Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Tea Party

Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Tea Party is a gentle rainy-day story for 5 year olds, set in an enchanted castle full of chattering teapots and clocks.

What happens

Six whole days of rain, and Belle is fed up of being stuck inside. She hasn't been for a walk or visited the stables in nearly a week.

Chip the little teacup is even more bored. He's played every game he can think of. And because he's so small, he doesn't have a job like all the other enchanted objects.

Lumiere sings a song in French and Cogsworth gets the spoons and napkins dancing round the table. But then they dash off to check on the Beast. So Mrs Potts has an idea. A tea party!

What's lovely about this one is how much it's about Chip. His mum gives him a special job, and it's his very first tea party. You can feel how excited he is (he hops onto his saucer before it's even started).

Belle gets dressed up too, with a little help from the Wardrobe. A navy dress is firmly ruled out ("too dark for a tea party!") and out comes a yellow-and-gold one with a hat to match. Who doesn't love a good dressing-up scene?

Then there are tiny sandwiches, iced pastries and blue flowers on the table. It's all very cosy.

There's no villain and nothing scary, just friends making the best of a grey day. It's short enough for one sitting, so it works nicely as a bedtime story. It would suit a new reader who already knows the characters from the film too.

A little one who adores Belle and her castle friends will love spending a bit more time with them.

What to read next

If they'd like another visit to the castle, Teacup: Belle's Star Pup has Belle's performing puppy getting ready to impress a young inventor.