1. Beastly
By: Alex Finn
Caroline Kubacki
Reading-Miss Roche
Period 5
May 11, 2012

2. Alex Finn: Biography
Alex Finn was born in Long Island, New York. Her mother once
told her that she should be an author, so at a young age she
started sending poems to Highlights and Cricket magazine.
Growing up she admired many authors, such as Astrid
Lindgreen, Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
In her college years, she studied opera and later went to law
school. Alex like to write her manuscripts long hand. She is
currently living in Palmetto Bay, Florida, with her two daughters
and loving husband.
http://www.alexflinn.com/index.html

3. Summary
Witches, curses, and magic were always mythical to Kyle
Kingsbury, but what happens when he realizes its real? Kyle
Kingsbury ruled Tuttle School with his dad’s money and his
perfect looks. What happens when he gets too cocky?
Commenting on an ugly girls appearance and tricking her into
going to the school dance with him may be the end of Kyle’s
perfect life. A boy who had the life that everyone wish they had
turns into a horrendous beast. He only has two years to regain
his old self, by the kiss of his true love. Will he be able to break
the curse?

4. Characters
Main Characters
• Kyle Kingsbury- He is the heartthrob of Tuttle School, with his blonde hair, blue eyes,
and perfect body. His dad, a rich newscaster, ignores him and his mother left when he
was born. Now living in New York as a bratty rich kid, an evil curse has been casted
upon him.
• Adrian King- After the horrifying curse has been cast, Kyle realizes how ashamed he
is of his past life. He changes his name to Adrian, which means “dark one.” Adrian is the
beast of New York, looking for love.
• Lindy Owens- Adrian’s love interest, grew up with a horrible father. Lindy went to
Tuttle as a scholarship student, and is very smart. After trespassing Adrian’s property,
Lindy’s father trades her for his freedom. She now lives with Adrian, but will she be the
one?

5. Characters
Minor Characters
• Magda- Magda is both Kyle and Adrian’s maid. She is originally from
Mexico, where her family could barely get by. She came to America, leaving
her family behind, to find work. Magda is the first one to warn Kyle about his
behavior towards others, and stays with him after the curse.
• Kendra Hilferty- A witch is what she is, and it is her that casts the spell upon
Kyle. She goes to Tuttle as an exchange student, and is beyond freaky
looking.
• Will- Will is Adrian’s blind tutor. He helps Adrian realize that Lindy is the love
of his life. Will also helps Adrian by introducing him to different things, like
reading and roses.

6. Plot
Introduction
• Kyle Kingsbury is elected king of the dance court. He is currently dating the most attractive girl in the school,
Sloane. He starts to quarrel with an ugly, witchlike girl, named Kendra Hilferty.
• During gym class, Kyle decides to play a cruel joke on Kendra, so he asks her to be his date for the dance. She agrees
and asks for a simple, white rose corsage. Kyle then asks Sloane to go with him as his real date. She agrees and asks
for a purple orchid corsage.
• Magda, the Kingsbury maid, only bought Kendra’s white rose. Kyle was mad at Magda, and she said she was afraid
for him. This greatly puzzled Kyle, but he ignored her comment. While picking up Sloane, he gave her the white
corsage. Sloane was furious at him for not fulfilling her request of the purple orchid.
• At the dance, Kyle gave the white corsage to the girl working the ticket booth. She recognized the rose’s beautiful
brilliance.
• Kyle met Kendra and she cursed him. Kyle didn’t quite get what her words meant that night, until he started to feel
changes in himself to the point wear he had to leave the dance.
Rising Action
• When Kyle returned to his city apartment, he ran to his room. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and
screamed in the horror of his new appearance. When he turned around, he saw Kendra sitting on his bed holding a
mirror.
• Kendra told Kyle of the curse she had cast upon him making him a beast. She also told him that because of the kind
act of giving the white rose to the girl at the dance, she was going to give him a second chance. Kyle had to have a
girl kiss him, that he loved as well as she loving him. He only had two years to break the curse, and before Kendra left
she gave him the mirror claiming it had magical power.

7. Plot (Continued)
Rising Action (continued)
• Kyle was in shock, he locked himself in his room for a few days before calling Sloane. He decided that Sloane must
love him enough to overlook his appearance. When Sloane came over, with one look she ran screaming from his
apartment.
• Finally, Kyle’s dad was done with him being locked up in a room. Kyle eventually let him in, and his dad thought this
was one of Kyle’s cruel jokes. Slowly, Mr. Kingsbury realized this was not “Little Boy Called Wolf” and that Kyle was
stuck like this. He rushed around all over the United State talking to different doctors, who all said that his condition
was permanent.
• Mr. Kingsbury bought Kyle an apartment in Brooklyn, while he continued to live in Manhattan. Magda moved with
Kyle, and Mr. Kingsbury even hired him a blind tutor named Will.
• Kyle decided to check out the mirror given to him by Kendra. He got his yearbook, and watched numerous people
from his class at Tuttle. They all think he went to a boarding school in London. When he came across the girl from the
ticket booth, he learned that her name was Lindy. He also learned of the terrible thinks her father does, and continued
to watch her life daily.
• Kyle went online and tried to find girls on various dating services, but decided it would be too fake. Then he joined an
online chat group, that seemed to be going through the same thing as he, or so he thought.
• Finally, he decided that Kyle, which means “pretty one” wasn’t fit to be his name anymore. So, he renamed himself
Adrian, which means “dark one” it suited him well.
• Will was tired of Kyle moping around all day, so he made Adrian continue his studies. Also, he created a green house
with Adrian. Together they found an interest in common.

8. Plot (Continued
Climax
• One night, Adrian heard something or someone in his rose garden. He knew it wasn’t Will, so he got his baseball bat
and went outside to find Lindy’s father. Adrian threatened him, forgetting about his menacing appearance. Lindy’s
father made a deal with him, that if Adrian set him free, he would give Adrian his daughter, Lindy, in a week’s time.
Adrian spent that week excited that Lindy could break the spell and decorating her numerous rooms. In exactly a week
Lindy came.
Falling Action
• Lindy doesn’t want anything to do with Adrian. One stormy night, Adrian couldn’t sleep, so he went downstairs to
watch television. Lindy did the same, and the two of them met each other in person for the first time. She then agreed
to continue her studies with Adrian and Will the next morning.
• Adrian was very excited that Lindy agreed to do something with him, but was extremely nervous he would be too
dumb for her. Despite it being early in the morning, Adrian rushed to Will’s room to find out what the upcoming day’s
lesson plans were, so he could do some extra studying in preparation.
• After a successful lesson, Lindy was curious about the fifth floor of the apartment. Together they ventured up to the
fifth floor, and found beautiful dresses once owned by Ida Dunleavy. Lindy tried on the emerald green sequin one, and
Adrian couldn’t think of anything more beautiful than her in that dress.
• When winter came, Lindy was tired of being in the same apartment and wanted desperately to go outside. Adrian wok
her up in the early hours of the morning with her bags packed, he took her in the car headed for a surprise. They got to
the Adrian’s winter house in the late afternoon, and Lindy was amazed. She had never seen real snow, or ever play in
the snow.
• After a long day of sledding, snowball fights, and creating snowmen and women, Adrian showed Lindy his mirror for
the first time. She then told him of her crush on Kyle Kingsbury. They spent about an hour watching different people,
until she asked for her dad. The mirror showed that he was greatly ill and in need of some care.
• Lindy asked to leave and Adrian granted her wish. He thought she was the one, but now he new he would be a beast
forever.

9. Plot (Continued)
Conclusion
• Lindy left and Adrian’s two years were coming to an end, but he still hoped she would come back to him
in the spring like she promised. He wanted to talk to Kendra, so he called her from the mirror. Adrian
asked that if he ever broke the spell, could Will regain his sight and Magda be reunited with her family.
• On his last night to break the spell, while watching Lindy through the mirror, he saw that she was
screaming for his help against a man with a gun pointed at her. Before he really knew what he was doing,
he ran to her drawing attention to himself. He reached her in time to scare away the man, but was sadly
shot. Lindy rushed over to him, and tried to save him. Knowing that this was his last chance, he reached
up and kissed her. The spell was broken!
• Lindy was utterly confused, but was able to comprehend that Kyle and Adrian were the same person with
different appearances. While leaving the alley, they found the news team there covering the story about a
beast in New York City. They pulled the two aside and asked them for their side of the story, and they told
the news team about the man with the gun in the alley.
• While returning to the apartment, Kendra was there to congratulate them on breaking the curse. She
explained that Will regained his sight once again, and that Magda was really herself in a different form.
• Together Adrian and Lindy lived happily after, and once again attended Tuttle. Will was able to get a
teaching job at Tuttle as well.

10. New Vocabulary
• Cackling- v. to laugh especially in a harsh or sharp manner – “Behind me, Sloane was cackling.” p. 31
• Hallucination- n. perception of objects with no reality usually arising from disorder of the nervous system
“Hoping it was a hallucination, a dream.” p. 49
• Subversive- adj. obsolete : a cause of overthrow or destruction “ He was subversive, though,” Will said. p.104
• Database- n. a usually large collection of data organized especially for rapid search and retrieval (as by a
computer) “I’d started to work on a database with all books listed by title, author, and subject, like the real
library, but it wasn’t finished yet.” p. 165
• Horticulturalist- n. the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants “The
horticulturalists, when they develop a new rose variety, they name it.” p. 189

11. Starring Actors
Kyle Kingsbury and Adrian King
played by: Zac Efron
Lindy Owens
played by: Emma Stone

12. Staring Actors
Magda Will Kendra Hilferty
Played By: Played By: Played By:
Salma Hayek Jake Gyllenhaal Kristen Stewart

13. Soundtrack Tunes:
Beautiful By: Christina Aguilera
Don't look at me
Every day is so wonderful So don't you bring me down today
And suddenly it's hard to breathe No matter what we do
Now and then I get insecure No matter what we do
From all the pain, feel so ashamed (No matter what we say)
I am beautiful no matter what they say No matter what we say
Words can't bring me down (We're the song that's outta tune)
I am beautiful in every single way (Full of beautiful mistakes)
Yes, words can't bring me down, oh no (And everywhere we go)
So don't you bring me down today And everywhere we go
To all your friends you're delirious (The sun will always shine)
So consumed in all your doom The sun will always, always shine!
Tryin' hard to fill the emptiness, the piece is (But tomorrow we might awake on the other side)
gone 'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say
Left the puzzle undone, ain't that the way it is? Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no
'Cause you are beautiful no matter what they say We are beautiful in every single way
Words can't bring you down, oh no Yes, words can't bring us down, oh no
You are beautiful in every single way So don't you bring me down today
Yes, words can't bring you down, oh no Don't you bring me down today
To all your friends you're delirious Don't you bring me down today
So consumed in all your doom
Tryin' hard to fill the emptiness, the piece is
gone
Left the puzzle undone, ain't that the way it is?
'Cause you are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down, oh no
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring you down, oh no

14. Rating
I gave Beastly rating of
five out of five stars
Beastly by Alex Flinn is a page turner that leaves you at the
edge of your seat with suspense. I enjoyed this book because it
was a modern day twist to a classic fairytale. The moral of this
book is to not judge a book by its cover. It truly is remarkable
how much of a change Kyle and Adrian make. It was great to see
read about Lindy’s life, because it is completely different than
mine. In this book, many other classic books were mentioned,
and I liked all the analogies. Beastly is a great book for those who
enjoy a twist to an old tale.