Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book
By Jennifer Donnelly
Hi! Do you ever get so lost in a book that you can’t ever put it down, but then you have to return to life’s hardships? Well, Belle loves to read! Since she’s imprisoned in the Beast’s castle, she can never put a book down, because there’s nothing else to do!
Before we get back to Belle, I want to introduce you to two characters in this story: their names are Love and Death. Death steals people’s lives; Love gives them joy and happiness. The two are sisters, and Love cursed the Beast to see if he could become kind. She is betting her sister that Belle falls in love with the Beast. Her sister is betting that she does not. And one thing that Death does not like at all is to lose (and she cheats very often). So Death goes to her pet raven and tells him to drop off a book at Belle’s house. He wants to do as he is told but he asks, “Wouldn’t that be cheating?” and she says, “It would not.” And being that ravens aren’t very bright, he flew off and placed the book in the Beast’s library (which the Beast had given to Belle).
Meanwhile, Belle and her friends were trying to clean out the library and were so involved in their work that they didn’t even see the raven. So, Belle goes downstairs to have dinner and when she comes back up, she sees the book. And she realizes that she can actually step into a story. She arrives in a land that is full of fancy ladies and balls and she meets one person who seems to be the life of the party: the Countess. The Countess says that she wrote this book for Belle so that she could escape from the Beast. And on Belle’s way back to the Beast’s castle, she found it harder to get back. At the Beast’s castle, all she did was think about Nevermore (the book that she went into).
In the middle of the night, she couldn’t get to sleep, so she went to Nevermore again. She ate three pastries at the party, but she didn’t know that Death was behind this whole plan and that Nevermore was just a trap. If she came back and left three things in Nevermore, then she would be trapped there forever.
Will Belle be able to escape in time, or will all be lost and Belle never get back to the Beast again? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who love adventure and fantasy. There are plenty of exciting parts in this tale and it’s perfect for readers who like many twists and turns until the ending.
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There were a few scary parts, although none of them were too scary.
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
There were a few yucky-lovey parts, but only hugging!
I give this book 5 wands.
It was amazing! This book is good for ages 8 and up, although if your child cannot read but think they would really enjoy the story, you could read it aloud to them (or little sister/brother).
