Princess+Academy+Reviewed+by+Eden

//__Princess Academy__// by Shannon Hale Reviewed by Eden Submitted: Sept 28 2011 //__Princess Academy__// was written by Shannon Hale. My favorite character is Miri, which means mountain flower, because she is so courageous and nice. I want to make one thing quite clear. This is not a girly book. Sure, it has some slight romance, but doesn't every book have a bit? This is not an action book either. Nobody gets really hurt, and almost nobody dies. Now, here is the story. Miri is a girl of fourteen, quite small and skinny, and she lives on the mountain. She lives in a small house with her Pa and sister Marda. Her mother died a week after Miri was born. The small town trades with the traders. The only thing they have to trade is their beautiful linder. Linder does not get very much food, so every day Pa and Marda go to the quarry to get linder and Miri has to stay home and tend the goats because she is not strong enough. Sometimes Peder comes and helpes her. One day there is a bugle that summons everyone, mountain people and lowlanders, to a place. The traders are there, and also a man wearing a hat with a long yellow feather in it. He says that the prince will choose his bride here. There is a big hubbub. He also says that all girls from ages 12 to 18 must go to a Princess Academy to learn how to be a proper princess. After a year there will be a ball and the prince will come and look around and dance and choose someone to be his bride. Many people do not trust him. The next day two soldiers come to take Miri to the Princess Academy. Marda cannot go because she is to old. Miri does not want to go either, but she must, or else Pa will be put in jail. So Miri goes along with 19 other girls. Some are mountain girls and some are lowlanders. Miri detests lowlanders. When they finally get to the Academy, Tutor Olana teaches them rules. If you are bad you are sent to the closet. If you speak without raising your hand or you interrupt Tutor Olana, you get smacked on your hands. Tutor Olana explains that the girl who does best at the end of the year will get to wear this silver dress. They will be called the Academy Princess. She also shows a picture of a magnificent house with flowers all around it. That will be the house in which the princess's family will stay, says Olana. Miri looks at it and thinks that if she is the princess, her family would never be cold, or hungry, or sad. But does Miri want to be the princess and marry some unknown prince? If she does she will be rich. Or does she want to stay here with her friends Esa and Britta and Peder? home  cobra page turners