A fascinating new book from Levine, inspired by the Biblical story of Jephthah, who must sacrifice his own daughter to fulfill a vow made in haste.  Kezi and Olus have fallen in love.  But Olus isn’t just a good-looking guy–he’s the Akkan god of the wind, while Kezi is a mere mortal.  To further complicate things, Kezi only has 30 days to live.  Together, Kezi and Olus set out to change fate and find a way for their true love to last forever.  Levine has created an interesting world of gods and mortals.  Most young readers will take this book at face value–the simple struggle of 2 people trying to make true love last forever.  More discerning readers will find much to discuss in Levine’s worldview–fate, gods and mortals, and the existence (or non-existence) and character of one god over everything.

I absolutely loved Levine’s Ella Enchanted (before Miramax made it into a cheesy movie, that is.) Fairest is another clever re-telling of a fairy tale (Snow White), but it doesn’t have the magic of Ella.

A Cinderella tale with a boy as Cinderellis. Part of the Princess Tales series. This is a quick read, appealing more to younger readers. I read it out loud to my first and second graders and they really enjoyed it.

Good story, but not as good as Ella Enchanted. Princess Addie is the main character. She is very fearful of everything. he goes on a journey to find a cure for an illness-Gray Death-from which her sister is suffering.

This was a great book–one of my favorites! A Cinderella story in which Ella has an enchantment placed on her at birth. She must always be obedient to everyone. She finally breaks the enchantment herself, and is able to marry her prince of her own free will.

I read this book several years before the movie version of the book came out. My advice: read the book and skip the movie.