Beauty and the beast

I borrowed this one through the dreadful inter-library loan program. Loving Marianna Mayer's previous fairy tales that I have read and enjoying Mercer Mayer I expected to delight in this one, but I didn't really. For the age that I'm reading most of these fairy tales, having two full picture book pages of just text with not even a scroll of illustration for a focus point it would lose my little girl's attention. By the time that she would really be reading on her own I think she'd rather hold something shaped like a chapter book than a picture book. If this one were in the shape of a chapter book I think it would be fabulous. But not as it is. And then in the photos, yes Beauty and the Beast is a drastic story on it's own but there does not seem to be a single happy face in any photo and it's just plain dreary. I'm looking for something with more in both directions and this one just didn't have it. I won't be putting this one on our wishlist to purchase.