Beauty and the Beast Rap

Kelly L. Green is editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual’s
Children’s Literature edition.

Beauty is a modern young teen, who asks not for “fancy clothes / all
covered up / with buttons and bows.” No, “She just asked her father
/ ‘do you suppose / That you could bring me / One red rose?’ / One
red / One red / one red rose / I said / One red / One red / One red
rose.” And so forth.

I’m sure that when Sonja Dunn performs her catchy rap fairy tales in
her “colorful Story Skirt,” children are enthralled. So I tried to
put this book to the test in a way that would do it justice, practising
it several times to get the cadences just right before I read it to my
young audience. Even though I myself was blind to its charms, I thought
that if it were “performed,” they might respond positively to the
rap poetry. Their responses? “What is this ‘One red / One red / One
red rose’ thing?” demanded the 5-year-old. “Not too good,” was
the 7-year-old’s laconic comment. I fear I must concur. When compared
to high-quality poetry for children, this just doesn’t measure up.

Susan Darrach’s cover art and many of her illustrations are
shamelessly derivative of the recent Disney effort (even though Beauty
is blond and modern). Not a first-choice purchase.