Ella Enchanted by
Paroma
It's a Cinderella story retold. I have the impression that all girls above the age of ten have watched the movie they made on this, but not even half that number gave the book a try. So here I am promoting it on our newest book-cheering platform, and hoping that some kids out there read this and feel the urge to go out looking for the paperback.
I have the one with this cover:
It's a silly cover and the girl looks all of twelve. But you should read the book anyway. Because Cinderella was never given this much zeal, wit and obstacles to tackle in any fairy tale ever written.
I wont tell you the story. If you want to cheat, you can look it up in Wikipedia. Their plot outline is pretty detailed.
But what I will tell you is that if you begin at the beginning and read through to the end without peaking at the last page, you will find that Prince Charming does exist and that his Ella will fight against the most impossible spells to get to him. You'll find a beautiful happily-ever-after, and you'll actually feel like they deserve it!
I can't enumerate the many, many ways in which the book differs from the movie, and how each and every one of those differences make the book a much better source of entertainment. I can only guarantee that you have to meet Ella, get to know her and her troubles, have to laugh and cry with her, to walk with her to the last page and feel the sweetness of the ending to really have read a proper Cinderella fairy tale.
This was Gail Carson Levine's first novel and in my opinion the best one she has yet written. It has a place of honour on my bookshelf and hopefully will soon have one on yours as well.
~~The End~~
