Ella
Enchanted
by Gail Levine
Ella
Enchanted
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HarperCollin Publishers 1997 |
Notable Children's Book of 1998 (ALA) 1998 Best Book for Young Adults (ALA) 1998 Quick Picks for Young Adults (ALA) Best Book of 1997 (School Library Journal) 1997 Best Books (Publishers Weekly) 1997 Children's Book (NY Public Library) |
Webpage Compiled By:
Amy McGlinchey
Terry Davis
Carrie Rauer
Janine Edwards
Kristin Knode
The 1998 Newberry Honor Book, Ella Enchanted by Gail Levine is the entertaining story of a girl named Ella who receives an unfortunate gift of obedience from a fairy. Ella comes to grips with her gift and realizes that it is basically a curse. She is unable to be herself as she is forced to follow any order given to her. Throughout the story, Ella deals with characters such as her stepsister Hattie, who finds out her secret and uses it to her advantage, hungry ogres, and foolish fairies. She goes through all of these elements to get to her true quest which is to find the fairy Lucinda and have her remove the curse once and for all. "Ella Enchanted" resembles the famous story of "Cinderella". The end of the story is almost exactly the same as "Cinderella" with Ella trying to convince the Prince that she is the woman he loves. Ella magically goes to the Prince's ball and the similarities are finalized when the slipper perfectly fits Ella's foot. This book would be appropriate for fourth grade and up. It could lead to many class activities such as reading the book aloud to the class, having the students read it independently, journal entries, and class discussions.
Gail Levine:
Ella Enchanted is Gail Levine's first book written for children although she has published many other books . Growing up in New York, theatre and painting were her first loves. She never had an interest in writing until she began working on an art appreciation book, which was never published. At this time she realized she enjoyed writing and she lost interest in illustrations.
She began writing Ella Enchanted during a writing class. She could not think of a plot so she decided to use the plot of Cinderella. But according to Gail Levine, "I thought about Cinderella's character, I knew she was too much of a goody two shoes, and I would hate her before finishing ten pages". She then thought of the idea of a curse that made Ella obedient despite her rebellious nature.
Gail Levine now lives in a two hundred year old farmhouse with her husband David. She has recently written two books, The Fairy's Mistake and The Princess Test. These two fractured fairy tales will be out in Spring.
These activities are general guidelines to use in conjunction with this book. Please adjust them according to the grade level and ability of your students.
WRITING:
-Read various fairy tales
and discuss them. Have students create their own fairy tale using
different characters.
-Alliteration- create a short
story alliteration or an alliteration alphabet.
-Compare and contrast Ella
Enchanted to other Cinderella-type fairy tales.
-Write a letter to Ella offering
her some advice on how to cope with her "gift".
SOCIAL STUDIES:
-Follow the history of fairy
tales and discuss. Perhaps using a time line.
-Read fairy and folk tales
from around the world and learn more about the country in the story.
-Study the Medieval Period
which is the time period of this book.
ART:
-Develop a creative, aesthetically
pleasing project that depicts a scene from the story.
EXTENSIONS:
-Read some Cinderella variations
and compare the themes.
-Create a concept map or
chart to display how themes are similar.
In the book Ella Enchanted, there is a strong connection to Cinderella. Students will use the Internet and go to this page http://www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/cinderella/inventory.html . On this web page there are a selection of different Cinderella stories. Students are to pick two stories from the list to read. After reading the stories, students will compare and contrast the differences and similarities between the two Cinderella stories and the version of Cinderella in Ella Enchanted. Students will represent their findings on a poster board.
