Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

When a wealthy merchant loses all his money after his fleet is drowned in a storm, he uproots his three daughters and moves to a village far away. Then the old merchant hears that one of his ships has made it safe to harbor at last and he journeys to claim it, only to encounter a fierce Beast, who walks like a man and lives in a castle. The merchant's life is forfeit, says the Beast, for trespass and the theft of a rose—but he will spare the old man's life if he sends one of his daughters.

When Beauty hears this story—for her father had picked the rose to bring to her—her sense of honor demands that she take up the Beast's offer, for "cannot a Beast be tamed?"

This "splendid story" by the Newbery Medal–winning author of The Hero and the Crown has been named an ALA Notable Book and a Phoenix Award Honor Book ( Publishers Weekly).