The Youth Libraries Group are delighted to be part of the blog tour for Amber Lee Dodd's The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley.  The book sees the Bradley family besieged by a curse which results in every house they live in being destroyed.  On moving to his thirteenth home, Noah is determined things will be different...  Throughout the blog tour, Amber has been exploring different curses as they appear in fiction and history.  Here she discusses Beauty and the Beast.

This was one of the very first movies I ever saw. I remember loving the teapot and being ever so slightly scared of the beast. Beauty and the Beast is another classic morality tale. With a curse created to punish and teach a character a lesson. During a storm, an old beggar woman arrives at a castle during a ball. She offers the host, a cruel and selfish prince, a rose in return for shelter. When he refuses, the old woman reveals herself to be a beautiful enchantress. And then swiftly punishes the Prince for his selfishness by transforming him into a terrible monster and his servants into household objects. She casts a spell on the rose too and warns the prince that the curse will only be broken if he learns to love another, and earn their love in return before the last petal falls, or he will remain a beast forever. Spoiler, it all ends alright, much to my younger selves disappointment. I remember being very upset when the lovely talking teacups turned back into boring people and the scary beast ended up being a standard handsome prince.

Explore some of the other curses Amber has been discussing and don't forget to check out her brilliant new novel The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley.