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Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
| Ella Enchanted
By Gail Carson Levine Release Date:
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Ella of Frell received a fairy gift as a baby, the gift of obedience.
Anything she is ordered to do, she must do, as result of the gift. If she is ordered to jump into an ogre’s pot, she will. If she is ordered to kill the prince that she loves, then she must.
Ella Enchanted is the story of Ella’s journey to find a way to break her curse, to find the fairy who gave her the “gift,” and most of all, to find herself. Filled with ogres, elves, a stepmother and stepsisters who just might be of the evil variety, or at least the self-indulging kind, and a prince who might just be charming, this book puts a new spin on the old Cinderella tale.
This is a classic book in the retelling of fairytales genre, humorous and containing a strong heroine. Ella is kind-hearted and independent, fighting against her curse in every way she can think of. Ella will delight readers of all ages and surprise them as they discover everything that leads up to the famous ball and glass slippers.
Now in its third edition, Ella Enchanted has just been re-released again as a hardcover. The new cover (above) features a real girl and shining gold trim, which matches the other re-releases of Levine’s books. All the books have been re-done in honor of her newest book, Fairest. Personally, I like my beat-up copy that comes from the movie release, with Anne Hathaway on the cover. She makes an excellent Ella, and her picture tends to attract an older reader. Even though Ella is fifteen for the majority of the book, the two non-movie covers feature girls who look about twelve. Personally I find this misleading, and I originally avoided the book because it seemed to young for me.
Action: 4 –The book keeps a fast pace, with never a dull moment. A great deal of the action is internal, dealing with Ella’s inner battles with her curse, but there is still a little external action.
Romance: 5 – It’s a little cheesy, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the romantic pair are writing to each other for a half a year and building up their own friendship and romance, I probably would have rated it lower. As it was though, it worked, and the pairing is believable. The character interactions make it realistic that Ella and Char are going to fall in love and “live happily ever after.”
Characters: 4 – The character of Ella is excellent–she is a very strong young woman who comes off as an interesting, complex character, and we really see her dealing with her curse. On the other hand, some of the other characters, while they fill their roles well, don’t seem developed beyond their type-casting, such as her step-family.
Overall: 5 – Enjoyable and easy to read, Ella Enchanted is a book I’ve read multiple times over the years. There are many little details and the plot is complicated enough that it has a high rereading value. It is also a great gateway book to other fairytale retellings. With a bit of action, romance, and humor, it is sure to be enjoyed by many different readers.
Extras:
The Harper Collins website features a small section for Gail Carson Levine, as well as a reading guide and author essay on the topic of Ella Enchanted. She has also written many other young adult books, and her fantasy ones are: The Two Princess of Bamarre, The Princess Tales, and Fairest. The last is a semi-sequel to Ella and is a Snow White tale in another kingdom, but involving the older sister of Ella’s best friend from boarding school. So the two books loosely connect. Neither is necessary to read before the other, though. Levine also recently released a writing book for young readers called Writing Magic, which is enjoyable as far as I’ve gotten in it.
The movie of Ella Enchanted is cute and clever in its own way. It’s a mixture of modern society and fairytale fun. The curse is changed to be more literal than in the book, with her having to immediately do what she is told. The anachronisms from the fantasy timeline are a choice by the filmmakers to make it more accessible to the intended teen audience. There is also a more action oriented plot in the movie, which was necessary for the visual format. Admittedly, the movie is rather cheesy. It’s a good one to curl up with on a depressing winter day when you really need a cute story and a good laugh.
Two more enjoyable movies are Ever After and The 10th Kingdom. Ever After is a classic Cinderella story, though without a fairy godmother, though she does get help from friends, like the other household servants and her childhood friend. Like Ella, this Cinderella is also strong-headed and intelligent. The 10th Kingdom on the other hand is a Hallmark mini-series that creates a magical world where fairytales are true. It has a similar tone to Ella Enchanted. Both movies have books that were created to go along with the movies.
Dealing with Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede, is another book series with a similar take on fairytales. As far as Cinderella retellings go, Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a telling of what happens to Cinderella after the ball.
Interested in the history of Cinderella? Check out this site, which gives some background into how long the tale has been circulating and some of its countries of origin. I certainly didn’t know that the first written Cinderella story was from China. There are also some great links on the site to other educational resources about the Cinderella tale.
And then there is one of my favorite Cinderella stories, The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey, about a young woman who should have been a Cinderella, but instead becomes a Fairy Godmother. This is a much more adult book, for those over sixteen, but it is a very creative story with a unique magic system.
Ages 10+, Ella Enchanted might be enjoyed by boys, but it’s really a girl’s tale. You’d be hard pressed to convince a boy to read it, what with the rather girly cover. There is no bad language, nobody gets eaten, and everyone lives happily ever after. Even her step-sisters, to some extent.
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