Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine

I was a little ashamed when I picked up this book - anticipating something cheesy and popularized. The quote from Sharon Creech on the back of the book bolstered my faith a little. I started reading and was completely engrossed. I didn't even realize it was a fairytale of Cinderella until the second chapter. The characters are so aptly named, names I've always disliked for evil characters and ones that sound beautiful for the good. There is just the right mixture of romance, adventure, and plot twists. The castle/glass slipper scene makes me sigh. I love Ella, I love Mandy, and Ella's self-conflicts are just right for a teenage novel. Ella is your classic natural-witty-human-princess (Princess Diana-ish) heroine. I wasn't too satisfied with the description of how Ella overcame her curse. All in all it's a lovely little story.

Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird

Jeremy Talbot is an amazingly sensitive and perceptive sixth-grade boys. I'm not sure why they seem to exist in fiction and rarely in real life.

Jean Little's tone is very different from C. S. Lewis - of course. But it's another very well written book! This one plunges right into sadness and never truly lifts from it... the ending is almost too altruistic.

But Jeremy's relationship with his sister is a very convincing one for a boy of his age. The Talbot family's relationships are very well rendered. Tess 'the outsider' is stereotypical of the ... Newberry award fiction of the 90s. seriously! I appreciated the reference to Gilly Hopkins. I didn't know Mockingbird was published after that.

And I have no idea why it's entitled "Mockingbird."

The Horse and His Boy, C. S. Lewis

I like this story - it's very well told. C. S. Lewis's writing isn't lyrical, but very narrative - I think it's best read aloud. Shasta and Aravis (and Bree and Hwin) are lovable creatures who change and grow within a story. Lewis conveys Christianity very well - Shasta's moment in the mountains, with the voice of the lion is a powerful scene. And the way Aslan talks - never does he really speak in a Biblical way, but the reverence and awe is achieved nonetheless. I wonder what Aravis's father ever did about her. The invovlement of Lucy et. co. was very satisfactory - neither too much nor too little. and I wonder if all children become royalty in the Narnia books.