The Terror of the Bigfoot Beast

Laurie S. Sutton has built a long career writing accessible chapter books for young readers, with a particular focus on adventure, monster stories, and series fiction that gets reluctant readers turning pages. Her catalogue includes a number of cryptid and supernatural themed books aimed at the eight to twelve age range, the sweet spot for kids who have aged out of early readers but want something exciting that does not feel babyish.

The Terror of the Bigfoot Beast fits squarely into this kind of work. The premise is built around the Pacific Northwest legend of Bigfoot, the elusive ape like creature that hikers and locals have been reporting for more than a century. Sutton uses the cryptid framework to deliver the kind of campfire scary that young readers love. Strange tracks in the woods, broken branches at impossible heights, glimpses of something large and fast moving through the trees, and the slow building suspicion that whatever is out there might not stay out there for long.

What Sutton does well in books like this is keep the prose moving without talking down to her audience. The vocabulary is accessible but not condescending. The chapters are short enough to give a kid a sense of accomplishment between sittings. And the scares stay just on the right side of the line, scary enough to be exciting but not so dark that they will keep the reader up at night.

For parents looking for books that build reading habits in middle grade kids, especially boys who sometimes drift away from books in this age range, Sutton's catalogue is worth knowing. Bigfoot is a perennial favorite subject, and The Terror of the Bigfoot Beast is a solid entry that will probably lead readers to ask for more cryptid stories afterward.