Author: Robin McKinley
Lexile measure: 970
Bottom line: Beauty and the Beast on steroids
Language: mild medieval name calling, affectionate name calling at horse.
Violence: the Beast is scary at times and does things like crushing a bottle in his hands.
Big Kid Mature Topics: losing a business due to storms at sea, romance and marriage, losing a betrothed at sea. The heroine obviously chafes at typical female roles.
Illustrations: none.
Plot: moderately complex.
This was one of my favorite books growing up and we pulled it off the library shelf because DD currently has a thing for horses. DD gave it the thumbs up, but it is a very mature book and scary for sensitive little ones. However, that being said, I don't think it is a lot more scary than the Disney version.
One caution: I read several of the author's other books and they are definitely teen material with teen (and adult) level romance and swearing. This was the only one benign enough for younger children.
