Skip to main content

Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly

By


Brief synopsis (no spoilers): Belle finds an enchanted book during her stay at the castle. 

Category: YA

Why I chose this book: I love Beauty and the Beast and books, so it sounded like an interesting twist

My personal opinion: *Some spoiler alerts but I don't know how to describe it without.* 


Death and Love are characters (used in much the same way as in The Book Thief). It was one of Love's Enchantresses that put the spell on the Beast and castle and Death and Love have a bet as to who will win out over the Beast. Death stacks the book (literally) by putting a book called Nevermore into the library.This prologue was kind of interesting. Belle is frustrated by the Beast and her life at the castle. Those feelings coupled with her adventurous spirit, Belle walks right into Nevermore when she finds it. (And the reader is screaming, "Don't do it!") It is a magical world until the enchantment starts to fall apart and Belle finds out that it has all been an illusion and a trap. This part creeped me out a bit and I probably wouldn't have finished it if I hadn't been relatively close to the end and wanted to see how the author wrapped up the story. I definitely recommend that readers be closer to teens than middle school to pick this one up. 

Warnings
Language: None
Violence: Very minor
"Adult" situations: None 
Death: Some (of non-human creatures)

Movie rating equivalent: PG-13

Protagonist description: At the beginning at least Belle is the same adventurous, kind girl that she is in the Disney movie and while it;s understandable from her character's perspective I wanted to scream at her at several parts during the book. It's hard to see a smart beloved character far for something you know isn't going to turn out well. 

Point of view of story: Belle

Book length: Medium

Story flow: A bit chopey as she moves between worlds, but easy to follow

Grammar and spelling issues:None

Character connection (no spoilers): Death and Love were interesting. And as for the actual characters from Beauty and the Beast, I'd be interested in knowing more about all of them. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

By
Summary: Every book needs you to turn the pages. But not every book needs you to tap it, shake it, jiggle it, or even blow it a kiss. Innovative and timeless, Tap the Magic Tree asks you to help one lonely tree change with the seasons. It begins with a bare brown tree. But tap that tree, turn the page, and one bright green leaf has sprouted! Tap again—one, two, three, four—and four more leaves have grown on the next page. Pat, clap, wiggle, jiggle, and see blossoms bloom, apples grow, and the leaves swirl away with the autumn breeze. (Amazon) Attention Span/reading level: Perfect for my three year old. I would say that ages 2-10 would really enjoy something like this. It really keeps kids engaged and makes them feel like part of the story. There is one word to one sentence per page. Good uses for book in teaching: Interaction, that the reader takes part in making the story, what a tree can do (leaves, blossoms, fruit) Favorite part:      Child: The fact that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh

By
Summary: Two mice make a teeter totter. Soon a frog comes along and wants to join. Can the mice balance all the friends who want to play with them? Attention Span/reading level: 3-6 years old, usually 5 or less words on a page Good uses for book in teaching: Balance, science Favorite part:      Child: When the frog joins in     Mine: That the mice keep playing at the end  Least favorite part: None:   W arnings/negative feedback: None.  Review: This is a really simple but fun way to introduce the idea of balancing and weight to kids. It's fun to show them how it must be equal on each side to balance. Showing that size can affect weight is shown on the page where all the animals are on one side with the big bird on the other. This could be a fun activity to replicate with toys if doing a science lesson at home. 
Post a Comment
Read more

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

By
Brief synopsis (no spoilers) Vin relies on her fighting skills, and a little extra "luck" to survive in the thief's world. Then comes Kelsier, a master thief and planner, showing her that what she calls luck is really much more. Kelsier and his crew plan to use a variety of special powers to free an entire population of slaves, including themselves, from tyranny. But, as always, there's far more to the story. Category Science Fiction or Fantasy Why I chose this book Rated highly on the library site My personal opinion (the review) Definitely the best story I've read in the past year. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series. Special abilities, fighting, romance, social justice - this has it all. And not a single bad word or uncomfortable situation. Warnings Language: None Violence: frequent, some mildly graphic "Adult" situations: None Death: Some, and of major characters Movie rating equivalent PG-13 Protagon...
Post a Comment
Read more