Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Audience: 9 and up

Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Mira’s small mining town is turned upside down when a delegate from the king arrives and announces that the prince must choose his princess from among the girls in the village. To prepare the mountain girls for their possible future responsibilities as princess, a ‘princess academy’ is opened. At the academy the girls are taught poise, diplomacy, reading; but the most important lessons don’t come from the text. As the girls are pushed to achieve, they develop a new sense of who they are, where they come from, and what they want out of life.

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! ) I’ll admit, with a name like Princess Academy, I thought that this was going to be a fluffy, light story. This is surprisingly and luckily not the case at all. I found myself thoroughly wrapped up in Mira’s story. Life on Mount Eskel is vividly described and I can imagine the hardships that go along with working in the mine (or in Mira’s case, not being allowed to work in the mine).

The relationships between Mira and the other girls are realistic as well. The petty squabbles, jealousies, and emotions they share as they compete for the Prince’s attention are genuine. I understood why Katar seemed so standoffish and why Liana was so self-assured. (Who doesn’t know a Liana?!) Most importantly, the author makes it really clear why Mira feels so useless when she isn’t allowed to work in the mine and so freed once she learns the truth about why the mine is forbidden to her.

The best part of the story was the author’s ability to paint the characters into disasters or situations that seemed inescapable, then find a unique way to solve the dilemma. The story was well woven so that bits within the story re-occurred. For instance, the story Mira told Britta about Peder’s “winter-bath” was repeated when she quarry-spoke to him to escape the bandits.

Questions:

What do you think is the most important skill taught at the princess academy?

Was it right for Britta’s family to lie in order to get her into the princess academy?

What do you think will become of Peder and Mira? Will they stay on Mount Eskel?

Keep reading!

-Paige

Buy Princess Academy from Amazon