Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Newbery Honor Author

Ratings Explanation

Language: This may not even rate for some but, the word “damning” used as a verb in the following sentence:”To a certain extent this was damning me with faint praise…”

Violence: Talk of desire to kill the magician that cast the spell.

Sexual Content: Beauty’s sister is advised to get married and start a baby. Beauty is kissed by a boy at a dance.

Adult Content: Beauty’s sister loses her fiance in a shipwreck. Beauty is offered ale by the villagers that she has helped. Parents threaten their children with stories of monsters taking them away if they are not obedient.

Synopsis

Beauty’s wealthy family has come to financial ruin after her father’s ships are destroyed by disease and storm.  A shipyard worker offers the family a home with him back in his native village.  The desperate yet grateful family accepts the offer despite rumors of magic being practiced in the area.  The family adjusts to their new country life and do quite well for themselves until their father’s fateful journey.  After being lost in a snow storm, Beauty’s father stumbles across an enchanted castle in the nearby woods.  The invisible servants care for his every need.  After resting, he prepares to finish his journey home.  On his way out of the gates he notices a most beautiful rose garden and decides to pick one for Beauty.  This enrages the castle’s owner, a beast who up until now has remained unseen.  He accuses the father of being ungrateful and demands that either he or one of his daughters returns within the month to stay with him forever as payment.  Upon returning home, Beauty’s father tells his story to his daughters.  Beauty insists that she will be the one to return.  After an emotional debate upon the matter, Beauty gets her way.  The rest of the story is fairy tale history as Beauty and the Beast discover real love in each other and live happily ever after.

One of my all time favorite books!  I read it as a young girl and twice as an adult.  McKinley’s words are beautifully enchanting and  quickly bring you into this fairy tale world.  I only wish that the ending wasn’t so quick. McKinley has written a sequel to this book called Rose Daughter which I haven’t read yet.