That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me.
And so begins this retelling of the tale of Cinderella. Ella was blessed at birth by a fairy with the gift of obedience - imagine having to obey everyone! Ella does what she can to rebel and delay following orders but in the end she must. After her mother passes away, her father remarries the evil stepmother and terrible stepsisters we are all familiar. Ella does not sit by passively accepting her fate. She searches for the fairy to end her curse, torments her stepsisters right back and falls in love with her prince. Like all good fairy tales, it is only when Ella realizes her own strength found within that everything ends happily ever after. The glass slippers, pumpkin coach and fairy godmother are all found here just as in the original Cinderella. Ella and the prince first become friends and then fall in love. A nice change of pace over the 'their eyes meet, fall in love and live happily ever after' love story.
I thought the author did a great job demonstrating Ella as a strong, feisty girl.
Levine, G. C. (1997). Ella enchanted. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
ISBN:0060275103
05 April 2009
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Labels:
age 8-12,
fairies,
fairy tale,
fantasy,
identity,
love,
magic,
Newberry Honor Book,
rescue,
strong female
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