Summary:

Shortly after her birth, Ella got the gift of obedience by a fairy named Lucinda. She is forced to obey every order she is given. Some years later, Ella's mother dies and she is left with her poor father. They have little money, so Ella’s father marries a wealthy lady. His greedy, new wife and her two spoiled daughters, Hattie and Olive, treat Ella bad. The stepsisters discovers Ella's gift and decide to ruin her life. Ella cannot bear to live under the obedience spell any more and sets out to find Lucinda. Ella hopes that she can undo the gift. During her journey, she meets an elf named Slannen, who refuses to be an entertainer, which all elves are expected to be.

Slannen joins Ella on her journey to find Lucinda, but they run into trouble with some ogres. They are rescued by Prince Charmont, who is charmed by Ella. He follows her to a wedding, where Ella hopes to find Lucinda, but she isn’t there. After the wedding, Prince Charmont suggests that Ella can visit the Hall of Records to track down Lucinda. On their way home to the palace, Prince Charmont and Ella fall in love.

At the palace, Ella's stepsisters explain to Edgar, the Prince's uncle, that Ella does everything she is told. Edgar has a long time speculated how to kill Char, and after the conversation with the sisters he knows. He demands Ella to stab the prince when they are alone, and she can’t tell anyone about the plan. Ella begs Slannen to tie her to a tree outside the city and to find the giants in order to help them.

When Ella is tied to the tree, Lucinda appears in front of her. She asks Lucida to undo the gift of obedience. Lucida gets insulted by Ella’s request, and says that she cannot take it back, and that if she no longer wants the spell, she must find a way to remove it herself. Just to make it worse, she unties Ella from the tree. When Ella gets to the ball, Charmont takes her to a room and asks her to marry him. She is about to stab him, when she frees herself from the curse.

Charmont believes Ella tried to kill him and Edgar orders the guards to lock her up and execute her within a few days. Slannen gets the giants and the ogres to help Ella to escape from the cell. They sneak into the castle and rescue Ella. On the way out they find out that Sir Edgar have poisoned the crown that is going to be put on Char's head. Just when the crown is right above his head, Ella, the ogres and Slannen run in and the crown is put on a table. Edgar orders out the soldiers, but Prince Char, Ella, the ogres and Slannen overcome them all. Sir Edgar then admit that he sent Ella to kill Char, and he then puts the crown on his head, and falls to the ground from the poison. A few seconds later Char asks Ella to marry him and she say yes.

Author:

The author of this book is Gail Carson Levine. She grew up in New York and she wanted to be an actress or a painter. Luckily she became a writer. Gail is married to David and she has two kids, Airedale and Jake.

She published her first children's book in 1997, Ella Enchanted, and won the Newberry Honor book award in 1998. Gail mostly writes children’s books, and Cinderella stories are her favorite. She has written 14 novels, for instance The Princess tales and Dave at night, and there are more to come.

Facts about the book:

Ella Enchanted came out in 1997. Gail didn’t even think Ella would be published, because she had been rejected many times before, but when it did, she was excited and happy at the same time. In July 2004 Ella Enchanted came on screen, with help from Miramax Films.

Characters:

Ella is a very pretty girl with small feet, but there is more in her head. She is very clever and inventive. She has a good personality and she is kind to everyone. She is very obedient and brave. Ella has very many talents, and she is a quick to learn languages. She also has a few bad qualities, and she is very clumsy and a bit spoiled.

Prince Charmount is the prince of Frell. His uncle killed his father, and in the end of the book, the uncle forces Ella to kill Char. Char is a handsome, young man who doesn’t want anyone harm. He falls love with Ella, and doesn’t know why she is so distant.

Olive is a cold person with a bad attitude, and she is a bit dumb. She is self-centered and she has very bad manners. Olive is Hattie's sister, who is her ideal, and Dame Olga's daughter.

Hattie is an unpleasant girl who is very mean to Ella. She has a dream of marrying Prince Char, and has a fan-club for him. She is Dame Olga's daughter and Olive’s big sister

Dame Olga is a cheeky woman. She appears as bossy and strict. When Dame Olga marries Ella's father, she forces Ella to work for her as a servant. She also tries to keep Ella and Prince Carmount apart. Dame Olga is Hattie and Olive’s mother and Ella's step mother.

Sir Peter is Ella's father. Sir Peter is a handsome, selfish and greedy man. He thinks of only himself. In the book it seemed like he didn’t care about Ella or her mother. He never wanted Ella and her mother to have any fun. He also thought he was better than everyone else.

Lucinda is the fairy who gave Ella the gift. She is nowhere to find when Ella is looking for her, but she showed up when Ella doesn’t need her. She is kind, but a bit naïve and doesn’t understand that her gifts aren’t always so needy.

Mandy is an old fairy and she is Ella’s watcher and her cook. She is short and plump, with very small feet. She is a nice, smart, and brave person, but she can’t do magic which is too big.

Language:

The language is characterized by Elfian, a magic language which only a few people can speak. It contains also fantasy-like words and names. I don’t think it was especially difficult to read, but it was a bit boring sometimes, so I skipped the longer words. There were a lot of conversations in the book, but it also had good descriptions of the people and the surroundings.  

Settings:

The action takes place in Frell and on the way to Uaaxee’s farm, where the wedding is. Ella works as a servant in Dame Olga’s house, and we also get a feeling how it is there. At the end of the book, there is a ball at the castle, and we can read and almost see how the ball-room is decorated.

Theme:

Good things happen to good people. In this story Ella struggles to have her own freedom, and in the end she’ll have it. On her way to freedom she has to steal for Hattie and lie to her best-friend, and she get’s her punishment. She is the winner in this book, she got the prince in the end.

My opinion:

If you like fantasy, fairies and giants, this is a book for you. I don’t think this book is exciting, and if I could choose a new book, I would definitely do that. The ending is much like other fairytales, but still it has the special touch. Read this if you want a happy ending, but still some action, comedy and tragedy in the main section.