Beauty

Beauty
By Robin McKinley
Publisher/Date: Harper Trophy 1993
# of Pages: 247
Reading level: age 10+
Genre: fantasy

Summary:

The story begins with Honour living with her father and her sisters Hope and Grace. She's the ugliest of the sisters, and she doesn't like her nickname, Beauty. She grows up living in wealth with servants and things. Her sister Hope falls in love with a humble blacksmith, Ger, and they get married. Grace falls in love with Robbie, but he goes out to sea. Then tragedy strikes Beauty's father's business. He loses everything, and Grace loses Robbie who she thinks is dead. They all move to the country to a small house with Ger. They learn to work, and their lifestyle is changed. Hope and Ger have twins. One day, Beauty's father is traveling from the city, and he gets lost in the woods. he comes across a castle and he goes inside. he is taken care of there by an invisible host. then one day he picks a rose to bring home to Beauty, and a horrible beast comes and tells him that because he's done this, he must come back with one of his daughters to be prisoner or else he will be killed. he comes home and tells the family of the news. Beauty decides she will be the one to go. the family is all sad and they don't want her to go. however, they know she must, so she goes to the castle and stays with the beast. she doesn't see him at first. she is also taken care of by invisible hosts. then she meets the beast. they begin to eat and read together. every night he asks her to marry him, and each time she says no. she begins to see all the magic of the castle, and she also begins to really enjoy the beast and his company. then the beast shows her Robbie is still alive, and her family. she sees that Grace is about to be engaged to a man she doesn't love. this all makes her sad. she asks the beast if she can return home only to tell Grace that Robbie is still alive. he allows her to go for one week. She goes home and finds that her family is all well. they are all happy to see her, and she tells them about life in the castle. she has a good time back with her family and tells them of Robbie. then it's time for her to go, and she realizes how much she misses the beast, and how much she loves him. however, when she goes back, she's almost too late and she gets lost. once she finally finds the castle, she thinks the beast is dead. but he is not. he's very happy she's back, and she tells him she loves him and wants to marry him. once she does this, he magically changes into a handsome prince. at first she doesn't know who he is, but then he asks her to marry him, and she doesn't feel pretty enough. then she looks in the mirror and finds that she has grown to be more beautiful than her sisters. they get married and so do Grace and Robbie, and they live happily ever after.

Who would benefit from reading this book?

this book teaches a good lesson about inner beauty. i think it's important for young people to realize what true beauty really is, and the true beauty lies within. it also teaches about love. there are several good examples of good attributes needed for a successful relationship or marriage. the way Beauty and the Beast fall in love is also very significant because it's not the typical fairy tale love. they come to know each other, and look past their looks and fall in love with the person under the skin. any young girl especially would benefit from reading this book.

What problems could this book cause?

i don't really find anything wrong with this book that could cause a problem. it's just a fairy tale. it also contains really good messages. that people can definitely learn from. i would recommend this book to anyone.

My Reaction:

This wasn't my favorite book honestly. i didn't like how it took so long for the story to begin. i thought the first half of the book was slow moving and pointless to the story. i thought it was ridiculous that the beast wasn't even mentioned until halfway through the book. once i got to that point i liked it better. and i thought the messages in it were really good and beneficial. for me, it's not my favorite style of writing either. although her descriptions are really good. so overall i'd give this book 3 out of 5 stars.