written by Robin McKinley
Harper Collins Publishers, 1993
Genre: Childrens fiction; fairy tale, fantasy
Reading Level: ages 9 to 12
256 pages
Beauty starts out with an introduction to Beauty's family; her father and her two sisters Grace and Hope, and their life. Beauty is mis named in that she grows to be far less pretty than her elder sisters. Beauty's mother died when she was very young Beauty's father is a merchant and very wealthy so the girls live very well. Grace is engaged to one of their fathers workers, Robbie who leaves on a ship to prove himself and make enough money for a wonderful start with Grace. Unfortunately Beauty's father's ships crash and he loses basically all his money and Robbie is lost at sea. The family is forced to leave the city and move into the country where the could live cheaply and where Hope's fiancee has offered to work with their father for a living. After adjusting to the country life after some time, and making new friends they hear news of one of the lost ships coming back into part. Beauty's father returns to town to see what's going on and to sell the ship's cargo. He asks his daughters if there is any gifts that he can bring them. Grace and Hope both ask for pearls and jewels and gowns, but Beauty only asks for rose seeds to plant in her garden. Beauty's father makes it to town sells the cargo, and learns that unfortunately it was not Robert's ship. As he returns home he gets caught in a storm and comes across a big creepy castle he is helped and taken care of by invisible servants, and he is very grateful. He leaves to return home the next morning and thinking of Beauty picks one of the beautiful roses in the garden, a beast appears from nowhere and threatens to kill him calling him ungrateful. Beauty's father begs for his life saying that he had daughters he needed to return to. The Beast agrees to let him go as long as he returned in one month with one of his daughters. The father is horrified but agrees and is let free. He returns home, but seems sick and exhausted. He tells the story to his daughters and they are horrified but Beauty agrees to go. The rose that the father took lives for one month and the seeds that Beauty plants grow fast and stay beautiful for longer than most other roses. The family also quickly realizes that the Beast sent some jewels and pearls and dresses for the daughters that Beauty's father was unable to get for them. When the time came, Beauty and her father left for the castle, all the while her sisters begging her not to go. They reach the castle and Beauty enters with her treasured horse. She wastes as much time as she could taking care of her horse, and occupying herself before it finally hits dark and she enters the castle. She is greeted by the invisible servants, fed good food, and shown a grand selection of books which gives her some comfort. She is finally introduced to the Beast who is excited for her companionship, he ends their introduction asking her to marry him, she says no, quite taken aback and she is led to her room. As time went on she grew to think the beast was kind, and spent time with him at meals, outside, but most of all reading and discussing books. Beauty grew to better understand the enchantment on the castle and sometimes could even hear the servants speaking about her being the last hope, but she couldn't figure out what it all meant. Though she was still heavy hearted because she missed her family and every night the Beast asked her to marry him, and every night she said no. Then one night, when she was desperately missing her family she had a dream about her family that was very vivid and was really upset by this. The Beast recognized her sadness and explained that he had given her that dream and agrees to show her more. Beauty sees that Grace is leaning towards marrying another man in the country, a local minister, and Hope is pushing her in that direction. Then a new vision comes in and she sees Robbie, alive. Beauty knows that she must return home and tel Grace that Robbie is alive. She begs the Beast to go and he reluctantly lets her go, for one week telling her that she must return within the week or he will die. Beauty was so excited to get home and see her family and tell Grace the news. She was so excited she ended up staying over a week. During the week Beauty realizes she loves the beast, and soon after she has a dream about the Beast dying. She hurries back to the castle and finds the Beast dying; she quickly confesses her love to him and says she will marry him. Without knowing it she breaks the enchantment and the Beast returns to his handsome human form. Beauty insists that she cannot marry him because she is not beautiful enough for him. The now human beast shows Beauty her reflection and she realizes that in her time at the castle she has grown into a beautiful woman. Beauty and the Beast are married in a triple wedding with Grace and Robert, and Beauty's father and Melinda, a woman they met in the country. And they all lived happily ever after.
I would recommend this book particularly to young girls who love fairy tales with a new spin.
I can't really think of any controversy that could come from reading this book.
I thought this was a really good book. It was a great retelling that really engaged the reader. I also really liked the message, it was positive and self esteem boosting.
My rating: 4 out of 5
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