Search - Disney's Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (Beauty and the Beast)

ISBN 0307129748 - Fans of the original Disney version may enjoy this appearance of the characters more than I did. Although it's a nice story, it feels very rushed and a bit awkward.

It is almost Christmas in the castle. Everyone is in their human forms, and this is the first Christmas since the spell over them was broken. Chip asks his mother to re-tell the story of the previous Christmas and she does. Belle had been at the castle for a while, by that Christmas, and was looking forward to sharing the holiday with the Beast. She convinced the servants to help her but Forte, in anger, did some convincing of his own: he's sent Belle to the Black Forest for a tree, knowing that the Beast will be angry that she's left the castle. An accident nearly costs Chip and Belle their lives and even their rescue and return home isn't enough to keep the Beast from throwing her in the dungeon. A Christmas gift melts the Beast's heart, but is it too late to make up to Belle?

Illustrator Alan Nowell does justice to Disney's original film, although some of the images are a bit dark and the text, laid directly over some images, blends in more than it should. Margo Lundell's story is nice, but - as I already said - just feels a bit rushed, probably to fit the standard book length of Golden Books. It's okay, it's a nice read at Christmas for Belle and Beast fans, it's just not much more than okay.

- AnnaLovesBooks