.
Anyone would know these are vastly different age groups, and I don't think this book can reach either range too well. Perhaps the younger second grade crowd, but even then, I found the book to be too boring to hold a child's attention without quite a lot of finesse from a tutor, parent, or teacher putting in the effort to make it exciting.
For a story about an open-world MMORPG, this book doesn't touch much of the world. It's an incredibly short book, just barely setting the scene for any gaming experience. You aren't ever immersed in it, there's very little detail about what the world feels like or looks like, and the game is spoken about in the vaguest terms. A major tenant of reading comprehension for this age range relies on illustrious prose to nurture the ability for a young reader to picture the setting and action in their mind and be able to discuss it thoroughly to show their comprehension and thoughtfulness about the media they're consuming. These are skills that any storyteller should want to foster with their audience, but particularly a children's author should want to nurture this the most. Only another MMORPG gamer would be able to fill in the blanks and create an image in their head for what OW (the game) is supposed to be like for players.
At this, it's worth pointing out most children in the aforementioned age ranges won't quite connect with that online experience to fill in any gaps. Some parents might allow their young children to play Roblox, Minecraft, or Fortnite online, but these experiences don't even scratch the surface of true open-world MMORPGs. Had Steele wanted to draw a picture of what this game truly could be, and the life these kids had in it, he could have taken the extra care to do so. Instead, it felt like a shortcut to push out multiple books with little effort.
Feed the Beast feels like a half- or quarter-formed kid's version of Ready Player One with none of the "IRL" intrigue to round out the characters and their draw towards an immersive world like OW is supposed to be. The characters were very basic with hardly any real personality outside of "Mason doesn't get along with his little brother" and "there are skeletons in the game". The integration of in-game chat throughout the story is an interesting touch, but it risks so much in doing so.
For the age ranges this targets (or at least was scaled to target), you're doing a major disservice to the children by complicating their reading experience with an abundance of chat-speak and abbreviations - most of which aren't even truly used in most gaming experiences or enough that an online kiddo would know what they're looking at. This age range does demand some concern for literacy and adaptivity of language. With such simplistic, dull storytelling to then be interrupted with this chat-speak, I highly doubt that a second or third grader is going to inherit any positive reading and writing comprehension from the story. While there is something to be said, linguistically, for the adaptation of online slang, I believe that's a high enough concept to perhaps leave for maybe the sixth grader that would be more inclined to pick up a book about an MMORPG. However, that sixth grader will be disappointed by this book in doing so.
Because of the flat world, dull story and "conflict," incredibly short length, and very generic characters, Feed the Beast does very little to tell a story that warrants being even a tiny chapter book. At best, it reads like some of the most generic picture books I've read out loud to my students, and most of those picture books have sought to do more: expose students to different languages, cultures, and grounded and real-world conflicts. Even the conflict here was fairly generic (a little brother being a pain while the older brother deals with their mom and dad always being busy with work and having to take care of things in their stead). Low stakes conflict in a simple children's story doesn't have to be a bad thing, but when Mason's predicament is described as "hopeless" it felt like a strange hyperbole to take on for something so easily fixable in his world. Perhaps if Steele hadn't used the word "hopeless" to describe sibling issues, or had done more to make us care for Mason and Devon, this wouldn't have fallen so flat. But even when we pivot to the in-game conflicts, those stakes feel incredibly low because nothing is done to make us really see and experience this world through these characters. It felt like the type of story where because you say there are monsters, the kids during read-along time are just supposed to gasp and play along without the drama being earned.
Children don't have to be exposed to heavy bouts of trauma in their literature, but they are far more capable of understanding, learning, and sympathizing with more sincere conflicts in stories. In fact, most delight in having something to emote about. Feed the Beast isn't going to be the story to give them any of that, though.
I would love to see someone take a shot at writing something more creatively immersive, more meaningful and engaging prose for the readers, and with well-rounded characters who experience a full rising action, climax, and satisfying resolution. At the very least, perhaps Feed the Beast could have been more successful with time taken to pull the readers in through a different format, such as a younger-grades graphic novel.
February 8, 2024
Imagine your delight at seeing that reluctant pupil in your class, finally managing to pick up and stick with a book, even if the cover is as delirious and neon as possible. Then imagine the horror when you see lines of dialogue spelled as how gamers might type, as in "srsly what am i sposd 2 do". You just can't win. And speaking of which, that is proving difficult for the heroes too – their chosen fantasy quest in the OW game world is proving awkward, on account of skeletal warriors they weren't expecting. Add to that, in real life (so sorry, irl – obvs) Mason is tasked with looking after his pest of a younger brother, as in spending time with him and fixing the evening meal.
Of course I am all for all kinds of book that could allow all kinds of reader to find their chosen material, but that said quality has to win out. And this is barely that. The plot (gaming proves to present the MC with real life skills and team-work attributes as helpful as any in the game) is evident really early on, the artwork is ugly as sin (sorry, but that's the truth), and the trope of using gamer chat typing is only going to encourage a certain brand of sub-literacy. This moves fast, but from simple A to simple B, and frankly if it was bought to be there ready for the most reluctant reader on the off-chance, I'd seriously consider putting a "last resort only" sticker on it as a reminder. Two stars is nothing but flattering.
Of course I am all for all kinds of book that could allow all kinds of reader to find their chosen material, but that said quality has to win out. And this is barely that. The plot (gaming proves to present the MC with real life skills and team-work attributes as helpful as any in the game) is evident really early on, the artwork is ugly as sin (sorry, but that's the truth), and the trope of using gamer chat typing is only going to encourage a certain brand of sub-literacy. This moves fast, but from simple A to simple B, and frankly if it was bought to be there ready for the most reluctant reader on the off-chance, I'd seriously consider putting a "last resort only" sticker on it as a reminder. Two stars is nothing but flattering.
September 22, 2025
+ Open World Squad: Feed the Beast is a short video game fantasy tale with the odd picture which includes an open world gaming quest between friends and a bluntly-related quest involving the 13 year-old male protagonist looking after his 8 year-old brother and feeding him supper. It's simple, positive, realistic in its way, and could appeal to some young teen gamers and their real-life problems.
- On the negative side of things, the art, limited though it is, is downright ugly, and the various text-box chat segments in the book are super-annoying to read and encourage horrible spelling. You can argue they are realistic, but that's only the case for some gamers, as many prefer voice chat or silence. Otherwise, the story may be too short and simplistic for many readers.
Want to Read
February 11, 2024Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
October 30, 2024
A solid high-low read for middle school gamers!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews