Hale, S. (2005). Princess
academy. New York, NY: Scholastic.
I was
really excited to finally read Princess
Academy. I ordered a set of six of
these from Scholastic a few years ago because they were on sale and I love
fantasy books, but had not gotten a chance to read it until now. Once I started reading it, I realized this is
very different from the other fantasy books I’ve read, but I still could not
put it down.
Princess Academy is a novel about a
group of girls who live in Mount Eskel in the mythical country of Danland. The prince of Danland is destined to marry
someone from Mount Eskel, so all girls of eligible age attend a princess
academy for a year to learn how to be a princess. They learn to read, and learn about history,
negotiation, poise, dancing, and commerce.
Miri is the main character and she focuses really hard on her
studies. Through reading a commerce
book, she learns that the traders who come four times a year have been cheating
her village. She learns that one block
of linder (really fancy rock that only her village knows how to mine) is worth
more than they were ever given before.
With this knowledge she helps her village get a fair price for the hard
work they do. When the prince finally
comes to the academy for the ball, he is cold and distant. He is nothing like what Miri pictured, and it
makes her think about Peder, a boy in the village whom she really likes. The prince leaves without choosing his
princess, and the girls are made to stay at the academy another winter. During the winter, a group of bandits come to
kidnap the chosen princess and hold her for ransom. Since no princess had been chosen, all the
girls pretend to be the princess and the bandits hold them all hostage. I won’t share anything else, so you’ll have
to read the ending for yourself.
As stated
earlier, this is unlike other fantasy books I have read. There are no mythical creatures like centaurs
or fauns, there are no talking animals, there are no spells or curses. It could almost be a historical fiction
novel, if it were to take place in an actual country with princes and
princesses, instead of the imaginary country of Danland. The setting of this story is integral to the
story. It takes place on Mount Eskel,
and the village is moved from quarry to quarry as they mine linder. Miri is in charge of the goats that her
family raises; the same goats sleep in the house with them, too. The weather on Mount Eskel makes travel
impossible during storms and if you get too near the edge of the mountain you
could fall off. All of this is important
to remember when the bandits come.
One thing
that makes this a fantasy story is something called “quarry-speech”. This is a telepathy-like language that the
villagers can speak to each other in the quarry. Miri slowly tries to quarry-speak, learning
how to speak through memories and then to send actual messages through her
thoughts. Miri learns that the villagers
of Mount Eskel have linder in their blood and it is through linder that they
are able to quarry-speak. Toward the end
of the novel, Miri is able to quarry-speak to Peder, who is miles away. Their close bond they’ve formed helps out all
the academy girls when they are in need.
This
novel has foreshadowing in it. In the
beginning of the novel, the villagers share a story of when a group of bandits
came to the village a lifetime ago. They
were scared away when they saw that all the people in the village (due to years
in the linder mines) where bigger and stronger than them. The villagers have not have a problem with
bandits since. Toward the end of the
novel, bandits did come to the princess academy. The foreshadowing at the beginning was very
clear when the bandits appeared toward the end of the novel.
A theme
that runs through this story is of love.
Miri has deep love for her family and for the place where she is
from. Miri has an inner struggle (self
v. self conflict) between wanting to become a princess and see the rest of her
country and the desire to stay with her family and friends in the place she
loves dearly. A theme of family and
unity also goes along with the theme of love.
The villages band together when their daughters are in trouble. In the linder mines, everyone works together
to get the blocks out of the quarry safely.
The villages come together every spring for a big celebration. While reading this novel you get a real sense
of love, family, and unity.
BIG
QUESTIONS: If you were in the princess academy and chosen to marry the prince,
would you leave your hometown and become a princess, or would you stay with
your family? What memories would you share
through quarry-speech? Is there anything
that you felt you couldn’t do that everyone around you seemed to excel in, like
Miri feels when she isn’t allowed to work in the quarry?
I really
enjoyed reading this book and being put into Miri’s world. I am looking forward to using this book with
some of my girls next year. I think they
would really like it, too.
*Note: When I went to get a cover shot of the book, I read on Shannon Hale's website that a sequel will be published in August, 2012! :)
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