Beauty and the Beast

by An Leysen

Hardcover, 2018

Status

Available

Call number

398.20944

Publication

Clavis Publishing (2018), Edition: Illustrated, 56 pages

Description

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

LibraryThing member DubaiReader
Beautiful book.
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
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can only view it electronically.

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 +.
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LibraryThing member Carlathelibrarian
This is beautiful adaptation of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast. This is not the Disney version, but the original story about two sisters, one selfish and greedy and one kind, loving and helpful. It is also the story of The Beast, the prince who is turned into a beast by an enchantress who is
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upset with his selfishness. The illustrations are wonderful. They are a cross between anime and old style fairytale illustrations. I like that the beast is not really scary so you could read this with younger children. A good message of kindness, true love and generosity. A great version to read with children learning about fairytales or in a unit about positive values. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.
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LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Belgian picture-book author and artist An Leysen turns her hand to the classic French fairy-tale of Beauty and the Beast in this lovely picture-book. The story of a beautiful and kindhearted girl who takes her merchant father's place in the palace of a terrifying beast, learning in the process that
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looks can be deceiving, and that character is more important than appearance, it hardly needs any introduction, as it concerns the narrative. The text here is fairly traditional, and keeps for the most part to the structure of the classic Mme. le Prince de Beaumont version, which is arguably the best known today. The main variation here is that Beauty has only one other sister, rather than two (or five). The artwork is beautiful - colorful and quite expressive...

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!
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

56 p.; 10.3 inches

ISBN

160537251X / 9781605372518

Local notes

The classic fairy tale with enchanting illustrations.
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