Mar. 31-Apr. 13
Looking for a page-turner while you’re stuck inside? Our Driftwood Books Editor Emily Burns will be passing on some of her favorite light reading picks to pass the time while cooped up at home.
Ella Enchanted
by Gail Carson Levine
During this quarantine, many of us are looking for distractions from our new (and often dull) life of four walls and a door that rarely opens. If you’re one of the many people seeking new ways to experience life from your own home, it may be time for you to open some Ye Olde Books.
I would like to recommend one of my favorite books: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. Many of us know the tale of a young woman cursed from birth by the “gift” of obedience from the movie starring Anne Hathaway, but the book is much better. According to the back cover, Ella is “magically compelled to instantly obey any command she’s given,” by anyone. The story follows her fairytale life through her highs and lows, and ultimately ends when Ella overcomes her curse not only for the love of her prince, but the love of her community. While this may seem like a children’s book at first glance, some application of critical thinking will reveal just how much this book emulates societal norms today. We don’t have fairies or gnomes, centaurs or living books, ogres or royalty sweeping us off our feet (at least, not all of us), but we do often feel the cage that society has placed around us. Oftentimes, we’re told to conform or be cast out. Ella Enchanted gives a sense of hope for the caged, and I endeavor to share that hope with you from the moment you open this first cover down to the final pages.
If you don’t own a copy of Ella Enchanted but would like to give it a try, you can either purchase it from your favorite online bookstore, or check out the e-book from your local public library. (Get it through the Marinette County Public Library system by searching for the e-book version at infosoup.org.) Good luck in quarantine, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
—Emily Burns, Books Editor