The UnderSlumberBumbleBeast

The UnderSlumberBumbleBeast, a creature from one of Hanna’s favorite storybooks, symbolizes her connection with her father, who reads to her from the book each night. At first, she and her father try to create a version of the Beast using a potato, but when Suzette mistakes it for a voodoo doll and throws it away, Hanna is crushed, and views this as an attack on her relationship with Alex. As an apology, Suzette helps Hanna create a new Beast toy before she is sent to Marshes. “When it was finished, Hanna plopped the BumbleBeast on his feet and bum and he sat up nicely, weighted by his beanbag body. She clapped his hands together and kissed his nose; she loved him so much. He whispered his name in her ear—Skog, the Swedish word for forest” (276). By naming the Beast with a Swedish word, Hanna underscores its association with her father.