Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

This month I read a mid-grade novel that was made into a movie. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine is a fantastical story based on the Cinderella story. The book garnered a nomination for the Newbery Award in 1998. It didn’t win, but I bet it was a close second. The story is clever and witty and digs deep into the classic Cinderella story, answering the question: why did Cinderella obey her step-mother and step-sisters.

The day Ella was born, a fairy named Lucinda gave her the gift of obedience. Lucinda did not intend for the gift to be a curse, but it was. Ella had no choice but to obey any command given to her. “Stop crying.” “Go to bed.” “Hop on one foot.”

After Ella’s mother dies, her father sends her to finishing school, where Ella is tormented by her future step-sisters. Ella embarks on a quest to find Lucinda and break the curse. In the end, she finds out that she had the power to break the curse all along. She just needed love, a power greater than the curse.

I recommend this book to 4^th graders and fairy tale lovers of all ages.

List of Recommended Books by Grade:

Picture books

Alphabet Puke—Monsters’ Medicine A-Z by Quinn Cole

2^nd grade –

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Miss Holly Is Too Jolly, by Dan Gutman

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Time Warp Trio #1: Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka

Time Warp Trio #2: The Not-So-Jolly Roger by Jon Scieszka

3^rd grade –

Who Is J.K. Rowling? By Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

4^th grade –

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

The Book of Think (Or How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size) by Marilyn Burns

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

The Golly Whopper Games by Jody Feldman

5^th grade –

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Benjamin Pratt & The Keeper of the School by Andrew Clements

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

6^th grade –

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

Dewey, by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

7^th grade and up –

Holes by Louis Sachar

The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byers

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Pendragon Book One: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Seventeen Second Miracle, by Jason F. Wright