Ella, den fortryllede (1997)

Really good book! It's about this girl who was given a gift at birth and she has to obey everything she is told to do. The book was really great and i couldn't put it down! ( )

Way too many plot holes for me to completely enjoy this one. The first half is great - wonderful world building and character introductions. But the second half feels like a very rough first draft. And when we finally get to the parts of the story that resemble "Cinderella" they feel like they're just thrown in there to appease reader expectations. Why the heck were those glass slippers hidden under the floor? We never find out. The primary flaw in the book is that Ella's dilemma is easily solved - as a child Ella's mother commands her to never tell anyone about the curse placed upon her. All she needs to do is tell Mandy to countermand this and she can tell Char everything. And when Ella finally does break the curse placed upon her it isn't in order to be true to herself but to save the Prince. Please. This is touted as a modern and progressive fairy tale but the heroine still has to be self-sacrificing in order to find happiness. That's about as regressive as you can get. ( )

Traditional Literature - Fairy Tale

This story, a spinoff of the original Cinderella, Ella is a baby when her fairy godmother gives her the "gift of obedience". This means that Ella always does what she is told no matter what the circumstances, even if it hurts someone. Her father marries a woman with two stepdaughters. She sets out to find her godmother to get her to take back the gift after her father dies. She meets the prince and together they take back the kingdom from his evil uncle and Ella finds her true self and gets rid of the gift herself.

I think that this is a great book because it is unlike the original Cinderella because it tells about Ella having to overcome something inside herself whereas the original Cinderella was about her overcoming her outside obstacles. This teaches a good lesson about realizing that you are your only enemy in life.

I've always assumed that I read this book and have seen the movie but after listening to the charming audio version of it I really don't think I have. The story was new and fresh and fantastical. I loved it. I'm a sucker for fairy tale re-tellings and the superb narration (the narrator sounds like an honest to god kid!) kicked this middle grade fantasy into overdrive. When Ella was a newborn a fairy placed a curse on her - she would be obedient. Ella cannot disobey an order - which make it dangerous if the wrong people found out! After her mother dies she is sent to finishing school and two odious girls proceed to make her life a living hell. She runs away to try and find the fairy who cursed and along the way she has many an adventure. There is romance, action, adventure, humor, and fun. All around great storytelling. Empowering for young girls! ( )

I forgot how much I loved this book as a kid, and it held up just as well this time around. Love love love. ( )