Beauty and the Beast

 

 

Growing up this was one of my favorite movies. (It was practically a toss between this and The Little Mermaid, given my over-the-top love of water and swimming. Even today, put me near a body of water, and I will jump in, I don't care what I'm wearing). But this was right up there, and all due to the library and Belle's love of reading. I used to wonder why she chose to continue on to the west wing when they mentioned the library full of thousands of books. Any curiosity I may have felt about that forbidden wing would have flown out the window at the mention of even one single book. But thousands?
I would have been so there.
Also, growing up in a world full of princess barbies with pink and purple and blond hair and pink and purple clothes, with characters like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, it was refreshing to have a mousy brunette who loves to read and is very independent. She didn't wait for her prince to save her. She went out in search of her father without any help. She took his place in the castle to save him. Then she even took off on her own to escape the beast. Needless to say, she was a heroine I could really appreciate.
And this was a library I dreamed of.
Okay, I have to go back to reality now. Pack up my weekend stuff and head home to get my niece from school. Unfortunately I have no internet at home.