PRINCESS ACADEMY review

Virginia Caldwell
Book Review Genre 6
TWU assignment
LS 5603 – 20


PRINCESS ACADEMY

Bibliographic Data:
Hale, Shannon. 2005. PRINCESS ACADEMY. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 1582349932

Plot Summary:
Miri is a fourteen-year-old girl living in the poor mountain town on Mount Eskel. One day, a representative of the King comes to announce that the new princess must be a girl from this area. All of the girls of the right age are rounded up and sent to the newly formed “Princess Academy” to learn all of the things a candidate for princess should know before meeting the Prince, who will choose one girl to be the Princess.

Analysis:
Miri has never felt useful in her mining hometown because she is never allowed to work in the mines, like most of the other residents. She aches to prove herself useful in some way, and feels like an outsider in a community where everyone works hard to survive, mostly by mining linder, the only product Mount Eskel exports.

The entire town is surprised when a representative of the King tells the townspeople that the next princess of the land will come from Mount Eskel, and that all girls who are the correct age must leave home to attend a “Princess Academy.”

After some initial resistance from the parents, the girls are sent three hours away to a large building that will serve as the school. The impoverished girls meet the teacher, Olana, who is cruel. She insults the girls and delivers extreme punishment for small rule infractions.

At this point, Miri begins to emerge as a leader, who is unhappy with the treatment of the girls. She gains the courage to stand up to the teacher, but is initially only rewarded with distain from the other students.

Despite the homesickness and pain of isolation, Miri begins to discover that she is intellectually bright. She is the first of the group of twenty girls to effectively read a passage in class. Miri decides that she likes learning, even if she has little desire to leave her home to become a princess.

During the course of THE PRINCESS ACADEMY, Miri learns a great deal about herself. She finds out that she is strong, honest, hardworking, intelligent, and worthy of love. Miri also finds the sense of belonging to her community that has evaded her since she can remember. One thing that gives Miri her first hint that she indeed does belong, is that she finds that she can use a special communication. This “quarry speech” is what the mineworkers of the town use when they are mining because they cannot communicate any other way due to the noise and conditions. Miri find out that she can use and hear “quarry speech.”

After finding this out, Miri wants to communicate with the other girls at the academy; she wants to tell them that they can all run home.

“She did not know if it was possible to say something so specific; she had never
tried. But if quarry speech used memories, could she convey more than just
quarry warnings? Could she tell everyone to run?”…

“Rabbits run!”
and all the children stood and ran.
“Miri seized this memory and sang it with
her thoughts, down into the beating of her boot, down into the linder.”
(117-199)

Due to her fairness and concern for others, Miri becomes the most popular girl at the academy. Miri does not get caught up by the fierce competition between the girls to be a princess. Her focus remains on the welfare of every person, and she teaches others many important lessons about life. Miri begins to find her calling in life.

Hale is masterful in keeping THE PRINCESS ACADEMY exciting by having two climactic events in the novel, and a interesting, satisfying ending. This novel is proof that fairy tales may exist, but are not always exactly what we all expect of them, which is refreshing.



Review Excerpts
BookList, 06/01/2005
“Hale nicely interweaves feminist sensibilities in this quest-for-a-prince-charming, historical-fantasy tale. Strong suspense and plot drive the action as the girls outwit would-be kidnappers and explore the boundaries of leadership, competition, and friendship.” -- Anne O'Malley. Booklist, published by the American Library Association.

Publishers Weekly 08/08/2005
“Through education—and the realization that she has the common mountain power to communicate wordlessly via magical "quarry-speech"—Miri and the girls eventually gain confidence and knowledge that helps transform their village.” Ages 9-up. (July) Publishers Weekly, A Reed Business Information Publication

Connections:

Other books with similar themes
ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine, THE GOOSE GIRL by Shannon Hale, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Paterson.