The Princess Academy

The Princess Academy


By: Shannon Hale
Reviewer: Thing 2, 13
Rating: Loved it!


Miri,a fourteen-year-old girl from Mt. Eskel, has never been allowed to work with the rest of the villagers in the quarry that keeps the community alive. She hates feeling cut off from everyone and being useless. As if that wasn't bad enough the quarry can barely cut enough linder to feed the villagers, making her feel even more useless. In spite of her feelings of isolation, she has a very close friendship with a cute, popular boy named Peder.

Almost at of thin air a messenger from the king arrives along with the usual traders from the lowlands. The messenger announces that the nation's priests have informed the nation that, despite the lack of education the villagers have had and all the prejudice between the mountain villagers and the lowlanders, the crown prince's future bride will come from Mt. Eskel. A "princess academy" is built near the village to train all the girls to become princess material.Every girl between twelve and seventeen must attend. At the end of the year, the prince will visit the academy and choose the girl to be the next princess.

Miri and the other girls attend the academy, and although they struggle to earn the respect of their strict teacher, Tutor Olana, Miri excels at learning and commerce. All the girls are eager to please the prince and win a comfortable life for themselves and their families, and Miri's new knowledge of commerce helps the village prosper in trading with the lowlanders. After a disagreement, the girls use their knowledge of diplomacy to get a more bearable living arrangement with Tutor Olana, including weekly visits home. They finally earn the respect of their teacher and become more comfortable in the academy. Miri also starts to figure out how quarry-speech, a form of unspoken communication used only in the quarry, works and makes friends with some of the other girls, including Britta, a lowlander.

When the prince finally arrives, Miri is crowned academy princess and she gets to have the first dance with him. Although she is uncertain if she reallly wants to marry the prince, since she thinks she still likes her childhood friend Peder. At the academy ball, the prince dances with every girl except Britta, who is sick.But the prince "does a very good impression of a stone statue making Miri even more uncertain. But later in the evening he takes a walk with Miri and shows a more human side. However, he leaves without choosing a bride. So the girls are forced to spend another winter locked up in the academy. But soon trouble strikes and its up to Miri and her newfound talent in quarry-speech to save them.