{"id":40641,"date":"2022-01-24T18:15:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T22:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=40641"},"modified":"2022-01-24T18:15:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T22:15:24","slug":"review-of-beasts-and-beauty-by-soman-chainani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=40641","title":{"rendered":"Review of Beasts and Beauty, by Soman Chainani"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Beasts and Beauty<\/p>\n

Dangerous Tales<\/em><\/p>\n

by Soman Chainani
\nillustrated by Julia Iredale<\/p>\n

Harper, 2021. 320 pages.
\nReview written January 6, 2022, from a library book
\nStarred Review
\n2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #7 Teen Fiction<\/p>\n

This is a book of fairy tales \u2013 delightfully twisted, sinister fairy tales. I had read the first few stories some weeks before, but it ended up being the last book I finished in 2021 \u2013 I knew from the beginning that I\u2019d want it to be a Sonderbooks Stand-out.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the first story, \u201cRed Riding Hood,\u201d begins:<\/p>\n

On the first day of spring, the wolves eat the prettiest girl.<\/p>\n

They warn the town which girl they want, slashing the door to her house and urinating on the step. No one sees the wolves, just as no one sees the dew before it sops the grass. As winter wanes, the town thinks the curse is broken, seduced by the mercy of spring. But then the marking comes. Sometimes a few weeks before she will be eaten, sometimes a few days, for wolves decide on a prey in their own time. But once a girl is chosen, she is theirs. Neither child nor family can appeal. On the eve of spring, the wolves howl for their meal and the town marshals her to the edge of the forest and sends her in. Fail to deliver her and worse things will come than the loss of a pretty girl, though no one knows what these worse things could be. Soon the second howl echoes from the forest\u2019s belly: quieter, sated, the wolves\u2019 work done. The people disperse. The girl forgotten. A price to pay for time unfettered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s unquestionably a sinister beginning. But the weak and apparently powerless have a way of triumphing in these stories.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got Snow White with black skin, Rapunzel\u2019s witch a man, Jack of the Beanstalk looking for his missing father, living with an abusive mother, Hansel and Gretel\u2019s missing mother a baker living in a house of sweets, a new twist on Wendy\u2019s adventures with Peter Pan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDangerous\u201d is a good choice for describing these tales. They\u2019re not the fairy tales you\u2019ve heard before. They\u2019re subversive and triumphant.<\/p>\n

somanchainani.com<\/a>
\nevernever.com<\/a>
\nharpercollinschildrens.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/beasts_and_beauty.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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