About this title: At birth, a girl named Ella is given the gift of obedience by a fairy. The fairy thinks she is doing a good deed because all children should be obedient, but she doesn't realize that her gift is really a curse because now Ella has no choice but to follow every command given to her. As Ella grows up, the gift becomes more and more of a burden and places her, and those she loves, in dangerous situations. Because the fairy refuses to rescind her gift, Ella struggles to find a way to break the spell herself.
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Description: Levine, Gail Carson. Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. No markings but well-loved. There is a fold line on front cover bottom corner. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc., New York
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780590920681ISBN:0590920685
Description: Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" Tall. Cov ers have moserate wear with a bumped to the top corner of the front resulting in light creasing to the first several pages. Interior pages are toning. #5735. read more
Description: Levine, Gail Carson. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. Very good, never read, tight, min chipped edging, spine in tact, clean and bright inside and out. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780064407052ISBN:0064407055
Description: Levine, Gail Carson. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. read more
Description: Very Good. 0064407055 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Description: Fine. 0064407055 Excellent condition Soft cover book, clean pages, No creases to spine, this book is Near NEW! Shop & Save With US. read more
Description: Very Good. 0064407055 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Description: Very Good. 0439576512 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780064407052ISBN:0064407055
Description: Levine, Gail Carson. Very good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Contains: Illustrations. Intended for a juvenile audience. Very good read more
"The book was fantastic the way they incorporated magic into it was hilarious.I found out that love has no bounds and that you have to always believe in yourself and not listen to what others say about you"
"I got this book free with a magazine to promote the film version that was coming out around that time, so I thought it would be terrible. It looked terrible. But I read it anyway because I hate to judge, and I was wrong about it. Although it was not exactly a work of literary genius, I really connected with the main character Ella - she wasn't the sappy, needy pwincess we usually associate with fairy stories but an independent, strong young woman. She is put under a curse as a young child - she must obey whatever anyone tells her to do. This could be fatal, particularly when she falls in love with the Prince, because anyone could tell her to murder him, so she sets out to try and have the curse lifted. For someone who is forced to be obedient she still manages to be a very stubborn sort of person. And I liked her round, bouncy (if rather clichéd) fairy godmother - she made me smile. And its fun to spot the similarities with Cinderella (example, when she found the glass slippers - me: "Aaaaaah!" and, epiphany at the end: "I GET it. Her name is ELLA!") The film version pales in comparison and manages to be a chick flick when the book is anything but. A definite case of 'read the book first'."
"This was a very sweet and funny book. The movie version really doesn't do it justice and is almost a different story all together. I'd always heard about this book when I was in elementary and middle school, but back then I thought reading a book was punishment. Now though, I see that books are our friends and not just good paper weights. I'm glad that I had a chance to read this book before I got too old to actually enjoy it. Though I think that I would've still liked it anyway. Ella is funny and witty and not much like the girl on the cover. It was easy to see the frustration and anger that Ella felt whenever she had to obey a command that she didn't willingly do. The gift of constant obedience really is a curse. I can't imagine having to always do what I'm told. I hate it when people tell me what to do! It's easy to sympathize with Ella, you root for her from the beginning all the way to the end. She's strong willed even with her curse, which gets her into trouble at times. I loved the fact that the book wasn't all about some beautiful girl and how she eventually snagged the prince, the end. It was about how we all have the strength inside of us to do even what seems impossible.
I think that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more when I was a few years younger. The charm of it all didn't capture me as much as it would have if I were 13 or 14. I'm not sure if it was the cover that threw me off, but at the very beginning I kept imagining Ella to be around 12 years old when she was actually 15. Maybe it was because at the beginning some of her thoughts sounded like they were from someone younger. Eventually I got it right though. I think younger girls would really enjoy this book, but anyone could read it and still like it. A very nice story."
"Now I know why people made such a fuss when the movie came out. I watched the movie first, so I had no idea how utterly wrong everything was. It totally is not like the book. Just slap on the names and the curse and that's where the similarities end. I must say the book is MUCH better than the movie.
The style of the writing was kind of weird for me, but not in a bad way. It's not that it was too fast paced or anything but I noticed there wasn't a lot of padding or fanfare before events would happen, which I usually expect from fantasy books. The writing style worked in this story since it seemed to fit the main character to a tee. I absolutely loved the story. It's a great way of showing how the only one who can save you is you, and you have to find the strength within to do it. Sometimes it takes someone else to bring that strength out of you and that's what Char does for Ella unknowingly.
The magic book was a nice touch and added what the other characters were thinking without actually changing the narrator of the story. I couldn't give the book 5 stars because it seemed odd to me how she dealt with her mother's death. It's like after awhile it doesn't seem to matter, which I guess makes sense since the book isn't really about her grieving for her mother. The story is really about how her death makes Ella have to face her demons by throwing her the different situations she finds herself in. Still it really isn't that bothersome because of course you see that Ella misses her mother at times.
This is the best version of the Cinderella story I have encountered. All and all a very worth while read."
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