Charles, Veronika Martenova. It's Not about the Rose! New York: Tundra Books, 2010.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in ebook or paperback.

NOVEL: Here are five first books for fledgling readers that offer the enjoyment of a good story along with the thrill of accomplishment that comes from independent reading. Written in short, easy phrases with carefully selected vocabulary and plentiful illustrations, each book helps youngsters achieve success as they have fun. The series follows three friends who love to share stories. In each book, one is reminded of a well-known story: Little Red Riding Hood in It's Not About the Hunter!, Beauty and the Beast in It's Not About the Rose!, Snow White in It's Not About the Apple!, Cinderella in It's Not About the Pumpkin!, and Hansel and Gretel in It's Not About the Crumbs! As one friend starts, the others are reminded of versions they know so each volume has three stories within one framework. The stories come from around the world, and Veronika Martenova Charles provides a note at the end of each book to describe the origins.

Cohen, Barbara. Roses. New York: Scholastic, 1985.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

NOVEL: Young adult novel. "When her father steals a rare rose from a florist shop, Isabel is pressed into employment there as payment to the hideously deformed owner. --Library of Congress"

Cross, Sarah. Kill Me Softly. New York: EgmontUSA, 2012.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in ebook or hardcover.

NOVEL: Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Dickerson, Melanie. The Merchant's Daughter. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback or ebook.

NOVEL: From the publisher: "An unthinkable danger. An unexpected choice. Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf's bailiff---a revolting man who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past. Believing that life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the bailiff's vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her, Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her encounters with Lord Ranulf. As Annabel struggles to confront her feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in grave danger. Ranulf's future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart."

Dokey, Cameron. Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". New York: Simon Pulse, 2008.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

NOVEL: From the publisher: "A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast."

Flinn, Alex. Beastly. New York: HarperTeen, 2007.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

NOVEL: From the publisher: "I am a beast.

"A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

"You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

"Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly."

Holder, Nancy. Spirited. New York: Simon Pulse, 2004.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

NOVEL: From the publisher: In May 1756 war is formally declared between the British and the French. During this highly dangerous time, Isabella Sevens is travelling with her father to the British stronghold Fort William Henry. In the forest, Wusamequin, the young and handsome medicine man, looks to avenge the death of his wife and child at the hands of British soldiers. When Wusamequin spots Isabella and her father, he alerts his warriors to capture them. But Wusamequin is quite taken with how bravely Isabella battles. He orders the warriors to spare her and her tfather, and they are dragged back to their village. However, many members of the Mohican tribe still want them to be killed. In a desperate plea to Wusamequin, Isabella vows to stay as his hostage if he lets her father go.

Jay, Stacey. Of Beast and Beauty. New York: Delacorte Press, 2013.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in ebook or hardcover.

NOVEL: In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

Lackey, Mercedes. Beauty and the Werewolf. New York: Luna, 2011.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or ebook.

NOVEL: From the publisher: "The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella—Isabella Beauchamps, daughter of a wealthy merchant—vows to escape the usual pitfalls. Anxious to avoid the Traditional path, Bella dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman. But on the way home she's attacked by a wolf—who turns out to be a cursed nobleman! Secluded in his castle, Bella is torn between her family and this strange man who creates marvelous inventions and makes her laugh—when he isn't howling at the moon. Breaking spells is never easy. But a determined beauty, a wizard (after all, he's only an occasional werewolf) and a little godmotherly interference might just be able to bring about a happy ending.… "

Lackey, Mercedes. The Fire Rose. New York: Baen Fantasy, 1995.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

NOVEL: This is a mass market paperback by Lackey that uses the Beauty and the Beast theme. The main character is Rosalind Hawkins, a medieval scholar and modern woman at the turn of the 19th century in San Francisco. She accepts a position with Jason Cameron as a tutor, but soon learns that all is not what it first appeared to be. This is pure entertainment from the popular Lackey.

Mannering, G. R. Roses. New York: Sky Pony Press, 2013.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

NOVEL: "As the gates clicked shut behind them, she heard the distant roar of a beast."

She bears no name. Her silvery appearance is freakish to the numerous inhabitants of Sago, the cosmopolitan capital of Pevorocco in a fantasy realm. With her mother vanishing at the instance of her birth, she is regrettably sent to live with the nouveau riche Ma Dane, where she is punished daily for something, though she knows not what. Tauntingly named Beauty, she flees Sago in a violent uprising that sets out to massacre all Magics and journeys to the furthest point of the country.

But Beauty cannot hide in the grassy Hillands forever. Before long, the State officials find her and threaten to take her back to war-torn Sago where death surely awaits. In a midnight blizzard she escapes them, running into a deep, enchanted forest to a great and terrible beast who will bargain for her life. But can Beauty accept Beast? Eternity is a long time.

Marillier, Juliet. Heart's Blood. New York: Roc, 2009.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

NOVEL: From the publisher: "Anluan has been crippled since childhood, part of a curse that has besieged his family and his home of Whistling Tor. But when the young scribe Caitrin is retained to sort through family documents, she brings about unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.

But to truly free Anluan's burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life-and their love... "

Marillier is also the author of Daughter of the Forest (Six Swans) and Wildwood Dancing (Twelve Dancing Princesses).

McBain, Ed. Beauty And The Beast. New York: Henry Holt, 1982.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

NOVEL: Mystery: Part of McBain's Matthew Hope series.

McKinley, Robin. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast. Harpercollins, 1978.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

NOVEL: A personal favorite, McKinley's first published novel brings the tale of Beauty and the Beast to life in a young woman who considers herself to be anything but beautiful. This is a beautiful book and great for readers of all ages over eight.

McKinley, Robin. Rose Daughter. Greenwillow, 1997.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

NOVEL: McKinley revisits her favorite tale twenty years after she visited it in her first novel with a new interpretation that is less simplistic but just as beautiful. The magic is richer and deeper in this book. I'll let you decide which one you prefer.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Beast. New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

NOVEL: Elaborates on the tale of "Beauty and the Beast," told from the point of view of the Beast and set in Persia.

Timpanelli, Gioia. "Rusina, Not Quite in Love." Sometimes the Soul. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

NOVELLA: From the publisher: "A renowned storyteller who has beguiled audiences around the world offers these mesmerizing novella-length fables about two young women and the transformative power of art. In "Rusina, Not Quite in Love," Timpanelli recasts "Beauty and the Beast" as the tale of a loving young heroine who escapes her poor family to live at the estate of Signor Sebastiano. A devastatingly ugly man who prefers plants to people, Sebastiano leads Rusina to the true meaning of beauty. Lyrical, enchanting, wise, these timeless stories are, in the words of the baroness, "simple, but not so simple," as they enlighten readers about the virtues of love, solitude, and art."

Wilson, Susan. Beauty: A Novel. New York: Crown, 1996.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

NOVEL: I read this one in the bookstore and decided not to buy it. It is another retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale. Beauty is an artist hired to paint a family portrait. It was also adapted into a TV movie in 1999.

Yep, Laurence. Angelfish. New York: Putnam, 2001.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

NOVEL: Description from book jacket: "After accidentally breaking the front window of a pet fish store, Robin commits to working off the cost of the window after ballet class-even though that means enduring insults from a grouchy old man who calls her a "half-person" because she is only half Chinese. Robin works extra hard to prove Mr. Tsow wrong and marvels over the uncharacteristically tender way he takes care of the fish, especially the beautiful angelfish. He is just like the Beast in the ballet Robin is rehearsing.

"Robin is curious about what turned him into such a beast, and she and her feisty grandmother search for clues about his past. Their digging leads to a shocking story about the Cultural Revolution, and Robin learns how much Mr. Tsow has overcome just to be here, much less have a soft spot-even for fish."

Literature: Graphic Novels

Shaw, Stan. Beauty and the Beast. New York: Dark Horse Comics, 1993.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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Poetry

Alsop, Jaimes. "Beauty and the Beast." The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Volume 13. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.

Also available at "Beauty and the Beast." Endicott Studio Website. http://www.endicott-studio.com/cofbeuty.html.

Broumas, Olga. "Beauty and the Beast." Beginning with O. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Brown, Eleanor. "Beauty and the Prince Formerly Known as Beast." New Blood. Neil Astley, editor. Highgreen Tarset Northumberland: Bloodaxe Books, 1999.

Strauss, Gwen. "The Beast." Trail of Stones. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Viorst, Judith. "...And Beauty and the Beast, Once the Spell Had Been Broken, Lived Happily (Sort of Happily) Ever After." Sad Underwear and Other Complications: More Poems for Children and Their Parents. New York: Atheneum, 1995.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Yolen, Jane. "Beauty and the Beast: An Anniversary." The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Volume 3. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.

Also available at "Beauty and the Beast: An Anniversary." Endicott Studio Website. http://www.endicott-studio.com/cofbbann.html.

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Music

I have listed primarily classical compositions of music using the themes of this fairy tale in either ballet, opera or some other musical style. I have also provided links to popular recordings of the music when available at Amazon.com. The advantage to these links is that you can listen to samples of the music at no charge.

Title: Soho Square, Beauty and the Beast
Performer: Daniel Biro, Veronique Joly

Gretry, Andre. Zemire and Azore. 1771.

Gretry (1741-1813) wrote this opera based on the Beauty and the Beast story.

Menken, Alan, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice. Disney's Beauty And The Beast: The Broadway Musical.

In 1994, Disney hit Broadway with a stage production of its movie. The musical enjoyed great success. I have included links to the soundtracks for the Broadway musical and the feature film.

Title: Disney's Beauty And The Beast: The Broadway Musical--Original Cast Recording
Performers: Terrence Mann, Susan Egan
Listen to or buy the Compact Disc Recording at Amazon.com.

Title: Disney's Beauty And The Beast: The Movie Soundtrack
Performers: Paige O'Hara, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Robby Benson
Listen to or buy the Compact Disc Recording at Amazon.com.

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Film

To learn more about these films, please visit the
Internet Movie Database.

Beauty and the Beast (1946). Jean Cocteau, director. France. French title: La Belle et la bête.

Cast:
Jean Marais .... The Beast/The Prince/Avenant
Josette Day .... Belle
Marcel André .... Belle's father

This is definitely not the Disney version. "While it remains faithful to the plot of the classic fairy tale by Leprince de Beaumont, Jean Cocteau's 1946 French romantic fantasy is the product of a sophisticated, mature sensibility in its tones and textures and, above all, in its surprising emotional power. With sparkling black-and-white imagery that, for once, is actually dreamlike rather than cute or kitschy, and with a Beast (Jean Marais) who is almost as glamorous with his silky blonde facial hair as he is clean shaven, the movie casts a seductive spell. It might actually be a little too rich and unsettling for kids. Even the costumes and the draperies are entrancingly ornate."

Fractured Fairy Tales: Beauty and the Beast (1959-60) (TV). In Rocky and Bullwinkle. Jay Ward Productions.
Buy the collection on DVD.

ANIMATION SHORT: The Fractured Fairy Tales segment became a popular part of the first season of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (known under various names through the years) that premiered in the fall of 1959. They have remained in syndication ever since. Beauty and the Beast originally aired in Episode 6 of Season 1.

Beauty and the Beast (1962). Edward L. Cahn, director.
Buy the movie on VHS.

Cast:
Joyce Taylor .... Althea
Mark Damon .... Eduardo
Eduard Franz .... Orsini
Michael Pate .... Bruno
Merry Anders .... Sybil

Beast is a werewolf by night in this sedate film version.

Beauty and the Beast (1976) (TV). Eugene Marner, director.

Cast:
George C. Scott .... The Beast
Trish Van Devere .... Belle Beaumont
Virginia McKenna .... Lucy
Bernard Lee .... Edward Beaumont

Panna a netvor (1978). Juraj Herz, director. Czechoslovakia. USA Title: Beauty and the Beast.

Cast:
Zdena Studenková .... Julie/The Beauty
Vlastimil Harapes .... Netvor/The Beast
Václav Voska .... Father
Jana Brejchová .... Julie's sister Gábinka
Zuzana Kocúriková .... Julie's sister Málinka

"A more horrific and gloomy version of The Beauty and the Beast. Julie is a bankrupt merchant`s daughter who as the only one of the three daughters chooses to save her father`s life by going to the Haunted Wood`s Castle where she meets Netvor. He wants to kill her, but her beauty prevents him from that. Although she is forbidden to see him she starts to love him and the love rescues him from his curse." (IMDB.com)

Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre: Beauty and the Beast (1984) (TV). Roger Vadim, director.
Amazon.com: Buy the series on DVD.

Cast:
Susan Sarandon ... Beauty
Klaus Kinski ... Beast
Stephen Elliot ... Father
Nancy Lenehan ... Georgette
Anjelica Huston ... Marguerite
Stanley Wilson ... Jaques

This television series originally aired on Showtime for six seasons and a total of 27 episodes. To see a full episode list, go to Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre.

Cannon Movie Tales: Beauty and the Beast (1987). Eugene Marner, director.
Amazon.com: Buy it on DVD.

Cast:
John Savage .... Beast/Prince
Rebecca De Mornay .... Beauty
Yossi Graber .... Father
Michael Schneider .... Kuppel

From Sony Pictures: "The beautiful Rebecca De Mornay (The Three Musketeers) stars in this beloved live-action version of the classic fairy tale about finding true love in the unlikeliest of places – the haven of a monster! Featuring delightful musical numbers, lavish scenery and spellbinding magic, Beauty and the Beast reminds us that if you see with your heart, anything's possible!

"Beauty (De Mornay) is the family caretaker. While her sisters fret about gentleman callers, her only concern is for their father's wellbeing. So when he loses the family fortune and angers a beast (John Savage) that lives in a magnificent castle, Beauty dutifully agrees to become the beast's prisoner. But what she doesn't know is that his surprising kindness might also capture her heart."

To see a full list of Cannon Movie Tales, go to Cannon Movie Tales.

Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990) (TV Series). Ron Koslow, creator.
Amazon.com: Buy it on DVD.

Cast:
Linda Hamilton .... Asst. District Attorney Catherine Chandler
Ron Perlman .... Vincent
Roy Dotrice .... Father (Jacob Wells)
Jay Acovone .... Deputy Dist. Atty. Joe Maxwell

Premiere episode is titled: "Once Upon a Time in New York." A cult hit television series, one of the few successful television series to overtly use a fairy tale for its premise.

Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991; 2002). Gary Trousdale, director.
Buy the movie on VHS. or Buy the movie on DVD.

The film that officially signaled Disney's animation renaissance and the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast remains the yardstick by which all other animated films should be measured. It relates the story of Belle, a bookworm with a dotty inventor for a father; when he inadvertently offends the Beast (a prince whose heart is too hard to love anyone besides himself), Belle boldly takes her father's place, imprisoned in the Beast's gloomy mansion. Naturally, Belle teaches the Beast to love. What makes this such a dazzler, besides the amazingly accomplished animation and the winning coterie of supporting characters (the Beast's mansion is overrun by quipping, dancing household items) is the array of beautiful and hilarious songs by composer Alan Menken and the late, lamented lyricist Howard Ashman. An extended version was rereleased for the theatres in 2002.

Stories From My Childhood: Beauty and the Beast (1999). Also known as: Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories From My Childhood.
Buy the movie on DVD.

ANIMATED SHORT from PBS TV SERIES: Beauty and the Beast features the voices of Robert Loggia, Tim Curry, and Amy Irving. The film was originally produced in 1952.

The PBS series, Stories From My Childhood, features animated shorts from Russia's Soyuzmultfilm Studios, one of the most celebrated animation factories of the 20th century. Mikhail Baryshnikov was co-executive producer of the new English versions, featuring well-known actors' voices. This TV series and the subsequent DVDs collect several of Soyuzmultfilm's most dazzling adaptations of European folklore. These versions are often more accurate than the American film versions of the same tales. Most of the films were originally produced in the 1950s and '60s.

No Such Thing (2001). Hal Hartley, director.
Buy the movie on VHS. or Buy the movie on DVD.

Cast:
Margrét Ákadóttir .... Rental agent
Robert John Burke .... The Monster
Julie Anderson .... Beautician
Sarah Polley .... Beatrice

Not for kids! "Disgusted with human evolution and a society driven by instant gratification and voyeuristic sensationalism, a foul-mouthed Monster kills anyone who crosses his path. When a news crew sent to investigate the Monster disappears, their ratings-obsessed boss sends a guileless young woman to follow up on the story. This young journalist forges an unlikely friendship with the Monster." (IMDB.com)

Beauty and the Beast (2003). David Lister, director.

Cast:
David Dukas .... Beast/Agnar
Jane March .... Freya
William Gregory Lee .... Sven
Justin Whalin .... Eric

Based on the classic tale, this film is set in the era of the Vikings. It was filmed in South Africa in 2002.

From the producer's website: Freya is the beautiful daughter of a Viking King. Much against her wishes, her father, King Thorsson decides to make a last epic voyage to Bear Island. Betrayed by his heir and Freya’s soon-to-be-husband, Sven, Thorsson is captured by The Beast, a tormented man, trapped in the body of a beast, cursed by his God, and rejected by his family and people. Freya goes to the beast to save her father. He is living in furious isolation and fear, struggling to control the raging animal within, clinging fiercely to the former honour he had as a man, until redemption - in the form of Freya - arrives. Drawn to her beauty and courage, he falls in love, until he has to make the choice between sacrificing himself or lose the love that has given him reason to live. Freya herself pushes aside dreams of a lost love and chooses to sacrifice herself for the good of the people and her father, even if this means going against her heart. In the process, she discovers that true love can never be destroyed, and that the power of love conquers all. For more information go to: http://www.peakviewing.co.uk/

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Theatre

Abbot, Rick. Beauty and the Beast. Really. Book, Music and Lyrics by Rick Abbot. New York: Samuel French.

MUSICAL: Children's musical. Unexpected and hilarious twists make this version of the classic an entirely different romp for the whole family. The cast of seven play nine roles: Beauty, The Beast, Father, Mother, Stepsister, Boy- friend, a hound dog, a theatrical entrepreneur and a hopelessly inept tap dancer whose thankless job is to distract the audience during the scene alterations. There is only a single set that ingeniously converts from farm to castle and back again in a few seconds. Underlying the hilarity is a solid message about true beauty.

Angus, J. Keith. "Beauty and the Beast." Children's Theatricals: Being a Series of Popular Fairy Tales Adapted For Representation in the Drawing Room. London: George Routlege and Sons, 1879 [1878].

Ayckbourn, Alan. Dreams From a Summer House. Music by John Pattison. New York: Samuel French.

FULL-LENGTH PLAY: Comedy with music. The reigning king of English comedy strikes off in a new direction with this gleeful fantasy. A couple is preparing for an al fresco party while their hapless ex-son-in-law is holed up in their new summer house, drinking off his divorce while he completes illustrations for a new edition of Beauty and the Beast. When he conjures Belle to life and she appears in the garden unable to understand English unless it is sung, her fantastical presence wreaks havoc with the all-too-real lives around her. The story develops into a cliff hanger when the Beast also appears and carries off the strident ex-wife. This outrageously comic battle of the sexes delightfully illustrates the disparity between romantic ideals and earthly reality, proving once again that true love is impossible but necessary.

''It is almost impossible not to be seduced by this fanciful flight of the imagination.''—Daily Telegraph

''A masterpiece in plot-design with some marvelous characters.''—Stage & TV Today

Boswell, Laurence. Beauty and the Beast: A Fairy Tale Thriller. London: Nick Hern, 1996, 2003.
Read more about the play on the Nick Hern Books website.
Buy the 1996 edition in paperback from Amazon.com.

PLAY: This enchanting play can be performed straight or with music, drawn from traditional French folk melodies. Note that the original is the 1996 Young Vic version, but Boswell's adaptation has been completely revised as the Royal Shakespeare Company's Christmas production in 2003. Here is a description for the latter edition:

In Beauty and the Beast we encounter two worlds. The domestic world of Beauty's family in mid-eighteenth-century France, safe and familiar. And another world, first stumbled upon by her merchant father: a place of great riches and disturbing nightmares, dominated by the fearsome and tragic Beast. Uniting the two is Beauty's humility and sense of duty, which slowly matures into transforming love...

Beers, Jr., Jesse. Beauty and the Beast. New York: Samuel French.

FULL-LENGTH PLAY: Beauty is enamored with a handsome prince whom she saw in an apparition. Her love draws her to the castle of the unspeakable Beast, which she enters unafraid. A magic mirror and many other gifts are given her by the Beast. But it is her final, fearless expression of affection for the Beast that breaks the spell and returns him to the form of the handsome Prince.

Del Valle, Peter and John Ahearn. Beauty and the Beast. Book by Peter Del Valle and John Ahearn. Music by Michael Valenti. Lyrics by Elsa Rael. New York: Samuel French.

MUSICAL: This witty and sparkling version of the much-loved classic has been seen in Town Hall and many other New York City venues as well as in summer, college and community theatres in Canada and the United states.

''A show intended for children and yet there is not one iota of condescension or compromise in it. Michael Valenti's music can best be described as romantic light opera. Elsa Rael's lyrics possess a delicate simplicity and never talk down to the audience. Hardly typical children's fare.''—N.Y. Theatre Review.

''Has a magic all its own.''–Chicago Tribune.

''A beauty of a production.''—Chicago Sun-Times.

Glennon, William. Beauty and the Beast. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing Company of Chicago.
Read more about the play on the Dramatic Publishing website.

FULL-LENGTH PLAY: Mr. Glennon has used the Perrault version of this fanciful story as the basis of his charming play, but has added depth of character and believable answers to some of the puzzling questions. We learn how and why the prince was changed into a beast in the first place. We also see the beast's growth, under Beauty's subtle guidance, from a raging creature to a man who can be loved for himself. Beauty's family provides a warm and amusing background to the main plot, and they, too, change for the better.

Gray, Nicholas Stuart. Beauty and the Beast. London: Oxford University Press, 1951. [Currently available from London: Josef Weinberger, 1951. ]

FULL-LENGTH PLAY: This is not the traditional story of Beauty and the Beast, but an endearing and fantastical tale of a rather forgetful wizard, Mr Hodge and his baby dragon nephew Mickey. When a rude and unruly prince threatens Mickey's life, the wizard decides to teach the young prince a lesson in manners and banishes him to a magical castle for twenty years or so, in order to teach him the values of beauty and companionship. But the wizard forgets he has a captive, and five hundred years later is horrified to remember his mistake. In order to rectify his error he visits the castle, to find the prince in his loneliness has turned into an absolute beast - and in order to save him, must discover a way to bring real beauty into his life.

Patterson, Stuart. Beauty and the Beast. London: Nick Hern.
Read more about the play on the Nick Hern Books website.

PLAY: Pantomime. "An inspired modern version of the story, given a fine momentum by Crackjaw the witch, a ferocious hate-mongering villainess. There's also a cheeky goblin called Dunt, a gorgeous pantomime dog called Billy, a magnificent pair of (female) Ugly sisters, and a hero who amounts to something more than the usual insipid Prince. The audience participation rages fast and furious..." --Scotsman

Way, Charles. "Beauty and the Beast." The Classic Fairy Tales: Retold for the Stage. Theatre Communications Group, 2003.
Buy the book in paperback.

Woolverton, Linda. Disney's Beauty And The Beast: The Broadway Musical. Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Book by Linda Woolverton. 1994.

MUSICAL: Broadway musical based on the Disney hit movie.

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