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A retelling of the classic tale with dreamy illustrations by An Leysen! Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a merchant with his two daughters. The eldest daughter was spoiled and vain, and the youngest preferred to read all day. She was so pretty everyone called her "Belle". One day, the merchant got lost in the forest and stumbled upon a castle that looked enchanted. Suddenly, he stood face-to-face with the castle's sole inhabitant: a beast! The Beast would spare the merchant's life on one condition: he must send one of his daughters to live in the castle. Against her father's will, Belle went to the Beast's castle. The cheerful Belle and the good-natured Beast come to life in this beautiful picture book by An Leysen. For children ages 5 and up, and for everyone who loves timeless fairy tales. Guided Reading Level N… (more)
User reviews
There must be hundreds of versions of this classic, but this retelling by An Leysen is beautifully balanced and stunningly illustrated and is definitely a book I would love to have on my shelf to share with my grandchildren. Sadly, this was a NetGalley review copy so my grandchildren
I liked that the beast was not too scary and not going to give young children nightmares.
This is a moral tale - don't judge people by their appearance - and given the success of recent books like Wonder by R.J. Palacio, it is a timely release.
Looking on Amazon, I see there are already three other fairy tales in this series, Baba Yaga, Pinochio's Dream and The Nutcracker, all with similar art work, beautifully created by the author. I would definitely consider buying these books; the illustrations also make a big difference to my own pleasure when reading to children.
Age 5 years +.
As someone who simply adores the fairy-tale of Beauty and the Beast, and who has over the years read many different variants and retellings of it, I was quite excited when I stumbled across An Leysen's telling at the public library, and I immediately snatched it up. I found the telling here quite engaging, and the artwork gorgeous. I appreciated the wordless two-page spreads from time to time, and thought they worked very well to emphasize particularly dramatic episodes of the story. The color scheme, the depiction of the characters, the little textured details - everything worked together to create a magical fairy-tale world. I had not been familiar with this artist before, but I will certainly seek out other books by her. Recommended to all fairy-tale lovers, and especially to fans of Beauty and the Beast!