Author: Gail Carson Levine
Publishing: HarperCollins
Number of Pages: Paperback—240 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Summary: This book is about a girl named Ella who had a gift/curse put on her when she was a baby—that she would do whatever anyone would tell her to do. When Ella is almost 15 her mother dies. At the funeral she meets and befriends Prince Charmont. Soon after though, her father sends her to a finishing school with the daughters of Dame Olga: Hattie and Olive. Hattie discovers that Ella does exactly whatever she is told and starts to take advantage of her, but Ella is able to find comfort in her new friend, Areida. Ella runs away from finishing school after she learns that her father is attending a giant’s wedding where fairies may be present—she hopes to find Lucinda so that she will take the curse off of her. On the way to the wedding, Ella stays with some elves, is captured by ogres, and is eventually saved by Prince Char. Ella finds Lucinda and asks her to take the gift back but she refuses. Ella spends more time with Prince Char, he gives her glass slippers, and after he leaves for a diplomacy mission they continue to write to each other. Ella’s father marries Dame Olga and Dame Olga makes Ella a slave in her own house. Ella and Char fall in love through their letters and Char asks if she is too young to marry but she never answers his question directly. Ella realizes that if her and Char were to marry then she would be putting him and the country in danger with such a curse as hers so she pretends to elope with another man. Char is heartbroken and when he returns he attends the three-night ball in his honor. Ella still loves him so she attends the ball in a disguise; wearing a mask and the glass slippers he had given her. Hattie gets jealous after they are dancing together and snatches the mask off Ella and so Ella runs away leaving a glass slipper. Char chases after her and accidentally demands Ella to marry him, she fights inside her because she doesn’t want to danger him or the country—and she succeeds in this. Doing this breaks the curse, she accepts his hand in marriage, and they live happily ever after.
My Reaction to the Book: I loved this book! I had seen the movie but I hadn’t read the book yet so I decided to go ahead and read it and I’m glad I did. It’s a really cute story and great twist on Cinderella.
Potential Problems: Hattie and Olive are really mean to Ella. Ella is forced to do anything that someone tells her to do. These things could be potential problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment