Beauty And The Beast

Description

A father's promise. A daughter's sacrifice. A curse that only love could break. Never has Beauty and the Beast been more lovingly retold and pictured. With amazingly fresh vision, Pat Cummings has created a vibrant fairy-tale world where the Beast's richly ornamented palace draws inspiration from the cultural imagery of West Africa and the architecture of the Dogon of Mali. H. Chuku Lee lets Beauty tell her story simply, giving a powerful immediacy to a message that's proven timeless. This stunning picture book is a treasure.

Pat Cummings was born in Chicago but grew up traveling with her military family all over the world. She has been writing and illustrating children's books since she graduated from Pratt Institute. In addition to her art for the Coretta Scott King Award winner My Mama Needs Me by Mildred Pitts Walter, Pat's luminous work includes Angel Baby; Clean Your Room, Harvey Moon!; and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Talking With Artists. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, Chuku Lee, and the ghost of their cat, Cash.

"Ethnically rich retelling. Readers who attend to detail will delight." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Beauty's appearance will draw readers of color who long for fairy tale heroines who look more like themselves...Unexpectedly powerful." -- Publishers Weekly "Lushly detailed paintings. The retelling is crisp, the drafting is skillful, and the compositions are dramatic. -- The Horn Book "Beautifully executed illustrations with influences from ancient Dogon buildings of Mali. Lee's retelling provid[es] a fresh approach that demands consideration for all collections." -- School Library Journal