Rating: 1.1.1
Recommende audience: 8 and up
Category: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy, YA Fiction
Review: 4/5 stars 
I listened to the audio version of this book and I kind of wish that I hadn't. The narrator read in a little girl voice that distracted me. I'm sure it was intended to be listened to by children and the voice may have been appealing to children, but it wasn't to me. That being said, I thought it was a good book with a wonderful story. As I had been told, it is quite a bit different than the movie and I enjoyed both as separate, though similar stories. In the story, Ella is given a "gift" as a newborn by the completely clueless fairy, Lucinda. Lucinda gives her the gift of obedience so whatever Ella is told to do, she must obey. This turns out to be a curse rather than a gift as evidenced by the many difficult situations Ella finds herself in. Despite this curse and maybe because of it, Ella is a strong-willed,
independent character who just wants to be able to do what she wants to do, instead of others dictating to her. I recommend this
Newbery Honor book but I would suggest reading it rather than listening to it.
4 comments:
I think a narration for a younger audience would probably irk me as well. As soon as I read this one I rented the video which of course was very silly and nothing like the book. But I liked them both.
The narrator can definitely influence my liking of a book, good or bad. I think even children don't appreciate being talked down to! I have always wanted to read this one--we just rewatched the movie a couple of nights ago. It definitely has a good message about the importance of the freedom to choose for ourselves.
I enjoyed this book very much. I was glad that I read it before we watched the movie. Ms. Levine has written some other very good books. Fairest would be my favorite. However, I would be cautious allowing a pre-teen to read Ever. As a parent, I would read it first.
N. Brown in Arkansas
N. Brown, thanks for the information on Ever. It's always good to have that kind of information. Lots of times we automatically think that if an author has written a couple of books that are appropriate for a certain age group, then all of their similar books will also be appropriate.
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