Book Report: ELLA ENCHANTED

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