Disney Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly

Pages: 341

Intended Audience: Tweens and up

Genre: Fantasy / Adventure

Notes for Parents: There are a few scary parts that may upset sensitive readers.

The Inside Cover

Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast’s castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.

The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she has ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast’s castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore’s world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The author’s next book is another fairy tale original story. It begins where Cinderella ends, but it follows the story of Isabelle and Octavia, Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters. The author says, “It hews to the old-school, very Grimm version of the tale, in which toes are cut off in a vain attempt to make the slipper fit.”

What’s good?

Every bit of this story feels like a Disney movie! The characters are all familiar and the premise is the same. Lost in a Book actually starts in the middle of the Disney version of the story. Belle is already living in the castle when she finds the enchanted book that threatens to derail the well-known ending. Belle is a strong, smart, and curious young woman. The chapters are short and the plot, although a bit complex, is still easy to understand. Themes include friendship, determination, love, trust, and believing in yourself.

Best Part: “Love is not for cowards.”

What isn’t good?

Despite the interesting battle between love and death, the format is very simplistic. There’s not a lot of action, at least not until the end, and most of the story is what we already know. Perhaps most bothersome is that the end of this story is not the end of the story.

Worst part: The end.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☺☻ (4/5)

This novel was very entertaining. Despite my complaints, it really was a beautiful little story of friendship and love, with some adventure and danger thrown in at the end. Recommended.

Donnelly, Jennifer. Disney Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book. Los Angeles: Disney Press, 2017. (Hardcover)