As you may have noticed, books are some of the greatest sources of inspiration for me. Last time, I shared a snippet from my college scrapbook that sparked our journey to Europe. While we are busy unpacking our real life in Williamsburg today, I wanted to share a few of the books that fueled the ideal version of that dream during one of our trips to France.
Last fall, my daughter and I took a weekend trip to the Alsace region of France. It is known for being the inspiration for the Disney movie of Beauty and the Beast (as well as the French version of the gingerbread!), we set out to find an ideal “little town,” a picturesque castle, and of course we explored the bookshops! Our trip inspired a discussion of our favorite Beauty and the Beast versions, and we thought we would give you a roundup.
This is our favorite illustrated version. We love Craft’s illustrated The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty too.
We love a good fairy tale retelling, but it wasn’t until my daughter and I started exploring French classics that we realized this retelling is the Beauty and the Beast classic. It’s delightful. It is perfect for younger readers, as good and evil are so disparate. As for this publication, we didn’t love the other stories in this collection. This Beauty and the Beast is begging to be republished and illustrated—with Beaumont’s words, illustrated in this style:
La Belle au Bois Dormant
I shouldn’t be tempting you with this book, but in case any aspiring illustrators ever read this: Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast, in a delightful translation, and illustrated in the style of Desaux (as this book is), would be a dream come true.
I am posting this for the Francophones in my life: if you ever get a chance to purchase this book, do it! We monopolized this version of La Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty) from our downtown Stuttgart library for at least six months. The text is Perrault, another classic French author. My 11-year-old uses Google Translate (French to English), but the illustrations are so magnificent that the painstaking process has not bothered her.
Beauty, by Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley’s Beauty is a lovely retelling. A friend introduced it to us years ago, and we’ve loved it ever since. It’s light, delightful, and sweetly romantic. Best for teens.
It is rare that an author does a second retelling of the same fairy tale, which fascinates me. McKinley’s second version is darker, deeper, and in a way even more magical. It is the closest to the Beaumont version that we have found.
For an authentic read from the Alsace region, the book The Last Class: The Story of a Little Alsatian by Alphonse Daudet is one of the books we include in our regular curriculum. It’s part of the Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. My 11-year-old recently read it. Download for free here: The Last Class.
All of these books, besides the French Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au Bois Dormant), are available through my library’s Libby system. (Many are available through these free ebook sources.) These books definitely helped make all of our “little town” dreams come true.
What are your favorite fairy tale retellings?
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