Beauty and the Beast and Other Stories

by Rochelle Larkin (Editor)

An illustrated collection of ten classic stories.

Genres: Childrens, Classics, Middle Grade, Fairy Tales, Picture Books

238 pages, Hardcover

First published February 29, 2000

About the author

Rochelle Larkin, who has written more than two dozen books, lives with her children in New York City.

Reviews

[L. McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I never was very attached to fairytales even as a little kid but they’re extremely popular and are inspiring a lot of books, some pretty decent, others awful (looking at you, Cinder) so I decided to give a look at some of them through this little book and... yeah, still don’t understand the attachment.

What’s it about?
This is a collection of fairytales.

Pros:
Thumbellina was included and while not a masterpiece or anything it is a fun little fantasy story.
The Golden Mermaid is a surprisingly good and gripping story of political conspiracy.

Cons:
There’s quite a few illustrations here, the quality of the art is iffy. There are some nice illustrations but a lot of it is sorta ugly. Not to mention that it’s weird as fuck that some of the stories that include romantic stuff with males who are obviously over 18, the females often looked like they were 10... uhh... eww.
Beauty and The Beast is dumb as hell. Who the hell trades their daughter for a fuckin’ flower no matter how big the beast looks? Also, I don’t like how a girl being held captive is depicted as romantic and nice... I’m pretty sure Belle ended up with Stockholm Syndrome.
Rapunzel while not awful is a bit ridiculous. I did however think that a book written from the prince’s POV when he was in misery, blinded by thorns and in agony weeping over his lost love alone in the woods could make for a pretty good and twisted horror story though (yeah, go figure that was my favorite part of that one).
Twelve Dancing Princesses was stupid and boring.
Felicia and The Pretty Pinks, also boring.
Snow White and Rose Red is a bit too silly for my tastes. Of course then again the execution of this one is creepy (example: a bear calling 2 little girls his “lovers”... uhh... what the fuck?)
The Goose Girl is boring. I thought these stories are meant to be fun and exciting, why was I getting bored by this book so frequently?
Dorani is disturbing and not in a good horror sort of way. If I understood the story correctly it romanticizes the idea of a guy stalking a young girl. Why do people read this shit to little kids?
Little Wildrose is stupid. I get that some people like little kids but who the hell has the energy to raise any at over 100 years old? Also, at that age you’re fairly likely to croak any day, it’s very irresponsible. Unless it’s a miracle from God (see: Abraham) this is stupid. The rest of the story is meh.

Overall:
So I know that this collection only has a select few stories, hell I’m probably gonna read similar collections if I feel like it. I liked a couple of these stories, most of them are dumb though.

2/5

[Jennifer Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are just the cutest and a staple of my childhood!

[Dakota · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no beating the classics. Though for an illustrated edition, I'm not too fond of the illustrations. I am also not too fond of some of the versions of these stories they chose to include, but overall it's a lovely collection of classic love fairy tales.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book. It is full of stories some you've heard but others you haven't. I think that 3 or 4 graders would like this book more

[Deborah Camuglia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not against old fairy tales and fables; I enjoy them to an extent. However, the ones found in this book were nonsensical. Some things I skipped over for my five year old as they were too weird or just seemed off. As to my daughter, she was not thrilled with it either. I am pretty sure she was ready to be done with it long before it ended. I feel like that means it wasn’t too great because she loves princesses.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great collection of fairy tales. And not just the Disney version, we're talking real Grimm brothers writing. I must admit, some of the stories, were so outlandish that I began to lose some interest. However, I think a classroom of fourth grades (in my classroom next year) will enjoy this book!

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading these simplified classics with Victoria it is especial fun to hear pre-disney versions of the faiyr tales and to hear fairy tales I wasn't familiar with.