The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty & the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep  (4)  $6.99

Beauty and the Beast by Marianna Mayer  (11)

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From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-Snowbear Whittington is the traditional "Beauty and the Beast" tale retold with slight Appalachian mountain variations, including a large white bear instead of a "beast" and Christmas roses for the plucked flower that starts off the chain of events. Lisi has added such regional trappings as quilts, dulcimers, homespun clothing, and baskets. Endpapers capture the blue beauty of the mountains first in winter and then in spring. The straightforward text appears in a free-verse format on double pages, which alternate with double-spread paintings. The illustrator has chosen a romanticized, realistic style that features beautiful people, with bear motifs, Christmas roses, and doves used symbolically. The animals are realistically rendered and believable while the human characters have vacant expressions that detract from their appeal. Libraries that already own Marianna Mayer's (Macmillan, 1984) or Michael Hague's (Holt, 1991) romantic versions of Beauty and the Beast may consider this one an additional purchase.
Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 6-9. This picture book for older readers is sometimes reminiscent of the often-rendered story "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon." In the Great Smoky Mountains, a father picking Christmas roses for his youngest daughter, Nell, runs afoul of a large white bear. To save her father, Nell agrees to travel to the bear's castle, where she discovers that her host, Snowbear Whittington, is really a handsome young man under a witch's spell. Lisi's watercolors have a classic fairy-tale feel to them, but the figures, though technically well rendered, seem posed and stiff, and the faces (especially Nell's) lack expression. Hooks' retelling, however, is handled nicely enough to lend itself to both storytelling and reading aloud, and the classically romantic presentation may even attract middle-grade girls. Janice Del Negro

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