Belle, of course, is prepared to sacrifice everything for her family. Belle joins her father outdoors, mending things and planting gardens.Ĭeleste sometimes says rude things, but she supports and stands up for her sisters, even when it hurts. April-the middle sister-actually enjoys the cleaning and other indoor chores. Celeste-the oldest sister-channels her cleverness into a love of cooking. It turns out that their mother has a spine of iron, able to hold everything together when others expected she would crumble. As they face hardship together, they each find their own strengths. SPOILER ALERT: Things you might want to know before suggesting this to your kid Familyīelle is particularly close to her father, but the whole family is pretty healthy. Eventually she learns to hear what the wood of a magical tree is telling her, thus breaking the spell.

The wood speaks to her, revealing what it wants to be. In the end, it’s one of Belle’s gifts that saves her and the Beast-she’s a gifted wood carver, with an almost magical aspect to it. The joy of a retelling like this is the way that the magical castle of the Beast comes to life with history, details, and so on. Even when their fortunes change back, they stay with a more modest lifestyle. Like many retellings, the hardship proves to the family that they had their priorities all screwed up. I think the beautiful and good sister with the not-so-beautiful snotty sisters may be too shallow a dynamic to survive novel length. Her sisters aren’t snotty, horrible human beings. Like many retellings, Belle isn’t a great beauty. I’ve read a lot of retellings of “Beauty and the Beast.” This one doesn’t really break any new ground, but it was enjoyable to read. Belle agrees, never dreaming that she and the Beast have the same wish: to be seen not with the eyes of the mind, but of the heart.Belle is Cameron Dokey’s retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.” Like all of Dokey’s work, it’s very readable and is an interesting take on the story that inspires it. One day, during a fierce storm, Belle’s father stumbles upon the fabled tree-only to become ensnarled by it and come face-to-face with a terrifying and lonely Beast, who will set him free on one condition: that Belle carves the Heartwood. Her solace is her wood-carving hobby, and she longs to find the Heartwood tree: Legend has it that, when carved by the right hands, it can reveal the face of one’s true love. She begs to be called by her given name, Annabelle-or even Anna for short-but to no avail. Unlike her older sisters Celeste and April, whose names suit them perfectly, Belle knows that she is not beautiful. The story of Beauty and the Beast finds new life in this magical and imaginative retelling that’s filled with romance and adventure.īy the time her sixteenth birthday comes around, Belle feels more convinced than ever that she is being called by the wrong name.

Belle by cameron dokey