Monday, April 25, 2011

MMGM: ELLA ENCHANTED

This week's Marvelous Middle Grade is one of the few books that I've flipped back to the beginning when I finished and started reading again. I've read Gail Carson Levine's ELLA ENCHANTED at least a half a dozen times. I can't stand the movie, though, because they ruined the characters, especially Prince Char. The movie lost ground right at the beginning, when it started with this cutesy rhyming narrator, instead of Ella's "That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift." My sisters and I were so excited to see it (because we loved the book) that we actually met in a sort of halfway place and went to the movies together. None of us loved the movie.
Ella Enchanted (Newbery Honor Book)

ELLA ENCHANTED is a Cinderella retelling, but I didn't realize it until near the end. Lucinda's "gift" of obedience forces Ella to be obedient. Even with as many times as I've read it, this book makes me laugh and cry. Ella and Char both have flaws I can relate to, though my reasons for having them might be slightly different (no mad fairy at my birth that I know of). And Ella suffers so much at the hands of Hattie that her little triumphs/defiances are also freeing for the reader. Having to do things we'd rather not is something all of us can relate to. I love, LOVE her solution to being captured by ogres and how Char can't stop laughing while he's offering his wedding congratulations to Ella's father and step-mother because her family catches them . . . well, if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should just read it.

Most of you probably have. Did you like ELLA ENCHANTED? And if you have read it, did you like the movie? I'm totally fine with people expressing opinions that differ from mine. If we all liked the same books and movies, the world would be a boring snoring place. I actually picked up the book this weekend because my nieces were watching the movie, and my nieces (and nephews) are some of my favorite people.


If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you: 

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!   


20 comments:

  1. I love the book (Gail has even signed my copy).

    When I watched the movie I was shocked. It wasn't even close to the story in the book. :(

    I did like the movie (and have watched the DVD a few times), but I don't consider it Ella Enchanted. Okay, maybe I liked the movie because of the cute prince. ;)

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  2. I LOVED ELLA ENCHANTED. The cutest book! Read it as a kid and now have decided I need to own it so I can eventually go back and enjoy it yet again!

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  3. Creeping out from a dark corner to admit I've never read this book. Will rectify immediately.

    *scurries off to order it from the library*

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  4. This has become one of my all time favorites. I discovered it several years ago and have retaped the cover and book binding several times. I can't wait ti share it with my girls.

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  5. OH yes. Ella Enchanted is, I think, a perfect book. I was just thinking about how perfect it is yesterday, how funny.

    I walked out of the movie raging and storming.

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  6. I LOVED Ella Enchanted. SO MUCH. The movie not so much--it was a bit too slapstick for me. But I did love the actors :D

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  7. I love fairy tale retellings and Ella Enchanted is one of my favorites. I haven't seen the movie, though I have to say, it's only on rare occasion that any movie comes close to the magic of the book.

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  8. This book is one that got me writing. I have loved it since I first read it years ago.

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  9. I LOVE this book. It's been one of my favorites for years. I enjoyed the movie too, even though it was very different.

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  10. Another big fan here; this is one of my favorite books to re-read. I was disappointed in the movie, it lost so much of the book's charm.

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  11. Elle Enchanted is a great book for girls. My daughter and I loved it. I cannot say the same for the movie. The movie changed too much of the plot for me. My daughter still loved it, so what do I know.

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  12. I saw the movie and did not like it at all. I'll have to read the book, because it sounds way better.

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  13. Ohmigoodness, I'm so glad you featured this--I LOVE Ella Enchanted. (And the cover you posted is my favorite cover for it.) It's one of the first books I ever bought. I remember picking it out when I was about ten years old and then reading it over and over and over... One of my friends liked it, too, and her cover actually fell off. Mine is still hanging on. (And I didn't like the movie, either.)

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  14. Believe it or not, I have not read this book, though I did hear GCL speak at the SCBWI conference (she was wonderful!). The weird thing is, we have a copy of this book in the house and my daughter, who is a super-avid reader, started it but didn't finish it! I was shocked. I guess it all goes back to how subjective "liking" a book truly is!

    I need to get the copy we own off the shelf and read it for myself. :)

    Amy

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  15. Glad I never watched the movie! The book is one of my all-time favorites. Great review, Myrna. Hope you enjoyed your week off.

    Thanks, as always, for the linkage.

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  16. I loved the book and the movie. I've read the book and seen the movie more than once. You're making me want to read it again.

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  17. Hi Myrna, I've seen the movie several times because we have the dvd. I thought it was great because I like Anne Hathaway. Often movies are a poor version of the book. I would love to read it.

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  18. I *LOVE* the book, and I was very disappointed by the movie — it was as if everything that made the book special had been removed.

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  19. I think I can truthfully say that this is the book that got me interested in learning how to read. I love that book. And I dislike the movie immensely.
    The only thing about the movie that I did like was how the bad guy, is the same guy who plays Westley in "The Princess Bride." He is one of my favorite actors.
    Gail Carson Levine is a very talented and very good author. I have never yet read a book by her that had anything in it I wouldn't recommend to people.

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