Beauty and the Beast (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Once upon a time, there lived a merchant's daughter so lovely and kind that all who knew her called her Beauty..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This beloved old French fairy tale has enjoyed renewed popularity in recent years. Beauty, as you may recall, is the youngest daughter of a devoted father who has fallen on hard times. Returning from a journey, he picks a rose for his daughter, enraging the owner of the rosebush, the fearsome boarlike Beast who inhabits a nearby castle. As payment for the rose, Beauty must leave her family and reside in the Beast's castle as his companion. She gradually comes to appreciate the Beast's kind nature, and, after leaving him to visit her family, realizes that she has fallen in love! Beauty willingly returns to her Beast, in time to break the spell that has caused his current, beastly countenance and restore him (and the servants in the castle) to their human forms.

Jan Brett--well-known for her artistry in Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Mitten--has worked her usual magic on this beautiful edition of Beauty and the Beast. In a unique visual spin on the story, the tapestries hung on the walls of the Beast's castle reveal the true identities of the animal servants who are under the same spell as the Beast--a subtle, fascinating feature that may not be noticed until the second or third reading. The story's old-fashioned and graceful language perfectly accompanies the French court setting. One of the finest takes on this classic tale, Brett's Beauty and the Beast is described by Kirkus Reviews as "a lovely, carefully made edition of an old favorite." (Ages 5 to 8)

From Publishers Weekly

A single peacock feather, its delicate beauty rendered in meticulous detail, sets the tone for this sumptuous retelling of a classic fairy tale. The story is a familiar one, with true love triumphing over a wicked enchantment in the end (the moral, of course, is "never judge a book by its cover"). But the central attraction is the illustrations. Brett's images glide by in a kaleidoscope of luminous color: iridescent blues and greens flow from page to page, entwined with the radiant shades of Beauty's own symbol, the rose. Brett, whose trademark is her careful detail, leaves hidden clues for sharp-eyed readers that hint at the Beast's secret--such as mottoed tapestries and glimpses of the meddlesome fairy herself, decked out naturally enough as a peacock butterfly. But it's the recurring motif of the peacock, itself a symbol of vanity and surface appearances, that ties the threads of the story together. It's a brilliant marriage of artwork and text; once again Brett proves herself a contemporary illustrator of consummate skill. Ages 6-12.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; First Edition edition (September 11, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899194974
• ISBN-13: 978-0899194974
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #296,170 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #4 in	Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Staff Favorites > Traditional Fairy Tales (ages 5-9)
  #21 in	Books > Children's Books > Popular Characters > Fairy Tales & Folk Tales > Beauty & the Beast
  #49 in	Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( B ) > Brett, Jan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Fairy tales are supposed to be!!!, August 9, 2002

By	Deborah L. Woodstuff "IntoTea" (Wellsburg, WV USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jan Brett's illustrations are so colorful and richly drawn that you could tell the story without the words if you wanted to. Her illustrations are magical.
This book is a wonderful telling of the fairy tale. The true meaning of the tale comes shining through. The illustrations bring life to the printed words.
You will love this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful illustrations, June 21, 2002

By	Karen Cox - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jan Brett's books are always richly and beautifully illustrated. There is always a little extra "story" in the illustrations. In this one, you will be watching the animal servants throughout the book. Pay close attention to the tapestries in the background to see who these animals really are. My favorite are the monkeys. This version is very much like the original French fairy fale, and is well told.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best version of Beauty and the Beast, January 30, 2000

By A Customer

This version of Beauty and the Beast is well written, beautifully illustrated, and makes the moral point of the story quite clear. It is the nicest I've ever seen. Forget the movie and get this book instead.