About the Book July 16, 2008

What is “Beauty and the Beast”?

Let me explain.

It’s a non-fiction book by me, Megan Ryland.

Everyone knows the story of Beauty and the Beast, or at least the Disney version, but I have a different tale to share. While the animated movie you might be familiar with describes the relationship between a girl and a prince-turned-monster, the story I want to tell is of girls everywhere falling in love with a different sort of beast (and this one doesn’t turn out to be a prince in the end).In today’s society, the female body is expected to conform to monstrous standards. Because of this, I refer to the “rules” regarding a girl’s body as the Beast; I don’t think that these standards and measurements have anything to do with real beauty. In the non-fiction book entitled Beauty and the Beast: Ending the Love/Hate Relationship Between Girls and their Bodies I talk about where the pressure to conform to unrealistic expectations comes from and where girls get ideas about their self-image.

Okay… it’s a book. How’d that happen?

It’s kind of a funny story. Basically, my high school had recently begun publishing student books through a company called Tiberious Publishing. I was interested in how teenage girls perceived their bodies and the various factors that influenced us, and before I heard about the school’s company, I was just planning on doing a survey myself out of curiosity. However, through a series of events, I managed to end up writing a book about it, with the agreement from the school and its publishing company that I would eventually end up with a real, live published book. I did a lot of research, realized I had a lot of opinions, asked many people many questions and finally we have a book for you to read.

How do I get one?

After living in the consignment section for a while, we are now available at Chapters, Indigo and Coles. If the books isn’t on the shelves (aka, you’re not in Calgary, or maybe the store is out of stock for the moment) you can order it through the store or online. We’re very excited that there’s been enough support to get us on the shelves in a more official way.

Unofficially? Talk to me if you want a book and don’t know exactly how to go about it. Email beauty_vs_beast@ymail.com or leave a comment here (including an email that I can use to contact you in the required field) letting me know that you’d love a copy. I’ll do my best to make that happen!

(And of course if you’re a student at LBHS, talk to Mr. Wallace with your $14 and he can help you out.)

Note about purchase: This program is for educational purposes. Prices are set in order to recoup costs and pay student authors for their efforts. What you pay for is the cost to print, run the program and pay the author some. Any profits go back into the program to help other students experience what it’s like to be published ( <——- This is a big deal!)