Amanda~+Beauty+by+Robin+McKinley

__**'//BEAUTY//' By Robin McKinley media type="youtube" key="9qtTPTxvoPA" height="295" width="480" ABOUT THE AUTHOR **__

**Jennifer ‘Robin’ McKinley was born on November 16, 1952 in Warren, Ohio. Robin’s first book, //Beauty//, was published in 1978, when she was 26 years old. Since then, she has written ten other novels, two books of short stories, and multiple childrens’ picture books. She won the Newbery Medal for //The Hero and The Crown//, the Newbery Honor for //The Blue Sword//, the Mythopoeic Award for //Sunshine//, and the World Fantasy Award for //Imaginary Lands//. The heroines in McKinley’s books echo qualities that reflect herself as a young woman: clumsiness, plainness, bookishness, and disinterest in flirting and dating. Marilyn H. Karren-Brock once said that “McKinley’s females do not simper; they do not betray their own nature to win a man’s approval. But neither do they take love lightly or put their own desires before anything else. In McKinley’s books, the romance, like the adventure, is based upon ideals of faithfulness, duty, and honor.” McKinley’s books are all inspired by other stories, most often fairy tales, which she gives them more defined and complicated plot lines with more realistic characters that you can relate to. Robin McKinley now resides in Hampshire, England with her husband and fellow author, Peter Dickinson, and their two dogs. ** **__SUMMARY__** ** //“Beauty”,// by Robin McKinley, is the story of Honour and her two sisters, Grace and Hope. Once, when she was young, Honour asked her father to explain what grace, hope, and honour meant. Her father was easily able to describe what hope and grace meant, but had difficulty explaining honour to a five year old. After he attempted, Honour exclaimed “‘Huh! I’d rather be Beauty!’” (Page 5) From then on ‘Beauty’ is what she was known as. But the name Beauty never really suit her; as she grew up she came to resent her name because, while her sisters grew to great beauty, never came to fit her name. ** **During her teens, her fathers’ shipping company took a huge down fall when some of his ships were last at sea – forcing her family to move to the country. The house they moved into was next to what was considered an “enchanted” forest, though this didn’t bother them. This remains true until Beauty’s father (while returning from the city to salvage the remains of his company) got lost in the forest during a horrible snow storm. Before he had left, he promised to bring one thing home for each of the girls, and Beauty asked for rose seeds. Unfortunately he was not able to find some that would last the journey home. While trying to find his way home through the forest, Beauty’s father came across a pathway leading towards a mysterious castle, in which he takes to find refuge from the storm. Inside the gates he found a magnificent garden with beautiful roses; he plucked one thing of Beauty. Regrettable he was caught by a horrific beast who made a deal with her father: either die or bring back one of your daughters in one month to remain with him forever. Upon his return home, he tells his story to the family, and Beauty realizes at once what she must do… media type="youtube" key="3ysRm_C56UM" height="344" width="425" The Beasts’ castle was indeed enchanted. It is filled with futuristic books, invisible servants, and oddly beautiful artwork of a family that once lived in the castle. In the beginning Beauty is terrified of the Beast, but over time they soon come to develop intimate feelings for one another. But despite her love for the Beast, Beauty still wishes for her family desperately, and the Beast allows her to return home for a short visit. Before she leaves he gives her a rose and states “‘For a week it will remain fresh and blooming, as it is now; but at the end of the week is will droop and die. You will know then that your faithful Beast is dying too. For I can not live without you, Beauty.’” (Page 261) Beauty promises she’d be back within the week, but her family convinces her to stay one extra day. That night she received a horrible nightmare that had her rushing back to her Beast. She arrived just in time to save his life; and as she confessed her love for him, he changed back into a human. They look in a mirror near them and Beauty discovers that not only is her lover one of the people who is in the paintings (of the family that once lived there), but that she has also become very beautiful.

And so, as the books all say, they lived Happily Ever After. **

media type="youtube" key="EWE1cKWqmCM" height="344" width="425" __**RECOMMENDATION?**__ I would recommend this book to anyone because it is a story of innocent, true love, adventure, and a finding of one's true self. It is a vividly descriptive book that gives you a deeper connection to the story of //“Beauty and the Beast”//. The two stories (//‘Beauty’// and //‘Beauty and the Beast’//) are very similar except for the fact that there is no true bad guy in ‘Beauty’. Also, I am now disappointed in the Disney movie //“Beauty and the Beast”// because it did not include Beauty’s two sisters, Grace and Hope, and they contributed a lot to the story line of the book.

[|Book Cover Picture] [|Author's Picture]
 * __ Links __**

Rachel-Briar Rose Haley-PrideAndPrejudice Katlyn- Wuthering Heights
 * Other Books you may like:**