Benjamin Weatherby's Practical Bestiary

by Josh Bishop

Sheep have been disappearing from the flock outside Warmbriar. There’s a Stranger in town and whispers of beasts in the Bloodwood. Young Pilcrow is determined to find out what’s happening.

Pilcrow’s search brings him from the top of sleepy Tawidge Chapel, high above town, to the crypts far underground; from cozy Warmbriar to the busy streets and university halls of Dunboven; from pastoral meadows and hills to a shadowed ravine deep in the woods.

Along the way, he discovers a book—Benjamin Weatherby’s Practical Bestiary—which promises to unlock the secret. But can he trust what it says? Will he discover the truth before it’s too late?

349 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2016

About the author

Josh Bishop lives in a cozy little house in West Michigan with his wife, their two sons, one dog, and one cat. He's spent the last ten years writing, editing, and publishing for print and digital media.

Reviews

[Jason Ruggles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has everything an active boy would like: fighting, food, chases, escapes, beasts, and document revisions. Document revisions? Yeah, you read that right. Deal with it.

The story follows Pilcrow, a boy with a vivid imagination living in the boring (but he'd've said tranquil) town of Warmbriar on the edge of The Bloodwood.

But something isn’t right.

An ominous stranger just came into town. Sheep are missing (I’d like to see the next printing of this book be called Pilcrow and the Case of the Missing Mutton. Make it happen, Josh). Oh, and there’s a funky smell on the air.

This book has action, sure. From the halfway point, it was hard for me to put down (and my wife didn’t). But the story has more going on than the mindless action of so many kids books these days. It has smarts.

It deals with some complex issues. Does everything have consequences? If everything works out and the good guy wins, can things go back to the way they were before? Another: Should we blindly trust sources? Or, just because it’s in a book, does that make it true/right? But that's just scratching the surface. There's a lot to glean from this book. In fact, it'd be a great book to build a study guide around. Did I scare you off with study guide? Re-read the first sentence of the review.

Benjamin Weatherby’s Practical Bestiary is the thinking boy’s adventure novel.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this one hard to put down. Full of great characters, mystery and adventure. Fans of books like The Chronicles of Narnia or the Septimus Heap series will enjoy the story and world that Bishop has created.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benjamin Weatherby's Practical Bestiary was a great read for my husband and I. We couldn't put it down. We were immediately taken in from the start as the characters became known to us. As the story progressed, there were surprises and some rather scary and gross things, but in a good way. We highly recommend this book.

Josh Bishop is a great author, and one we wait with anticipation for another book of his to come out.

[Len · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one fine story.

It's imaginative, moral, suspenseful, full of great characters and a moving plot. Highly recommended.