Ella Enchanted (1997)

What a charming story of a young princess who has been given a fairy gift at birth that isn't exactly terrific. Ella is gifted obedience by a thoughtless fairy and she must obey and command or order given to her. When her mother dies, and her father remarries, because of her "gift" Ella basically becomes a servant to her stepmother and stepsister. (Cinderella anyone?) However, in this retelling of the fairy tale, Ella battles her "gift" to free herself and find true love.

I read this book because I bought it for my granddaughter and wanted to be able to talk with her about it. I think that I will show a side of respectful self-reliance and understanding for others. ( )

This is absolutely one of my favorite books. I have read this book upwards of 15 times. I prefer it so much more than Cinderella. I like to think of this book actually as Cinderella on steroids. The overall idea behind the book is that Ella was born and cursed by a crazy fairy to be obedient every time a direct order is given. What is great about her though is that she is possibly the most contrarian and independent individual on earth, so she hates being obedient, but also she has a sense of self preservation so she bites the bullet so to speak on many occasions. I would love to use this book as a good source of learning self respect in young girls and learning to stand up for yourself. I do only wish that it didn't have that element of solving your problems for love, but at least the prince loves her for who she actually is instead of her outer beauty.

Ella is another victim of reading childhood favorites past adolescence. I remembered the book as charming, witty, unexpected and fresh compared to other modern fairy tales and re-readings (I'm looking at you Donna Jo Napoli) which were pretentious and stiff.

I first read it when it was up for a Dorothy Canfield Fisher award and my school had a competition where four students who read every book nominated that year would be able to visit the award ceremony and hear the author speak. I was one of those lucky ones, though I can't remember a thing Gail Carson Levine said in her speech, I remember being thrilled.

For the book itself, I just found it tiresome, predictable (beyond the fact that I'd read it before, obviously) and tame. I suppose that Ella Enchanted still is a fresh-faced kind of book, but it held no charms for me anymore. ( )

This book is a great spin off of the famous Cinderella story. Ella is cursed by a fairy, Lucinda, and it has Ella obeying anything that is told to her. This is hard when her father remarries and travels for work while her stepmother stays at home treating her like a servant. This book talks about how Ella wants to break this curse so she can make her own decisions and be able to say no. This book is great for students to learn about fairy tales and decided what is fiction and non-fiction in the book. ( )

Need I really say anything?
Okay, I do have to say something: like with most books/movies, watching the movie can not be a substitute for reading this book. Although in most cases, it' just a couple things different between the book and the movie.
with this case, it's far more severe. the book and the movie share a title and a main character, and that's it. ( )