Ella Enchanted

Title: Ella Enchanted (Chapter book)
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Genre: Modern Fantasy

Summary
Ella Enchanted is about a girl named Ella who was unfortunately given a foolish fairy gift at her birth. Only an hour after she was born, the fairy Lucinda gave her the gift of obedience. This meant that Ella had to obey every thing that was commanded of her no matter how little or big it was. Ella grows up hating the gift that Lucinda bestowed upon her. At age fifteen, Ella’s mother dies, this turns her world upside down because she loved and enjoyed her mother very much. At her mother’s funeral she meets Prince Charmont, the Prince of Kyrria. They immediately bond and become close friends. A little bit after her mother’s funeral, Ella is sent off to finishing school with Olive and Hattie, the two girls she dislikes, because her father gets tired of her disobedience. Hattie figures out that Ella has to obey everything that is commanded to her and begins to use it against her. Ella cannot deal with Hattie anymore, so she runs away from finishing school. The night she ran away from finishing school, she read a letter out of the fairy tale book that Mandy had given her. This letter said that there was going to be a wedding on the Uaaxee’s farm and that several fairies were going to be present; Ella thought that this might be her chance to meet Lucinda who could perhaps take away the gift she had given her at birth. On her journey to the Uaaxee’s farm she has many adventures; she runs into elves, ogres, Prince Char, giants, and Lucinda. Once arriving at the wedding, she eventually speaks to Lucinda, but has no luck with having her reverse her gift. After the wedding, Ella returns home to find out that her father has lost everything and must get remarried. Ella’s father remarries Dame Olga, and Hattie and Olive become Ella’s stepsisters. Once settled into their new home, Ella’s father leaves and Ella is left alone to deal with the deceitfulness of Dame Olga, Hattie, and Olive. Ella begins exchanging letters with Prince Char while he is on a year-long journey to another country. Both Ella and Prince Char begin to fall in love with one another, however when Prince Char asks Ella to marry him over a letter, she refuses because she is under a spell and does not want him to get hurt. A ball is held to welcome Char back home and Ella decides to go in disguise and calls herself “Lela.” Throughout the three balls, “Lela” and Char form a special bond. On the third night, Hattie snatches off Ella’s mask and Char sees that she is Ella. Ella runs home, but Char follows her. Once she is face to face with Char she admits everything. Prince Char tells Ella to marry him and she refuses, Ella breaks the spell by not responding to several commands presented to her, but after figuring out that the spell is broken she runs up to Char and kisses him. The two of them get married and live happily ever after.


Classroom Connection
The story of Ella Enchanted is very close to the fairytale Cinderella. Students could read Ella Enchanted and then pick two other versions of Cinderella and compare and contrast the three books. Students could present their findings on some sort of visual aid and present it to the class. I think students would find it interesting to know how many different variations of Cinderella there are in existence.