This book is called ELLA ENCHANTED, written by Gail Carson Levine.
It is about a girl named Ella who is under a curse of obedience put on her by a
fairy named Lucinda. Her mother, her fairy godmother and she were having an excellent
time until Ella and her mother catch a cold. Their fairy godmother, Mandy,
tries to fix it but in spite of that Ella’s mother dies. Fortunately Ella
didn’t die but she was miserable because she misses her mother and her closest
friend, Prince Charmont, also has to leave. Ella’s father comes back from his
travels and has to take care of Ella. Turns out that Ella’s father is pretty
mean and sends her to finishing school with two other girls, Hattie and Olive.
Hattie is as bossy as a queen and starts using Ella when she figures out that
Ella would do whatever she wants. Olive likes Ella a little too much that it
starts to be a little annoying. Ella hates both and starts to wish that she
didn’t have to go to finishing school. Ella is not good at sewing or
dancing but then finally finds her talent in singing and writing. The only
friend Ella makes in the entire finishing school is a foreign girl named
Areida. Ella and Areida become best friends. Areida encourages Ella and finally,
Ella makes up her mind that she wants to escape finishing school and ask
Lucinda to undo the curse. Just before she leaves, Ella realizes that Hattie
wears a wig! She takes it to teach Hattie a lesson and starts her quest to the
Giants’ wedding where her daddy and Lucinda would be. In the middle of the
woods she captures a group of ogres and bumps into Prince Charmont (Prince Char!).
Going on with his soldier she reaches the Giant’s wedding and pleads Lucinda to
get rid of the curse but Lucinda on the other hand orders Ella to be happy
about it and because of the curse, Ella has no choice but to be happy. Ella and
her Father go back to their home and then Ella’s father marries Dame Olga
(Hattie and Olive’s mum)! Hattie and Olive are now Ella’s stepsisters!! Next,
Ella’s father leaves her forever and Dame Olga turns Ella into her housemaid.
In the meantime, Prince Char comes back and there is a big celebration of three
Balls for this. Ella really wants to meet Char. But, because Hattie knows that
Prince Char used to like Ella when they were young, and that they used to write
letters when they were apart, she stops Ella from marrying Char. In fact, she
wants to marry him herself. Because of the curse, Ella has to obey her and so she
wears a veil and changes her name specifically so that Char doesn’t recognize her.
Prince Char dances the longest with Ella on each ball without knowing it was
her. On the last ball night, Ella drops her slipper and Char is keen on finding
the girl it belongs to. When Char realizes that it was Ella all along he
insists on marrying her. She likes Char so much that she is afraid to marry him
because Char and the kingdom might lose their respect if they knew about her
curse. So even though Char asks her to
marry him and she needs to obey, she forces herself to disobey Char to save him
and the kingdom’s reputation. And so breaks the curse. But when Ella breaks the
curse, she realizes and reassures herself that all is now well and she can
marry Char. So, together they set off to lead their life.
What
I like about the book is:
Ø Since this is an adaptation from the famous tale Cinderella
I like that its not an exact copy and that the author changed at least three things
about Ella from Cinderella.
o
Ella is under a curse of obedience
o
Ella knows the prince from her childhood
o
Ella’s father is mean but in the actual Cinderella her father is not mean
but dies.
Ø I like that the author made this book in the perspective of Ella and
it is her story but I also wonder how amazing and princely the book would be
with Char as the main character and leader!
Ø Ella is a more realistic character than the actual Cinderella
and I think that the author did a very good job in bringing her to life!
Ø One thing I noticed about Ella
was that she had a sporty talent and that was catching ogres!
What
I wish the author had done differently:
Ø I wish that the author didn’t use Cinderella as their base
because there are already a lot of movies and stories based on Cinderella
and I don’t think it’s fair for the actual story and movie because
people might think that other copied Cinderella’s are the real
version....
I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 6 OUT
OF 10 RATING.
FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY
READING ELLA ENCHANTED!
You can buy it here on Kindle for
$1.99
