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Summary: A Spoof on Cinderella
Review: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine is a great fantasy for all to read. Contained in this book is a story about a girl named Ella and her love for a prince, Char, who loves her in return, but as Ella makes a journey she soon realizes that she would put the prince in great danger if she married him. The reason for this is since her birth, Ella has been cursed with the "gift" of obedience, granted by a fairy named Lucinda. After many years of living at home she finds out that her cook, Mandy, is really her fairy godmother and Ella asks Mandy to remove the curse, but Mandy refuses to. After Ella's mother dies, Ella's father, Peter (who is a merchant), sends her to finishing school where she meets Hattie and Olive who discover her obedience and use it for themselves. Then when Ella is reminded that her father has gone to a giant's wedding, Ella plans to escape finishing school and go to the wedding where she hopes to find Lucinda and have her remove the "gift". On her way to the wedding Ella is captured by ogres and is almost their dinner.
After a couple of days with the ogres, Ella's beloved Char comes to rescue her and takes her to the wedding. At the wedding Lucinda refuses to remove the curse. When Ella gets home, Peter tells her that he has to marry her off and sell everything they own because he owes a lot of money to some elves. Peter gets married to a woman named Dame Olga, who is Hattie and Olive's mother. Dame Olga makes Ella in to a servant when Peter leaves. One day there is an announcement that a ball is to be held so that the prince may find his wife. Ella heads off to the ball after Hattie, Olive, and Dame Olga have left. Char likes Ella the most out of all of the girls at the ball, but Ella will not remove the mask she is wearing to reveal herself to the prince. Hattie gets so jealous that she rips off the mask and Ella runs home, but when Char runs after Ella, she soon has to make a big decision.
To find out what happens read Ella Enchanted. There are also so many exotic settings in this book such as; Elve's Forest, Dame Olga's Manor, a giant's wedding, and an old castle. This is an enchanting tale that should be read over and over by all. Ella Enchanted is so captivating and inspiring that it has become my favorite book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Twist on Cinderella
Review: Ella is indeed enchanted. She has been "blessed" by a fairy's gift. She is unable to disobey, even against her best interest or heart's desires. Gail Carson Levine uses a variety of sentence length and is told in first person view of Ella. Her use of imagery allows the reader to travel into a land of fantasy, ogres, giants, and spells. Connections are easy to make to some blended families. [...]
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Summary: book reveiw
Review: This book is about a girl named Ella, who was given a curse when she was born, it was that Ella would be obedient by a fairy named Lucinda. It was sopposed to be a gift but she was too obedient....
The only thing that made me dislike this book is Hattie, Olive, and Dame Olga, because they're so mean to Ella and they take advantage of her curse which really gets me mad...I know that they are put in the book for us to hate them but it's too much I think even though its just a book they're the worst peopleI ever known.
The thing I think I like best are the strange, kind, and dangerous creatures in the book. I think the creature I like best are the ogres. They might be dangerous but it's cool how they could control you. They could convince you that they're your friends or they are no harm to you...
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Summary: Absolutely Enchanting!
Review: Because I don't have kids, I found Ella Enchanted by conducting a search on Amazon for the subject "Children's Literature" sorted by "Average Customer Review" and it came right to the top.
And rightly so. This is an original and entertaining revision of the Cinderella story. Ella is cursed at birth with having to obey any direct order given to her. It's hilarious how she finds loopholes and ways to get around the orders. Clever girl! I also loved the details with the giants, elves, gnomes, and orges. This story was a real pleasure to read and is highly recommended. Thanks Amazon for helping me find this book!
Now on to Gail Carson Levine's backlist....
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Summary: An Enchanted Book
Review: Ella is a teenage girl in the time of dragons and castles and princesses. When she was born, the fairy Lucinda gave her a gift- that was really a curse. Ella is now totally obedient. She has to do anything anybody tells her to, if it's jump off a cliff or chop her head off, she has to do it.
Soon Ella's mother dies. Ella's father, a greedy trader, sends her off to a finishing school with her horrid stepsisters-to-be, Hattie and Olive. When she's there, she makes friends with a girl, Arieda, until Hattie discovers that Ella is totally obedient, and orders her to quit her friendship.
Ella is devastated. She sets off to find Lucinda and ask her to get rid of the curse. On the way she meets up with Char, her kingdom's prince, whom she loves very much. He loves her too.
Through many great adventures and people places, and creatures, Ella must somehow fight her curse to be able to marry Char. Will she be able to, or must he marry someone else and have her live her life in shame and guilt of her curse? This book was one of the greatest books I've ever read. It has magic, and suspense, and fantasy, and romance. I loved it- and I'm sure you will too! Read it!
(If you've already read it, you should read Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It's almost like a sequel to Ella Enchanted!)
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Summary: An excellent retelling
Review: An excellent retelling of the Cinderella story. Very cute and lighthearted. I loved it.
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Summary: Creatures
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. It has all the things i look for in a book, it has adventure, it has a lot of weird creatures, its very imaginative, and it has a little bit of romance. When I read this book I thought wow, I wonder how it would feel like to live in those weird places with giants and strange creatures. Though I thought it was a little confusing, I really go confused trying to figure out the names of the creatures. I really liked how Lucinda learned her lesson at the end and used small magic and how Ella took her curse away for the sake of Char. I think my favorite part in the book was when Char asked Ella to marry him but she couldnt say anything and the curse was broken. I think the only thing i hated about this book was Hattie, Olive, and Dame Olga.
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Summary: A New Classic: Cinderella with a twist
Review: A lifelong fairy tale fan, I thought I knew what to expect when I picked up Ella Enchanted, but even I was often startled over how Gail Carson Levine manages to make this story stand on its own, while also incorporating the traditional details with logical circumstances (for a fantasy). You forget that the old story elements - like the pumpkin, the glass slipper, and the fairy godmother - until you are actually reading about them and remember that you already knew that they were coming up. She takes the less attractive or believable aspects of the age-old tale and turns them gently and sensibly on their heads. I particularly admired Ella's rebelliousness against her forced obedience, and how she and her Prince fall in love corresponding in intelligent, involved letters. If you ever wondered why Cinderella put up with all the abuse her stepmother and stepsisters heaped on her, this is the book to satisfy your curiosity. A wacky fairy gives her the "gift" of obedience and Ella is forced to follow every imperative addressed to her. She learns quite a bit about the preciousness of free will and how to maintain her own independence. As soon as she is able, she begins a search to reverse her situation. This is no sitting-pretty damsel-in-distress. On her adventure, she encounters elves, ogres, giants, and her Prince. Levine creates a marvelous fantasy world that shows how priceless choice is. Appreciation for life's simple pleasures takes center stage here. In most fairy tales, it's more convenient to overlook weaknesses in heroes/heroines because we know the story will stop being a fairy tale if we question it. Ella Enchanted confronts the all-important "why"s of the story and is still a pure pleasure to read. This book's got it all - Ella is a spirited, charismatic character, the descriptive elements are crisp, the situations are clever and often very funny, and the romance isn't contrived at all (a true coup in re-telling fairy tales). I finished reading it and immediately wanted to begin again on page one. That's a rare feeling and this is a rare book - make sure you read this one and pass it on!
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Summary: If you haven't read this book yet, u are in 4 a real treat!
Review: I picked up this book a while back, when it was reccomended at my school, and i could simply not put it down! its a page-turning fairytale, and one-of-a kind! Great book, and if you haven't read it yet, you are in for a real treat! A classic cinderella story...you wont be dissapointed!
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Summary: Ella Enchanted
Review: When I started reading Ella Enchanted I just couldn't put the book down. Ella Enchanted is about a girl named Ella. When Ella was born a fairy casted a spell on her and the spell made Ella do whatever she was told to do. She was given the gift of Obedience. But once Ella became older the gift became more and more of a problem as she grew up. Then one day she decides to get rid of the spell. She wanted to break the spell somehow. I really like the part when Ella calms down the ogres. I would recommed everyone to read this book. I really enjoyed this book.
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