Princess Academy

By Shannon Hale

High on the slopes of Mount Eskel, Miri's family has lived forever, pounding a meager living from the stone of the mountain itself. Miri dreams of working alongside the others in the quarry, but she has never been allowed to work there- perhaps, she thinks, because she is so small.

Then words comes from the lowlands: the king's priests have divined that the prince's bride-to-be - the next princess- will come from Mount Eskel. The prince himself will travel to the village to choose his bride, but first all the eligible girls must attend a makeshift academy to prepare for royal lowlander life.

At the school, Miri finds herself confronting both bitter competition among the girls and her own conflicted desires to be chosen. Yet when danger comes to the academy, it is Miri, named for a tiny mountain flower, who must find a way to save her classmates- and the chance for the future that each of them is eager to secure as her own.

After picking up this book to read, I didn't set it down again until it was finished. There was never a dull spot to get through and I was left guessing until the end. I enjoyed it immensely. It's not what I was expecting, to be sure, when I started reading it. I expected this silly little fairy-tale that would be quite mushy and full of happily-ever-afters. Boy was I surprised! It was delightful and exciting. I was cheering for Miri the whole way, telling her "No, don't do that!" and "Good one!" as she went. Shannon creates a whole new, believable culture and world set on a mountain side. It was enchanting and left me with a comfortable warmth in my heart as I turnned to the last page. It's a great one for girls especially.

Fun facts: Princess Academy won the Newberry Honor medal for children's literature. Shannon has also written The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, Forest Born, Book of a Thousand Days, and Austenland. She's a wicked-awesome author!