Purple bandReady now · Open and print today

Beauty and the Beast

A fairy tale from The Blue Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang

This tale comes from The Blue Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang and first published in 1889, drawing on the much older French story by Madame de Villeneuve. It is one of the world's best-loved fairy tales, teaching that true beauty lies in kindness and courage, not in how someone looks. The text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. This story invites children to see past appearances and discover what really matters in a person.

Band: Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
Length: short · about 367 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures
Source: The Blue Fairy Book, Andrew Lang
First published: see the About page in the reader
Regions: Canada · United States

Included formats

· Web reader and PDF
· EPUB for e-readers
· Home-print sheet
· Folded booklet
· Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
· Worksheet
· Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
· Read-aloud script
· Colouring page
· Teacher’s Edition (members)

Lesson at a glance

Reading: about 9 minutes at this band
Pause questions: 5
Words to Know: 4
Quick Check: 6 questions, with the answer key
Let’s Talk: 3 questions for afterwards
Worksheet: questions, an activity and a drawing prompt

About 35 minutes with one story, all of it.

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

Report a concern about this reader · What’s in a HummingRead reader

The same story