THE PRINCESS DIARIES
Meg Cabot
Harper Collins
Young Adult
ISBN: 0380814021
304 pages
As the hilariously funny tale called The Princess Diaries begins, Mia Thermopolis is just a regular high school freshman at Albert Einstein High School. Well, as regular as you can be when you live in a loft in downtown New York with your flighty artist Mom. And as regular as you can be when your best friend is Lilly, a punky and spunky militant who produces her own TV show.
As readers can guess from the title, this book takes the form of a diary, written by Mia. Over the span of a month, she relates her daily woes and embarrassments in heart breaking detail. As with most teenaged girls, Mia thinks she is hopeless, looks-wise. She’s tall — 5’9″ — and klutzy, and not so gifted in the chest department.
Then there is school. One of Mia’s biggest problems is the fact she is flunking Algebra and, to make matters worse, her Mom has begun dating her teacher. Gross.
In the boy department, the cutest one in school has the locker next to hers, but doesn’t even know Mia exists, even as his snooty girlfriend Lana, a popular cheerleader, torments her. And to top it off, Mia is developing some sort of weird crush on Michael, Lilly’s computer nerd brother.
Then one day, Mia finds out she is a princess. Okay, I know that doesn’t sound bad to most girls, but Mia hates the idea instantly. How does this fairy tale come true? Her father is ruler of the principality of Genovia and since Mia is his only child, she is next in line to the throne. Her dad sends in the big guns to convince Mia that being a princess is what she is meant to do: her formidable grandmother comes to New York to give Mia “Princess Lessons”. And as the word spreads around Albert Einstein High School that Mia is royalty, her life just gets more crazy.
The ending of The Princess Diaries is a twisty one and will leave you joining for more stories of Mia and the rest of her friends.
Reviewed by Jennifer Abbots
Taken from www.teenreads.com
