La Belle et la Bete by Delphine Bodet

LA BELLE ET LA BETE by Delphine Bodet is a picture book of Beauty and the Beast. It is out of print but that doesn't stop me from sharing images of the book. I have been looking at French picture books again--I say again because I spent the month of January 2012 sharing many French picture books on the blog. My inspiration this time was playing many rounds of Dixit with my niece and other family members over the holidays. I mention Leighton specifically since I gave the game to her for Christmas and she was the one relative who played the game with me every time--she loved it!--as we rotated through new victims/family members.

Anyway, Dixit perhaps best described as Balderdash or Apples to Apples with pictures instead of words and the French illustrations in the original set are very, very French. There's some darkness in them especially in the original set. Leighton's psychologist father--my brother--was fascinated by it and won every time he played. I will have to dig out some of my favorite cards from the game to share some images--some are from fairy tales although the game isn't really a fairy tale game. It could be but it is not just for fairy tale aficionados like us readers here.

So back to the book for today. Bodet's illustrations remind me somewhat of Elenore Vere Boyle since the Beast is vaguely similar in shape sans the tusks although it is obvious different animals inspired both. It's a stretch but it is there for me. Here are images from the book. Enjoy!