Reading Activities compiled by Brittany Walker | During Reading | After Reading | Before Reading Connections 1. "Fairy Tales." WNET Educational Initiatives. Thirteen. 29 Jan. 2006 http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/adulted/lessons/lesson6_activities.html This website gives a lesson plan for a unit on fairy tales and provides activities that can be adapted to fit Beauty and the Beast. Included is a fun writing assignment that involves rewriting fairy tales as “fractured” with alternate endings and unpredictable plot twists. As students enter Robin McKinley’s Beauty, this background information could be very helpful. 2. "Robin McKinley." AuthorTracker. HarperCollins Publishers. 29 Jan. 2006 http://www.authortracker.com/author.asp?a=authorid&b=12469 Here is a plethora of information about the author Robin McKinley and a lengthy quote from the author herself. It could help students to relate to the author and allow them to make a connection. Also, this could help to inspire students to think of writing as “the other half of reading.” 3. "Beauty and the Beast, Story Origins." BalletNotes. Apr. 1997. 29 Jan. 2006 http://www.balletmet.org/Notes/StoryOrigin.html This website gives the history of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. It provides information about the author of the original tale and gives detailed information about the many different versions of this story that are available. There is a detailed history of the fairy tale that provides good background information for students preparing to read the novel. 4. Abel, Lynette. "Beauty and the Beast; or, the Ethics of a Fairy Tale." Aesthetic Realism & Life. 1999. 29 Jan. 2006 http://www.lynetteabel.org/Beauty-and-the-Beast-aesthetics-essay.html Here, there is a great deal of information about the concepts and ideas that may be discussed in a classroom setting regarding the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Outward appearance is a huge theme in the novel and this site discusses some concepts revolving around this topic. 5. "Beauty Summary Short Guide." BookRags. 29 Jan. 2006 http://www.bookrags.com/shortguide-beauty-a-retelling/ This website gives very helpful information about Robin McKinley’s Beauty, including a short summary, setting, ideas for reports and papers, topics for discussion, and more. The information is brief due to the fact that the website wishes customers to buy the full book notes, but what is available for free is a good source. 6. "Brothers Grimm." 27 Jan. 2006. Wikipedia. 30 Jan. 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm Although the Grimm Brothers were not responsible for Beauty and the Beast, they did write a great deal of the original fairy tales in the world today. The information on this website would be good for a unit on fairy tales preceding the reading of Robin McKinley’s version of the fairy tale. It tells of the Grimm Brothers and their compilation of many original fairy tales. 7. Hurt, Debbie. "Medieval Times—A Novel Study Using Literature Circles." CREATE for Mississippi. CREATE. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=57 This is an excellent idea for a unit on rewritten or updated fairy tales. It provides activities as well as handouts and lots of ideas on how to work with students and the novels they are reading. 8. "Fairy Tales Around the World." EDSITEment. National Endowment for the Humanities. 30 Jan. 2006 http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=387 This website provides many ideas for a lesson or unit on fairy tales. This unit would be a good way to introduce Robin McKinley’s Beauty. A unit on fairy tales could also include the reading of the novel. 9. "Language Arts Activity." Fractured Fairy Tales. Houghton Mifflin Company. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmll/blue/tale/fairy.html Here is a cute idea for an activity that could be used before the reading of Beauty. It would help students with creative writing. It includes changing details of various fairy tales to make them less predictable. It also relates well to Robin McKinley’s version of the tale in that this author made some unexpected changes to the original fairy tale to appeal to a young audience. 10. "Fairy Tales: Reflections Of Society Abstracts." Teacher's Institute. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.unm.edu/~abqteach/fairy_tales/fairy_tales_abstracts.htm This website provides an idea for a unit on fairy tales and explores various aspects that would be good for discussion in such a unit. There are many lessons included on this website that would work well in a junior high setting. One such lesson discusses the way children were valued throughout history and the role that fairy tales played in their lives. During Reading Connections 11. Sanders, Lynn. ""Girls Who Do Things": The Protagonists of Robin McKinley's Fantasy Fiction." The ALAN Review 1996. 30 Jan 2006 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/fall96/f96-08-Sanders.html This is a journal article taken from The ALAN Review and it gives interesting information about the protagonists of Robin McKinley’s novels, including Beauty. The information could help students to understand the characters of the novel. It discusses the importance of “Girls Who Do Things” and explains how strong her female characters tend to be throughout all of her novels. 12. "Robin McKinley." NNDB. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.nndb.com/people/632/000038518/ Here is an excellent source of information on Robin McKinley, including her other novels, biography, education, and other useful information that students might find interesting while reading her novel. 13. Heiner, Heidi. "Beauty and the Beast." Annotations for Beauty and the Beast. 8 Nov. 2003. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/notes.html Contained in this website is a surplus of information on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. It provides a historical overview, different variations of the tale, modern interpretations, similar tales across cultures, and other valuable information. 14. Draper, Amberly. Treatment of gender in adolescent fantasy literature : an analysis of J.K. Rowling and Robin McKinley. Provo: Brigham Young Universtiy, 2001. This is a book that explores the role that gender plays in Robin McKinley’s works. It provides good topics for discussion in the novel. 15. Woolsey, Daniel. "The Realm of Fairy Story: J.R.R. Tolkien and Robin McKinley's Beauty." Children's Literature in Education 22.2 (1991): 129-36. This journal article explores the features of modern fairy tales and compares Tolkien to Robin McKinley. Many students may have read or seen the movies based on Tolkien’s books and this article could help them make a connection to Beauty. 16. McKinley, Robin. "Newbery Medal Acceptance." Horn Book Magazine Jul-Aug 1985: 395-405. This is Robin McKinley’s Newbery Acceptance speech. It discusses aspects that affected her writing and gives insights into the personality of this author that would allow students to connect to the novel. It is also a good source for aspiring young authors. They could find a role model in Robin McKinley. 17. Cadden, Michael. "The Illusion of Control: Narrative Authority in Robin McKinley's Beauty and The Blue Sword." Mythlore 76 (1994): 16-19. This explores an interesting topic for discussion in the novel: the illusion of control. It might be somewhat complicated for younger students, but the ideas could be simplified and used in the classroom. 18. "Costumes & clothing." Multnomah County Library. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.multcolib.org/homework/costumhc.html#century Here are some examples of the clothing that people could have worn during the time of the novel. Such clothing is important in the novel. Beauty’s dresses are described in great detail and pictures could aid in a classroom discussion. Also, this website is good due to the fact that a specific date is never given in the novel and it covers several centuries worth of clothing. 19. Gould, Joan. "Spinning Straw into Gold, What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman's Life." Random House of Canada Limited. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.bookclubs.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780394585321&view=rg This website provides interesting topics for discussion for the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast. It includes various questions that could provide discussion, including, the symbolism of the rose and the question of who is the hero in the story. There are also topics for the discussion of other fairy tales as well. 20. "Late 19th & Early 20th Century Ladies' Dress Glossary." 19th Century. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.marquise.de/en/1800/glossar.shtml The parts of a woman’s dress during the times of McKinley’s Beauty are discussed in the novel and may be difficult for students to picture or understand. In this website, you can find the names of the numerous parts of a woman’s dress during the general time period of the novel. It also gives information about the different types of dresses that women would have worn. The parts of dresses and the various types of dresses could be used as vocabulary words for students. After Reading Connections 21. Chance, Rosemary. "Familiar fairy tale picture books transformed into teen novels." Look Smart. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4063/is_200301/ai_n9186311 Here, you can find an article from the ALAN review that discusses modern adaptations of fairy tales and common trends in such novels. These trends could be used in the discussion of the novel and future novels that students might choose to read. It also explores the common traits of fairy tales and even suggests modern adaptations of fairy tales for future reading. 22. Zee, Van. "Multicultural Fairy Tales." LessonPlansPage.com. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAMultiFairy.htm This website gives ideas for lesson plans that incorporate multiculturalism into a lesson on fairy tales. This would be a good way to benefit students of many different races and to personalize the novel for these students. It suggests strategies for activities to be used in a classroom setting. One such strategy is to explore versions of various fairy tales from different countries. 23. "Fairy Tales from Life." Read Write Think. International Reading Association. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=42 Here is an idea for a lesson on fairy tales that could be used to conclude and discuss Beauty in a classroom. It includes objectives, activity ideas, and handouts. Students will work in groups and create presentations. Such presentations could incorporate the use of PowerPoint and help students in learning to use technology. 24. Nelson, Debbie. "Fairy Tales Unit Ideas." Teacher-2-Teacher. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/misc/fairytales.html In this website, there are many ideas for lessons on fairy tales as well as ways to connect this subject to other subjects such as Math, Science, Geography, etc. This would help students come to an appreciation of fairy tales and how important they are, not just in an English classroom. 25. Ashliman, D. L. Grimm Brothers' Home Page. 10 May. 2005. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html#whattheywrote While the Grimm Brothers were not responsible for the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, they were responsible for a great deal of modern fairy tales and this website provides a wealth of information about these brothers that would be interesting for a lesson on fairy tales following the reading of Beauty. Students would learn about the most important name in fairy tales. 26. Robin, McKinley. "Twenty Hundred Words: An Interview." 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.robinmckinley.com/Interviews/20Hundred.html Robin McKinley shows the humorous side of her personality in this interesting interview. She tells about her childhood, hobbies, and explains what inspires her to write. It provides a personal connection for students who have read her novel and may inspire them to continue their reading of McKinley who has written numerous novels. 27. Google Images. Google. 30 Jan. 2006 http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Beauty%20and%20the%20Beast&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi This is simply a Google image search which provides numerous images that relate to the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast. Such images could be used to capture the interest of students through a poster, bulletin board, or an overhead projector. Many students will already have images in mind as to what the characters look like, but this may help them in their picturing and bring the novel to life for them. 28. Beauty and the Beast Lyrics. LyricsDownload.com. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.lyricsdownload.com/beauty-and-the-beast-lyrics.html Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is very popular and many students will be familiar with the lyrics. Such lyrics could be used to incorporate poetry in a fairy tale or Beauty unit. Witty rhyme and other poetical elements are used throughout the songs and the beautiful music would capture the attention of students. 29. Windling, Terri. "Beauty and the Beast." 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forbewty.html This website details the many changes that the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast has undergone throughout time. It shows how different elements of the tale came into being or were lost through time. It also explores the many adaptations that have been created using the Beauty and the Beast plotline, including many film and novel adaptations. 30. Legg, Mary. "Fairytales." Beauty and the Beast: Love Transforms. Suite101.com. 30 Jan. 2006 http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/98324 Beauty and the Beast is an amazing fairy tale and there are many subjects that can be explored and discussed that stem from the novel. Here are some possible topics, including the sacrifice that Beauty made for her family and the conflict that Beauty and the Beast have when Beauty yearns to return to her family among others.

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