8. Just Ella

Title: Just Ella
Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright Date: 1999
Number of Pages: 185
Reading Level: 12+
Genre: Fantasy, Fairytale Retold

Summary
A girl named Ella decides to take her destiny into her own hands and goes to a ball against her stepmother’s wishes and meets the prince. Basically your classic Cinderella story until Ella is at the castle during the engagement. Everything seems to be going well until she realizes that the prince is only marrying her because of her beauty. The other reason for being unhappy is that she never sees the light of day, can’t speak the way she wants and only has two friends Jed and Mary who she can talk to. Ella tries to break off the engagement with prince Charm but finds that its harder than she thought to break anything off with a Charming. Suddenly Ella finds herself in the dungeon digging her way out through her toilet. She walks to where her friend Jed is helping war refugees. He takes her in and they run the camp together. Ella realizes that she was only marrying the prince not out of love but to spite the StepEvils. She decides to find out what love really is before she marries Jed.

Recommendation
I would recommend this to a girl who likes fairytales but doesn’t mind them being told differently.

Problems/Conflict
I can see that this book could easily be taken for a young adult book because of a few questionable parts about relationships between men and women. I still believe it’s a children’s book though.

My Reaction
This is Cinderella told in a more realistic light. I am grateful for a non-fanciful version to a common fairytale. It shows that a girl can choose her future, that she can have a brain and make decisions.