Fairy Tales

Just a shortened version of the Walt Disney movie. Great story with artwork from the movie. ( )

This book is about a prince who is turned into a beast because he was selfish and ignored an old woman, who turned out to be an enchantress. He only had a certain amount of time; someone must fall in love with him while he was a beast to become human again. Belle is a beautiful girl who lives in the city with her dad, who is an inventor. Her dad sets out to the fair, gets lost and ends up at the beasts’ castle. The beast keeps him as his prisoner; Belle agrees to stay there forever in the place of her father. He scares her and she runs away but gets attacked by wolves. The Beast saves her life and they become friends. He knows she misses her father and must go take care of him so he releases her. Gaston, a hunter, thinks he deserves Belle and sets out to kill the Beast. He falls off the castle and the Beast is wounded. Belle says she loves him and the Beast turns into a handsome prince again. She pronounced her love just in time, because the last petal was about to fall.

This has always been one of my favorite Disney tales. I couldn’t make the summary shorter because there is just so much to the book; it’s hard to sum it up in just a few words. I actually prefer the movie more but that’s because there is more detail and more story to it than the book. Even as a child, I always liked the Beast even though he was supposed to be scary. I had compassion for him and felt bad for him. There is a good lesson to be learned that you should be nice to everyone know matter what they look like.

In the classroom, we would read the book together and then we would watch the movie. We would have a discussion to compare and contrast them. Also, we could have a discussion about how it’s not nice to be mean to someone because of the way they look. I would have each student write something nice about their “neighbor” that sits next to them and they would exchange their notes. This would be a good way for students to see the good in people. ( )

Not much to say about this book except that it's a fun read for little kids. One benefit for parents... it allows the kids to almost watch the movie, just quieter. ( )