Princess Academy
by Shannon Hale
Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books
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Reviewed by Andrea Sisco
Miri and her family live high on top of Mount Eskel. They and the other villagers make their living working in the quarry where they remove the linder stone. The valuable stone (the villagers don't know how valuable) is traded for supplies.
Miri has never been allowed to work in the quarry, and she longs to do so. She's filled with guilt, because she believes she's not big enough or strong enough to help her family. This is a young girl with some big self-worth issues.
Word arrives from the lowlands that a wife is to be chosen for Prince Steffan. And the girl chosen to be princess will come from Mount Eskel. Before Prince Steffan chooses his bride, all the eligible village girls must attend the 'academy' to prepare for life as a princess.
Twenty girls, including Miri, attend the academy where the headmistress is beyond strict, the competition is fierce and the cold winter isolates them all from their loved ones. Miri learns the secret of the linder that will help her village, challenges the headmistress' authority, and faces danger head on with only her courage, new knowledge and her ability to quarry-speak.
I love good middle reader and young adult novels. Not the 'tweener' books that seem so popular today, but good solid novels with purpose, moral values and a grand story. Princess Academy is all that and more. It is a gem within a genre of mediocrity. It is simply stunning. The plot is fast paced, unique, and the characters are so vivid they jump off the page.
The Princess Academy is a message of family, loyalty and what can be if you're determined to learn and succeed. And even if you're 'just' a young teen-age girl.
Armchair Interviews says: A quality novel that adults and children will love. It will make you yearn for more of Mount Eskel, Miri and her friends and family. Check out Hale's other novels, The Goose Girl and Enna Burning.
Author's Web site: http://www.ShannonHale.com