Beauty and the beast was written by Wendy Mass. In this well written book a boy named Riley (soon to be beast) and a girl named Beauty go on two seperate adventures
that become one and intervene with one another. Beauty goes one an adventure with a little girl named Veronica and a boy named Handsome. Veronica lives with her
grandfather because her mom went on an adventure and never returned. Veronica went on this adventure in search of her mother and her mothers necklace. Shorlty after
Beauty arrives home,her father has to leave. When he returns home she realizes she must go work as a prisoner for the beast instead of her father. When she arrives
she is treated like a princess and falls in love with the beast. When she learns the beast's she realizes she must help everyone else who has been transformed from there true form to an
animal. The beast and Beauty left the castle and freed everyone under the witches spell with a kiss. They soon learned that Veronica's mom was turned into an ant and
ran away. After they returned home they became newly weds and ruled the kingdom strongly and kindly.

I personally loved this book. Wendy Mass wrote the book with a perfect amount of description so it made you feel you were in the book watching everything
happen. She made it so realistic and brought back childhood memories of when I used to be in love with Disney princess's. Wendy Mass rewrote Beauty and the Beast so
older kids could enjoy reading fairytales again. So all in all you can see that a really enjoyed this book and would encourage more people to read this book.

Ok, a couple of things you need to know. First, the cover is ridiculously inappropriate. Truly cute, and maybe a tiny bit better than what would have been done if the design matched the originals of the first two in the series, for example: [bc:Rapunzel: The One with All the Hair|175348|Rapunzel The One with All the Hair (Twice Upon a Time, #1)|Wendy Mass|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328867237s/175348.jpg|15655188].

The thing is, the book does take place in that vague classic European fairy-tale time, and the young characters are not actually children, but old enough to be getting ready to consider marriage. So the cover should be a bit more like a YA cover. Moreover, the book could easily appeal to boys, if they could see it in a different cover.

Second, it does take patience and a bit of maturity to appreciate. Based on this cover, a 7 or 8 year-old might pick it up. I'm not sure how many kids that young would be able to keep track of the quickly shifting view point and all the plot threads and secondary characters. All sorts of random things get fittingly worked out in the very satisfying end.

I do love Mass's books. I just wish her publisher would let her find a better book designer for this series. ( )

Grades 4-7: Wendy Mass's take on the Beauty and the Beast tale is quite different from the Disney-fied Belle version with enchanted teapots and wardrobes. 12-year-old Beauty (who is actually on the plain side) enjoys a comfortable life with her bookseller father and older sister until their house accidentally burns down and they are left destitute. Meanwhile, across the kingdom, Prince Riley putters around in his lab with various science experiments to the amusement of his older brother and the consternation of the king and queen. As the royal family is on their way to a neighboring kingdom for a dance, they meet a witch who is disguised as a beautiful lady. The witch casts her spell, turning Riley into the Beast and the rest of the family invisible, and telling them that the only way the spell will be broken is if Riley manages to find a girl who falls in love and kisses him over the next several months. Chapters alternate between Beauty and Riley-- Beauty as she tries to help her family financially and joins a friend on a quest; Riley as he tries to adjust to life as a Beast and figure out another way to break the spell since the chances of a girl falling in love with him are remote--and it's not until the last third of the book that the more traditional storyline begins to come through and the two meet. Mass's gift for engaging characters and dialogue serves her well here, and short chapters keep the pages turning right to the happily-ever-after ending. A solid addition to the "Twice Upon a Time" series, and a good choice for students who like "Ella Enchanted," "Princess Academy," and similar titles with spunky heroines.
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