Beauty and the Beast – Adventures in a Messy Life

My absolute favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast. I was at the perfect age for the Disney Renaissance and when Disney’s Beauty and the Beast came out, I had so many friends excitedly tell me I was totally Belle. Over the years I’ve collected several Beauty and the Beast picture books and Beauty and the Beast chapter books (the ones in my picture are the physical copies I could find). I smashed both of them together into a giant Beauty and the Beast Booklist.

Beauty and the Beast booklist for all ages

I’m updating an old post I wrote back in, looks over at date, August 2010, wow almost 15 years ago. This is one of the very first posts I wrote. I’m essentially rewriting this because back then I did not save a single link or anything. Also, I have a lot more chapter books now.

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Beauty and the Beast Picture Books

At one point I had more Beauty and the Beast picture books, but then I decided to go through and ONLY keep the ones I really loved, or if I had some kind of emotional tie to it. Luckily, most of them had no emotional tie beyond “Don’t make me give up the book,” so I have a few less than I once had, and I’m going to add in a few that are at the library that I would check out from time to time to round this out.

Beauty and the Beast picture and chapter booklist

Beauty and the Beast by Geraldine McCaughrean– the illustrations are gorgeous. It’s not my favorite retelling, but the illustrations are truly gorgeous.
Beauty and the Beast by Mariana Meyer– this one may be a bit harder to find, which is a shame because the illustrations are by Mercer Mayer, and the story is amazing. Here’s what I said back in 2010: I think this probably most closely follows the traditional tale as a retelling, with the addition of the dreams Beauty has. Each night after she goes to bed she dreams of a handsome prince, and longs to find him. In this version Beast is a magician and able to conjure up amazing images to accompany the stories he tells. I love the way she retells it.
Bunny and the Beast– I’m just gonna copy and paste my thoughts from 2010: I have to admit I got this one partially because the cover is so overboard. I’ve got a whole series of fairy tale cards by this illustrator and got it mainly for this. I love the illustrations, they’re incredibly lavish. This, like the Mercer Mayer and the Dragon Prince again has the sisters not getting along, which is true to the original fairy tale, even though I like Beauty and Rose Daughter for changing that fact. It’s still a fun book to read. Again this is probably geared more to second grade, more because of the length. The pictures are not disturbing at all, but it is a longer picture book.
Beauty and the Beast by Jan Brett– I didn’t own this when I first wrote the post, and is a more or less faithful retelling with Jan Brett’s gorgeous illustrations.
Beauty and the Beast by Nancy Willard– It’s illustrated with woodcarvings. It’s also longer, told in chapters, closer to the novella the original story was.
The Dragon Prince by Laurence Yep– This is the only version from a different culture of Beauty and the Beast that I own. Like most of the versions I own I haven’t shared it with my kids yet because it’s geared more for about a second grade level (at least). I like this version because both have to search out their true love when things go awry at the end. “The eye sees what it will, but the heart sees what it should.” That’s the lesson taught in this version on both sides.
Interesting, I thought there was a SanSoucci Beauty and the Beast version, but I didn’t see it at our library, and my attempts to find it on Amazon were not successful. So I must be imagining it.

Now to the chapter books.

Beauty and the Beast chapter books

Once upon a time there were not that many fairy tale retellings. Then came the age of indie publishing because of Amazon and ebooks, and this whole market exploded. I probably own 20 different retellings of Beauty and the Beast alone.

Okay, let’s get going with this.

Beauty by Robin McKinley– I really dislike this current cover. I know it’s the current trend, but it doesn’t fit this book, and it just made me unhappy. This is the book that got me hooked on Beauty and the Beast. I think I first read it in 6th grade, so that tells you the age range. One of the things I like about this version is the sisters all get along, and Beauty is so likable.
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley– This is Robin McKinley’s second foray into Beauty and the Beast, and this version is geared towards an older audience. It’s a little darker, but probably high school-aged, I’d guess. Maybe junior high, I guess if Twilight is for that age, then this could be as well. I love the fact that she was able to write the same story twice, and both times it was a completely different take.
Beast by Donna Jo Napoli-This is the only version I’ve found that is written from the Beast’s point of view (so I said back in 2010, now Disney has created a version from the Beast’s POV, which is a thing). It was really intriguing, but it’s not one that I reread as often as the other two. One of the things I found interesting is the Beast comes from India (as I recall) and migrates all the way to France. All in all, it was an enjoyable read.
Beastly by Alex Flinn– I went back and added this in because I just remembered I do have another version told from the Beast’s POV, but it came out years later. It’s set in modern times and is apparently part of a series. There is a movie made of it, which is how I found out about the book. The movie had a few problems when adapting it. Part of the amusement of the book is the idea of the various cursed characters communicating with each other over message boards.
Beauty by Susan Wilson– This is set in a modern day. It’s a little different in that it’s not a fantasy tale, but it’s still the same idea. She goes to live with a “beast” and slowly falls in love with him and is called away to help her ailing father and discovers the depth of her love. I like the different variations, but it’s still hard to hold a candle to the Robin McKinley ones. Still, it’s a fun change of pace.

Okay, now I’m going to get into all those books I only have as ebooks. Well, other than Beastly, which I threw in up there since it fits in so well with Beast.

Torn Curtains- darn, it looks like this is only available from her newsletter or maybe she took it down. I have no clue how I got it, but it’s a fun vaguely Regency-era in a fantasy world retelling
The Scarlet Rose– Russian themed fairy tale world (yes, Beauty and the Beast is not Russian, but the world is), the starting world is our modern Russia, and they’ve connected to a fairy tale world that has many Russian characters in it with magic. It’s a really interesting and different take as Belle is part of the Russian mafia.
Belle- by Cameron Dokey-One of many retellings clearly influenced by Robin McKinley’s Beauty. I think I might have once owned this in paperback, it’s from a YA series of retellings this author wrote, and it’s servicable enough, but not good enough that I’ve really bothered rereading it anytime recently.
Beauty and the Beast by Sarah Beran– I haven’t read this yet, this is one that I bought on sale, and I know the author and like her other books.
Before Beauty by Brittany Fitcher– Another that I got on sale or free, and I haven’t quite read it yet, I’ve made a block of not reading it for some reason. It’s another that everyone keeps raving over.
The Dragon by Rachel Roden– this is a short story set in the Old West
Once Upon a Rose– This is a really weird retelling of Beauty and the Beast because he’s cursed, but it didn’t change how he looks in the least bit. Just something bad will happen to him on his 21st birthday if he’s not married. That’s it. He’s still a noble, and he’s still handsome, and he’s just grumpy. I honestly found it rather annoying.
The Rose Gate– I love this series, it’s a bunch of portal fairy tales starting in a small town in Canada and then going into faerie. It’s vaguely connected series, but you can totally read it out of order because that’s what I did to start.
Rose of the Oath– I don’t super remember this one, it’s set in a world where the first book in the series was so much more memorable. I do remember bits and pieces, but the first one was so much better that I would recommend it first.
Thornrose Estate– Northanger Abbey and Beauty and the Beast combined together. This is a series that you really need to read in order because it builds on itself, and I do enjoy the series.
Beauty and the Beast KM Shea– This is the start of a series of 11 interconnected fairy tales, and it’s a very different Beauty from many, because unlike the others she’s not bookish. I very much enjoy it. She’s got a fun character.
To Heal a Broken Heart– this is such an interesting take for how she ends up with the Beast, but it’s also not one I super remembered after that one time I read it over a year ago.
The Beast’s Magician– This is a fun series set in a Regency world, I forget if it is really England or a pseudo-England or not. I very much enjoy the books, but they are rather short, less than 150 pages and they’re charging $5 for the books in the series. So, I only buy them when they’re on sale because that is quite a lot for such a short book.