Book: The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

[Erudite]

Book: The Princess Academy
Author: Shannon Hale
Genre: Adolescent literature, fantasy
Suitable for: girls over age 8

My daughter (10) is reading this book for school and I picked up last night and couldn't put it down again until I finished it around midnight. Just as I was about to turn off the light, it got absolutely exciting!!

Miri, a girl who lives in the mountains with her stone quarry father and sister, is required to go to the Princess Academy, because the priests of the creator god have decreed that the bride of the Prince will come from her town. All the girls between ages 12-17 from Mount Eskel are required to go. Miri has only ever wanted to be of some help in the quarry, but due to her tiny size is not allowed to work there. However, she often tends her goats near the quarry and has heard the quarry workeers communicate through song about the rocks they are cutting.

In the princess academy, she and the other girls learn to read, dance, talk, walk, etc. Reading opens up her world for her and she begins to realize how much bigger life is. However, she is torn between her love of the mountain, her growing awareness of quarry-speech, and her desire to be a princess and be able to give her struggling family all the "good things" of life. She also is interested in a young man, Peder, in her village and develops a more than friends bond with him. With that bond, she is able to learn to use the quarry-speech in a miraculous (chills up the spine, NEAT) way.

I don't want to give away the story, but I was enthralled by it. I'm getting the book for my own library and will order The Goose Girl by the same author as well. Dia recommended it once and having read The Princess Academy I can see why! The Princess Academy is a Newberry Honor book that I can HIGHLY recommend to all. However, it is about girls wanting to become princesses so I can't see that boys would love it quite as much.

[natickgirl]

My daughter (9) read it last year & loved it, too. I haven't read it, but maybe I should.

[Dia Minha]

I didn't realize Shannon Hale had another book out. I am so putting this one on my list.

[Erudite]

Dia, I got on Amazon to buy these two and found she had like 4 or 5 books. I ordered a third one because it sounded good. I probably will end up getting more of them.

[Dia Minha]

I've only been looking in the Salt Lake Library System, so maybe they just don't have them. She is an amazing author. She graduated from BYU, so I assume she is LDS. I'm not positive though.

[Dia Minha]

Well, it looks like the library does have several of them now. I must not have looked hard enough before. Either that or I was so wrapped up in "The Goose Girl" I just didn't notice anything else. I'm going to put "The Princess Academy" on hold right now.