#cameron dokey

[ibrithir-was-here]

I've done some art for awesome web versions of Beauty and the Beast I've read, but here's some Beauty's from Beauty and the Beast adaptations I physically have on my shelf.

From top left we have Honor "Beauty" Huston from Robin Mckinley's lovely first novel, 1978's "Beauty", her first adaption of the classic tale, which Disney 100% took inspiration from for their version with it's chatty castle staff and bookworm Beauty.

Top right is Beauty from Mckinley's second adaptation, 1997's "Rose Daughter" , a dreamlike and fantastical version featuring a Beauty who is a talented gardener and plagued by dreams of the Beast awaiting her since childhood.

Bottom right is Annabelle "Belle" from the 2008 novel 'Belle' by Cameron Dokey, part of the Once Upon a Time book series of fairytale adaptations. Similar to Mckinley's Honor this Beauty is the plainest of her three sisters, but has a talent for woodcarving which comes in useful once she's taken into the Beast's domain.

And finally we have Beauty from @megan-kearney 's "Megan Kearney's Beauty and the Beast" which was originally a webcomic that ran from 2012-2019 but can now be also purchased as a paperback 3 volume set and I'm happy to say I own all of them :) This Beauty is a kind hearted scholar who has a past more mysterious then even she realizes...

They're all excellent books and I would highly recommend them :)

#my art #other people's awesome writing #book recs #beauty and the beast retelling #beauty and the beast #robin mckinley #cameron dokey #megan kearney #fairytale retellings

[aliteraryprincess]

Sleeping Beauty // Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

There were formerly a king and a queen, who were so sorry that they had no children; so sorry that it cannot be expressed. They went to all the waters in the world; vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried, and all to no purpose. At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There was a very fine christening; and the Princess had for her godmothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom (they found seven), that every one of them might give her a gift, as was the custom of fairies in those days. By this means the Princess had all the perfections imaginable.

#booklr #book photography #sleeping beauty #beauty sleep #cameron dokey #books

[rapha-reads]

I just finished A Curse So Dark And Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer, and wow, it might be even better than The Beast's Heart. That's a fantastic twist on Beauty and the Beast's story, and, this time, I'm using fantastic in its literary sense of "a story that starts in the real world and then gets invaded by the magical". Harper is truly awesome and badass, and I would have loved to see Grey's POV through the story, he's so good and loyal. Rhen is interesting insomuch as he's different from what the character of the Prince usually is in these contemporary rewritings. He's much more pro-active in his life and passive in his curse, if that makes sense, while most other Princes linger in their resignation and frustration.

That was such a fascinating read, I can't wait to start writing my thesis on modern rewritings of B&tB and compare it with The Beast's Heart, A Tale of Love and Revenge, Uprooted or Once Upon A Time, Belle. If you guys know more rewritings in contemporary literature of the tale, please do drop recs, the more samples I have for my thesis, the better!

#a curse so dark and lonely #brigid kemmerer #beauty and the beast #fairy tale retelling #modern rewritings #the beast's heart #leife shallcross #beast - a tale of love and revenge #lisa jensen #once upon a time belle #cameron dokey #uprooted #naomi novik #rapha talks #rapha reads #books #books and literature #literature #i also need to get my hands on the original tale #idealy i want to send my thesis in june and defend it in july #but given that it's mid february and i'm barely starting re-reading the books and i haven't even written the abstract yet #or even contacted the professor i want to be my thesis adviser #it might have to be september #we'll see how it goes - and the thesis has to be between 45 and 100 pages so it doesn't have to be too long there's that too #we'll see we'll see #in any case do send me some more beauty and the beast modern retellings #i feel like 5 novels and the original tale is not enough for a master's thesis but i might also have the eyes bigger than the stomach #anyway anyway #i'm rambling

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" - Cameron Dokey

This one pretty closely follows the plot of the original Beauty and the Beast, with the most notable difference being the addition of Belle's woodcarving hobby that she picked up from her father. When she goes to live with the Beast at his enchanted estate, she encounters the legendary Heartwood Tree which, when carved, will reveal the face of one's true love. The Beast insists she take on the task, believing that it will help him break his curse.

I felt like it had a lot of good potential that it just didn't deliver on. The beginning seemed to be setting up an exploration of what true beauty is, but that theme was dropped by the time the curse broke. There were also a few other themes and character studies that were introduced and would have been really interesting if they had been followed through, but they weren't, or at least not to the extent I would have liked to see.

Overall, still a nice story and a decent retelling, but with the potential to be amazing if the author had delved a bit deeper.

More fairy tales

#belle #cameron dokey #fiction #fantasy #fairytales #beauty and the beast #bookrecs

[pipperoni32-blog]

Not the best picture, which is definitely not my skill set. But I’m still so in love with these new books I got about a week and a half ago ❤️ I’ve read 3 of them, but I’m looking forward to reading each of them many times to come in the future!

#books! #holly black #the stolen heir #rachel caine #hotel magnifique #emily j taylor #ink and bone #the great library #tfota #the storyteller’s daughter #cameron dokey

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The Middle School Series That Frankly Should Have Been More Popular Than It Was

So seventh grade for me was horrendous for a variety of reasons, from the remnants of a full-on poodle perm to being actively and horrifically allergic and asthmatic (yes, both things) to the building. My saving grace that year was a standing hall pass to the library during lunch, and Cameron Dokey's The Storyteller's Daughter.

The Once Upon a Time is Timeless series is a firmly middle grade set of fairy and folk tale retellings, and frankly for what they are, they are worlds better than they had any right to be. As is a common refrain on this blog, I do own more of this series, but they're in tubs in my dad's basement in Alaska, so we're just gonna cover the three that I physically have in my possession on my current book shelf 3,000 miles away from those book tubs.

I want to start with The Storyteller's Daughter, because this was the first of these books that I read and was my first book introduction to the Arabian Nights (my actual first introduction was the Wishbone episode, because I was a PBS 90s kid). That said, the cover on my shelf is not the cover that drew me in, no. My 12-year-old, did not know that Orientalism was a thing self saw this cover on the shelf,

and literally could not check this book out fast enough. Sterotypical cover design aside, the stories within the frame narrative were lovely, and there was a lush, comforting quality to the prose itself that was immensely required for a very sad, very sick seventh grader. This was the literary equivalent of a luxury hot choclate that I could have every day at lunch, tucked into a chair in the library (no, I didn't eat lunch for that entire school year because I felt so awful and just wanted my books). As of writing this post more years later than I care to put a number on, I still have not managed to read the actual Arabian Nights, so I'm not going to comment on adaptation. I will simply say that this book saved my sanity as a middle schooler, and for that reason alone I will never not recommend Shaharazad's story and the stories she and her mother tell.

I could talk about issues of orientalism, cultural appropriation, and fetishizing the Arabic world, and the academic in me is refusing to let this pass without saying that those are issues that have a valid place in the overall conversation, because series that uncritically retell other cultures' stories lean hard into problematic--and this series does this for their Mulan retelling too. But even bearing all of that in mind, I wouldn't shy away from recommending this series to middle schoolers who desperately need comfort stories.

I found Suzanne Weyn's The Diamond Secret as an undergrad, when I was trying (and ultimately failing) to conceive a research project around the weird pervasiveness of retellings of the folk tale about Anastasia's survival and how, even after the family's bodies were discovered in the 1980s, the discovery was made public in the 1990s, and the family were reinterred in...I want to say like 2014? People were still desperate to tell a happier story, in which the Grand Duchess who inexplicably captured imaginations got to live a full life. I still have my collection of both historical books about the Romanovs and fiction versions of the Anastasia story, and this is by far my favorite fiction version.

I might still write that research project some day, because the mythologizing of a 17-year-old is just a fascinating process to my academic mind, but today is not this day. Today, I want to gush about how well this version of the story was done. Nadya's story has some grit, some actual danger, and revolves around actual human emotions, not a makeover. Like this book is the movie Don Bluth and Gary Goldman wanted to make, but they ended up with a Disney princess clone that sucked so much of the character work that made this book so good.

Finally we come to the eyebrow raiser of these three books, Suzanne Weyn's The Night Dance. I wouldn't have automatically mashed up an Arthurian side character with the 12 dancing princesses fairy tale, but y'know, it's not the worst mash-up I've ever read, and the 12 danging princesses are extremely flexible in terms of how you want to contextualize them and what other IP you want to cross them with (just off the top of my head, Barbie did the 12 dancing princesses, and Juliet Marillier adapted it for her Wildwood Dancing). This book is fine, but it's one of the more forgettable versions of this particular fairy tale, so if you want to jump into this series, I don't recommend starting here. I also don't recommend skipping it completely, so have a resounding "it's fine."

#once upon a time is timeless #books & libraries #fantasy #fiction #middle grade books #princesses #fairy tale retelling #folk tales #strong female lead #strong female characters #strong female protagonist #cameron dokey #the diamond secret #book recommendations #books and reading #the night dance #the storyteller's daughter #arabian nights retelling #anastasia #arthurian mythology #twelve dancing princesses #shaharazad #sir bedivere #rowena #suzanne weyn

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Storyteller's Daughter | Author: Cameron Dokey | Publisher: Simon Pulse (2007)

#books #The Storyteller's Daughter #Cameron Dokey

[alley-cat777]

Book Review: Winter's Child: A Retelling of The Snow Queen by: Cameron Dokey

Book Review: Winter’s Child: A Retelling of The Snow Queen by: Cameron Dokey

Love cannot thrive simply by being offered. Sooner or later it must be accepted and reciprocated. It must be seen for what it is and nourished according to its needs, or it will die.Winter’s Child – Cameron Dokey Initial Thoughts: Before Frozen fever took hold of little kids everywhere in 2013, I fell in love with Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Snow Queen. Weirdly enough, I came across…

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#Book #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #books #Cameron Dokey #Fairy Tale #Frozen #Hans Christian Andersen #review #The Snow Queen #Winter&039;s Child #Young adult

[bookcub]

ps i am not including modern retellings (there is too many) and adaptations i haven't read

#polls #booklr #cinderella

[princesssarisa]

Do you also know the different names meanings of Beauty and the Beast?

Beauty's names, in versions that don't just call her "Beauty":

Belle (the Jean Cocteau film, the Disney version, and several other adaptations): "Beautiful."

Zémire (the opera Zémire et Azor): "My praise" or "my music."

Nastenka (the 1952 Russian animated film The Scarlet Flower): A nickname for Anastasia, meaning "resurrection."

Althea (the 1962 film): "Healer."

Honour (Robin McKinley's novel Beauty): "Honor," obviously, with British spelling.

Alyona (the 1977 Russian film The Scarlet Flower): A form of Helen, meaning "torch" or "light."

Julie (the 1978 Czech film Panna a Netvor): "Youthful."

Catherine (the 1987 TV series): "Far off" or "pure."

Maria (the anime Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics): "Bitter," "drop of the sea," or "beloved."

Annabelle (Cameron Dokey's novel Belle): "Lovable" or "grace and beauty."

Linda (the 2007 novel and 2011 film Beastly): "Beautiful."

Elsa (the 2012 Märchenperlen adaptation): Derived from Elizabeth, meaning "My God is an oath."

The Beast's names, in versions that reveal it:

Azor (the opera Zémire et Azor): "Helper."

Eduardo (the 1962 film): "Wealthy guard."

Vincent (the 1987 TV series): "Conqueror."

Adam (if we assume this is the Disney Beast's real name): "Man."

Koro (Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child): "Choir."

Gaspard (Cameron Dokey's novel Belle): "Treasurer."

Kyle (Beastly): "Channel" or "strait."

Arbo (the 2012 Märchenperlen adaptation): "Brave army."

Argus (Megan Kearney's webcomic): "Shining."

#beauty and the beast #fairy tale #name meanings

[fictionadventurer]

A Ranking of all the Cinderella Retellings I’ve Read

(Completed via a very unscientific method where I try to balance between “I liked it” and “It was well-written.” Your mileage may vary and my ranking would probably vary if I made this list again.)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine: The Gold Standard. The retelling that started it all for me. Manages to twist the fairy tale (even dislike some parts of it) while remaining true to the heart of it. A+ worldbuilding, A+++ ending.

A Cinder’s Tale by Stephanie Ricker (in the Five Glass Slippers collection): A sci-fi retelling where Cinderella works a highly-dangerous space mining job. Fantastic worldbuilding with a wonderful ensemble cast.

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley: Cinderella meets Joan of Arc. Has a fantastic multi-first-person-narrator structure. Some of the fairy tale plot points are an awkward fit, but I still enjoyed it.

Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey: A fairly basic retelling with a fantastic autumnal atmosphere that tempts me to reread it every year, even though the story’s rather basic and the ending’s too convenient.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: The famous science-fantasy retelling. There are things I don’t like about the series, but this first book is a solid retelling with some good twists. I like it less than several others on this list, but it’s too solid to rank it much lower.

The Stepsister and the Slipper by Nina Clare: If Georgette Heyer wrote fantasy. Cinderella’s spunky stepsister and a roguish hero manipulate each other in competing schemes. The worldbuilding’s sketchy and the ending’s very rushed, but I had too much fun to care too much.

Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling: Fantastic twist, adorable relationship between Cinderella and her prince, a sweet and melancholy atmosphere, and an underwhelming ending.

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo: Wodehouse meets Cinderella, starring a very grumpy fairy baker. Gets a bit too slapstick, but its snarky, silly vibe is a breath of fresh air in a YA-romance-dominated retelling world.

Traitor’s Masque by Kenley Davidson: I love the Ruritanian atmosphere and the political tension between the two brothers, even though it’s at least 33% too wordy and the plot makes less sense the more you think about it.

The Windy Side of Care by Rachel Heffington (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Cinderella meets Shakespeare. Has a strong voice, a heroine with a ton of spunk, and a fun “fairy godfather”.

Fated by Kaylin Lee: Great magical-1930s worldbuilding. The characters were also solid. The plot was a bit too long and too convenient at points. But the worldbuilding is the draw here.

The Earl of Highmott Hall by Nina Clare: Another Regency fairy tale by this author. Probably technically better-done than The Stepsister and the Slipper but I found it less fun.

Silver Woven in my Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Short and sweet little book with minimal magic and a lot of charm, but I don’t remember much about it anymore.

Midnight’s Curse by Tricia Mingerink: Set in a European-castle + American frontier setting that’s unique (even if I can’t quite decide if it’s cultural appropriation), with some interesting twists and themes.

The Spinner and the Slipper by Camryn Lockhart: Mashes up Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin with just a touch of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If I remember right, it did a decent job of it. The loving competition between Auberon and Titania was fun.

Letters by Cinderlight + Wishes by Starlight by Jacque Stevens: A Russian-ish retelling with some fantastic ideas (parts of it reminded me of Ella Enchanted) and unfortunately shaky execution. If it had been better written, it may have been one of my favorites.

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix: I was pleasantly surprised by parts of this (mostly Ella’s character arc of learning to accept help) and hated other parts (the villains were completely unbelievable strawman caricatures). In the balance, I’ll stick it here.

Mask of Scarlet by Sarah Pennington: Set in a very unique and very complicated 1920s Chicago + Iceland world. Of the series, this was the book where I was best able to understand the worldbuilding, and I think the fairy tale was decently done, but even though I read it earlier this year, I remember almost nothing specific.

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George: This one’s hard to rank because I think it was decently written, but I remember so little about it. I’ll stick it here, for whatever that’s worth.

What Eyes Can See by Elisabeth Brown (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Sweet, magic-free Regency-ish retelling with a very shy Cinderella and a nice stepfamily. It’s a bit basic, but it’s grown on me over time.

The Moon-Master’s Ball by Clare Diane Thompson (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Very strong autumnal and slightly spooky atmosphere. I remember liking this one well enough, but can’t remember much else about it.

The Other Cinderella by Beka Gremikova: This treats Fairy Tales as an external worldbuilding thing (people are cast in fated roles, etc.), which I usually hate, but there’s a twist at the end that impressed me.

A Gown of Spider Silk by A.G. Marshall: Short story retelling with one twist that’s kind of fun, but not quite my thing.

Another Midnight by Amanda Marin: Short-story Cinderella involving a time-loop. I remember almost nothing about it, but I think it was decent enough.

Cinders and Blades by Amanda Kaye: Short story Russian-influenced retelling. I remember almost nothing except that it disappointed me.

Slipper in the Snow by Alice Ivinya: Another short story. I remember even less about this one.

Rook di Goo by Jenni Sauer: I was promised Cinderella meets Firefly. I got an ensemble cast I didn’t connect with, worldbuilding I didn’t understand (what do they even do with their spaceship?), and a fairy tale that felt shoehorned-in.

The Stepsister’s Tale by Tracy Barrett: I don’t remember much except that I found it disappointing.

Broken Glass by Emma Clifton (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Mildly steampunk retelling imagining that the slipper fits the wrong girl. The humor here just isn’t my cup of tea, and the ending doesn’t make sense.

The Coronation Ball by Melanie Cellier: Short, shmaltzy and basic. There’s nothing that terrible about it, but for some reason there’s a lingering distaste that makes me recoil from it.

Cinderella (As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story) by Barbara Ensor: Written for lower middle-grade. One of those fairy tale retellings that thinks making anachronistic references is clever. It’s not.

Happily by Chauncey Rogers: Ugh. There’s one really dumb twist to the fairy tale that’s so dumb that it makes me angry just thinking about it, regardless of what else may be in the story (I don’t remember much else).

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwall: Double ugh. It had such a promising premise, but I hated so many things about this worldview that it gets the bottom ranking forever.

#fairy tale retellings #cinderella #fairy tales #i've wanted to make this list for a long while #my memories of most are too vague to be useful #but this longing has now been satisfied

[aliteraryprincess]

Rapunzel // Golden by Cameron Dokey

Once upon a time there lived a man and his wife who were very unhappy because they had no children. These good people had a little window at the back of their house, which looked into the most lovely garden, full of all manner of beautiful flowers and vegetables; but the garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to enter it, for it belonged to a witch of great power, who was feared by the whole world.

#booklr #book photography #rapunzel #golden #cameron dokey #books

[konglindorm]

Apparently there’s a standard color palette for Snow Queen retellings. Which we did not follow. Oh well.

Books pictured are Jenny Prater’s Shards of Glass, T. Kingfisher’s The Raven and the Reindeer, Danielle Paige’s Stealing Snow, Anna Ursu’s Breadcrumbs, and Cameron Dokey’s Winter’s Child.

Shards of Glass is coming soon! More information at jennyprater.com

#shards of glass #fairy tales #books #fairy tale retellings #wax heart press #my writing #hans christian andersen #the snow queen #new release

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

It's not so much that what they say is truthful ... but that certain kinds of stories have the ability to teach us truths about ourselves.

—Cameron Dokey, Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"

#book quotes #cameron dokey #belle

[starwarmth]

7, 11 and 16 for the fairytale retellings?

7. Favorite fairy tale to read retellings of

That’s a really hard one. It has to be one I enjoy enough that I don’t go “hmm, I would have done that differently.” A lot of Slavic retellings really disappoint me because they always take away the coolest parts to make way for “sexy” and it’s like. no I think we can stick with terrifying and cool, actually. Perhaps Rumplestiltskin? I haven’t read many, but authors do a pretty good job adapting it in new and exciting ways! (yes I may be just talking about Spinning Silver but I love it a lot so it counts!)

11. A fairy tale retelling on your TBR

“The Flight of Swans” by Sarah McGuire. I really loved “Valiant” so I look forward to reading this!

16. A retelling that tells the fairy tale from another POV

I remember Cameron Dokey’s “Golden” did this but I wasn’t all that impressed with this Rapunzel retelling. (I remember really liking “Before Midnight” though, her Cinderella retelling)

#thanks for the ask!!

[the-lunar-library]

Beauty and the Beast Novel Master List

I like Beauty and the Beast, I bet you do too, here's all the retellings I've read.

I'm not selecting for quality, I'm just listing them.

Art by anonymous. Beast has put on his nicest pompom shoes to win Beauty's heart.

Some of these are retellings (girl swaps places with father, is isolated with a beastly love interest of some type, leaves for some reason, returns to find the beast dying, confesses her love and saves the day), others are only inspired by BatB, but I'm including them as long as there's a clear reference. So Rose Daughter goes, but things like The Phantom of the Opera, Shrek, or Jane Eyre, despite their many overlaps, don't.

Art by Horace Elisha Scudder. Beauty has found Beast, here played by a distant cousin of the Berenstain Bears family.

Also for your consideration: What do you call your heroine when canonically she has a painfully literal name?

Hmmm...

E: explicit

NF: not fantasy or any adjacent genre

YA: young adult

BOOKS:

Beauty's names: Beauty, Lucy, Eider

A Rose for Beauty – Irene B Brand

NF. Novella length. I don't remember much about this one despite reading it just last year, but it's modern day and I think it's Christian. Featured in the Once Upon a Time collection. (No connection to the Once Upon a Time book series.)

Beauty and the Clockwork Beast – Nancy Campbell Allen (Steampunk Proper Romance)

Despite the title, I don't think this one follows the fairy tale quite faithfully enough to really be a retelling. It's more of an original steampunk gothic-mystery-romance. But the BatB inspiration is there.

The Price and Prey of Magic – Rachel Day

I wrote this one. It riffs on both the classic BatB and an alternate version called “The Green Serpent” where the beast is a snake and the Beauty character is thought to be hideous. Other fairy tales are incorporated.

Beauty's names: Belle, Violaine, Lindy

Belle – Cameron Dokey (Once Upon a Time)

YA. The Once Upon a Time series did novella retellings of the classic Disney fairy tales (as well as some outliers) in the 2000s. Some of them are fairly original, some of them play it more safe. There were multiple authors, but I always felt the Dokey entries were the strongest. Belle doesn't try to reinvent the fairy tale that much (see Spirited farther down the list), though it does make the magical rose a more central element in the story.

The Prisoner of the Castle of Enlightenment – Therese Doucet

E. Not a close retelling, but definitely inspired by BatB. Even set in 1700s France for good measure with a strong focus on the Enlightenment. Nods to the fairy tale early on, then heads off into unexpected original territory and gets magical and folkloric.

Beastly – Alex Flinn (Kendra Chronicles)

YA. Probably the best-known modern retelling. The author makes the risky choice of telling it from the beast's point of view, in this case a conceited rich prep boy, and I think a lot of the reader's enjoyment depends on how much they like being in his head. There's a companion novella from the Beauty character's perspective, but I haven't read it.

Beauty's names: Isabella, Caitrin, Beauty

Spirited – Nancy Holder (Once Upon a Time)

YA. The other Once Upon a Time retelling. This one is more original, less by-the-book, setting it in colonial America. But it makes the questionable decision to cast the beast character as an American Indian who takes a beautiful white colonist captive. I suspect this is why the series' creators revisited BatB with the Dokey version, with the hopes this one would quietly vanish.

Heart's Blood – Juliet Marillier

A historical fantasy set in medieval Ireland. This one decides to cast the beast as disabled, but if you can put that aside, he's an interesting and well-rounded character. Another book that deviates pretty substantially from the original and goes off and does its own thing. There are ghosts, not talking knickknacks. Even so, it feels like a legitimate retelling, not merely inspired by BatB.

Beauty and the Beast, The Only One Who Didn't Run Away – Wendy Mass (Twice Upon a Time)

YA. What I remember most about this one is reading it while waiting to see if I'd be impaneled for a jury. It doesn't stand out much in my memory, but as I recall it was lighthearted and aiming for humor.

Beauty's names: Beauty, Beauty, Beauty

Beauty – Robin McKinley

YA. Robin McKinley's first foray into BatB retellings. It's one of my favorite novels, period, with a thoughtful bookish Beauty (way before Disney did it) and a brooding but gracious beast. It's an intelligent slow burn with loads of introspection, but still has many sweet, warm, and funny moments.

Rose Daughter – Robin McKinley

YA. McKinley's better known BatB retelling. This one is a lot more original, expanding on the fairy tale, incorporating Beauty's siblings a lot, and overall giving you a longer, richer read. I still prefer Beauty, but this one has a lot going for it and includes an unusual twist. Also, while I won't list it as its own entry, Chalice is an original McKinley fantasy novel with a strong BatB vibe.

Beast – Donna Jo Napoli

YA. Another book from the beast's p.o.v. Also casts him as a person of color (Persian) with a white Beauty, and in this case turns him into a lion rather than a fantastical monster. Yes, him being a literal animal rather than a slightly humanoid beast does introduce some specific elements to the story. Probably part of why the cover touts it as sophisticated.

Beauty's names: Belle (Annabelle), Shelley

Belle – Sarah Price

NF. The Amish one. Modern setting. It has a YA feel (the heroine is very young), but given that it deals with marriage, and to a significantly older man, I'm not exactly sure which audience it's ultimately for. This Beauty takes a Disney-inspired approach, being bookish and spirited. But the beast is a crotchety Amish guy, so that's new.

The Gentle Prisoner – Sara Seale

NF. 1940s Cornwall. A gothic-tinged romance novel with an otherworldly, innocent, sensitive heroine, who's also very young and marries a significantly older man with a troubling scar and no end of brooding. Not exactly a retelling, but leans heavily on the fairy tale and isn't afraid to draw attention to it.

SHORT STORIES:

"The Rose and the Beast" – Francesca Lia Block

YA. Modern day. I did read this one, a hundred years ago. I don't remember much except for a general impression of the whole collection – dark, urban, sensuous. Can be found in the collection of the same name.

"The Courtship of Mr Lyon" – Angela Carter

Modern (to the 1970s, when it was published). A feminist retelling. Been forever since I read it, so I don't remember specifics, but I have a clear memory of enjoying it.

"The Tiger's Bride" – Angela Carter

As you can guess from the title, also sophisticated.

"Beast and Beauty" – Vivian Vande Velde

YA. A lighthearted, cute take on the story from the beast's perspective. VVV's writing is often very funny, and this is one of my favorites of her retellings. It can be found in Tales From the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird.

That was tiring. I think I'll just lie here and stick my tongue out and die.

I would love to find more retellings, so please feel free to add to this list.

#beauty and the beast #book recommendation #book recommendations #fairy tale #book list