Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet is presented as a picture book with stunning mixed media illustrations by renowned Mexican artist Gabriel Pacheco.
In addition to beautiful telling of the story, the book includes information about the composer, background about the ballet, and descriptions and definitions of both the music and ballet moves of the performance. Readers who enjoy fairy tales, ballet, or art will appreciate this book.
The Beast is an Animal is a fantasy novel with a theme that felt fantastically dark like most fairy-tales. Here is a quote from the book: “Alys, in fact, had never been afraid. Her favorite nursery rhymes were the scary ones. The ones about The Beast sucking out your soul and leaving behind nothing but gristle and skin. Those were the ones Alys liked best.”
The story was engaging, suspenseful, creepy, scary, unfair, with a setting that felt very historical. The book opens with a scenario that is reminiscent of the best classic fairy tales: twin sisters, born in a small suspicious village, are abandoned by their father in the woods. They grow into something not quite human that need to feed on souls to survive. Alys and the other children in the village are spared by the twins and taken in by a nearby village. Fear of the soul eaters and of the Beast rules village life, but the Beast is not what they think he is and neither is Alys.
This young adult novel will appeal to readers who enjoy dark fantasy, fairy tales, and historical settings.