Book Blurbs: Beauty

In this wonderful retelling of the classic fairytale, Beauty and the Beast, Beauty is a young girl who feels awkward around her beautiful sisters.  Her family's sudden loss of their wealth forces them to move to the country and start a new life.  Beauty is both intrigued by and a little fearful of the local lore which calls the forest beside her new house enchanted, with a terrible beast living inside.  It is on the stormy day which brings her father home from a business trip clutching a single rose, that Beauty's adventure really begins.




About the Author


Robin McKinley is an American writer who has won many awards in the US, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword, and the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature for Sunshine.
She lives in Hampshire, England with her husband, author Peter Dickinson, two hellhounds nicknamed Chaos and Darkness, an 1897 Steinway upright named Rhodanthe, and increasing numbers of rose bushes wedged into three [sic] tiny gardens. The view out her office window is her change-ringing bell tower and in the next village over is a paragon among horses whom Robin is so fortunate as to have permission to ride. Check out her blog at robinmckinleysblog.com.

                             ~Take from robinmckinley.com

Meeting Musings: The Case of the Missing Marquess

Another book has come and gone.  We had our meeting on Wednesday and I was excited about how many new faces we had.

I think the craft we did went over really well.  In the book, Enola's mom gives her a book of cyphers for her birthday which becomes pretty important to the story.  I thought it would be fun if we make our own little notebooks.


Here are a couple of examples of the notebooks we made.  They are 5.5 x 4.25, or a quarter of a regular sheet of paper.  If you want instructions on how to make them, just email me.


As we made the notebooks, we talked about the book.  Some of the club members were a little worried they wouldn't like it, but were pleasantly surprised.  Everyone seemed to like it and were anxious to read the other books in the series.  It was fun to talk about how different life was in the Victorian era than it is today.  Women didn't have as many rights.  Enola herself, was a fun character.  She has the same smarts as her brother Sherlock, but has the advantage of knowing the way women lived. 

The next book for the book club has been one of my favorite books since I first read it many years ago.  It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast called Beauty by Robin McKinley.  It is a longer one, so you might want to get started on it as soon as possible.  Check your school libraries if you can't find it here, or you might even want to consider buying it.  Yes, it's that good. 

The meeting is on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:00 pm.  I hope to see you there!!