Beauty and the Beast-Treasury of Illustrated Classics Storybook Collection

by Kathleen Rizzi, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Marcel Laverdet (Illustrator)

This book is an adaptation of the classic novel Beauty and the Beast. Beauty's sisters are jealous of her, but her father and three brothers genuinely care for her. When her father tries to recover his wealth, he ends up at a castle where he is treated royally. Just as he cuts a rose from a bush to take home to Beauty, the Beast appears, demanding that one of the man's daughters be brought there to die. Beauty chooses to go. At the Beast's castle, Beauty is given every comfort, and through the conversations she has with her host each night, sees Beast's good heart and agrees to marry him. In the end, he is transformed into a handsome prince. This easy-to-read adaptation is guaranteed to hook beginning readers not yet ready to tackle the original.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 21, 2013

Reviews

[Marquise · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork inside is actually better than the silly cover would lead you to believe, all in black and white ink, not very detailed, and that reminds me of old comics. The story is Villeneuve's, but I'm extremely displeased by the fact that, although they kept the fairy cursing the prince for rejecting her, Kathleen Rizzi rewrote it omitting the fact that the fairy used to force himself on the boy prince, making it look as if he and his mother were unreasonable for rejecting her marriage proposal.

Is it so hard to include this little fact that the fairy is a sexual predator? Are we going to whitewash grooming by women? If this were a male fairy, I'm sure it'd be all over the comments and reviews. I'm very disappointed.

I also am very disappointed in Laverdet's depiction of Beast as some sort of gorilla or ape and his vision of Beauty as some supermodel with dollish features whilst her sisters are "uglified" (one is drawn as fat) when the tale says they were pretty too.

[LadyArwenEvenStar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story. In some ways it was better than Disney’s adaptation, and coming from me that is saying a lot because Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies

[Ruth]

Podling 5 and I just finished reading this together today. While we both enjoyed discovering the differences between the Disney version and the original tale, I found the style off-putting. At the very least, this adaption could have used a stronger editorial hand. (For example, a sentence might start with, "The queen said...." and then end with "...she asked.")

[Bridget's Quiet Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

EDIT-7/14/17
My updated thoughts are @Bridget Blogs Books

Review from 2/2012
Just as adorable as the movie...but even better! Even though this would be the abridged version of the story/actual book I guess..I still enjoyed it...It was, of course, a little different than the Disney movie but I still really enjoyed them both equally.

This is one story, whatever the form (book or movie), that a lesson can be learned in it all...

That a prince isn't going to come up on a white horse, kiss you, and save the day...or slip a slipper on your foot and ride off into the sunset with you...

This story allows love to develop despite the obstacles in the way. Or how someone may or may not look. And one of the best things about this story, she loves to read! She not only had a beautiful face, she had a beautiful soul/spirit about her. On both ends of looks, what some may think is attractive and others may think is unattractive....Never judge a book by its cover...You may be missing out on a wonderful, life-long love and/or friendship

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not gonna lie. This isn't what I was expecting and it kind of sucked. I realize this was because it was meant for a younger audience so, oh well, right? I had wanted to find the absolute most original version of this story, but it obviously wasn't. I am still on the search for the first one ever written, but I don't know if it's possible to find such a thing...