Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

When a royal messenger unexpectedly arrives in fourteen-year-old Miri’s isolated mountain village and announces that the nation’s crown prince will marry one of the village girls, a “princess academy” is established outside the village to train every possible future princess—even though the mountain peopleare frequently thought of as uneducated and generally not as cultured as “lowlanders.” Attendance is mandatory for all girls of marrying age and at the end of the year, the prince himself will come to the academy to choose his wife.

For Miri, a delicate girl who has never been permitted to work in the stone quarry that provides the town with its yearly income, this is a chance make her father proud. At the academy, Miri makes new friends and together, the girls weather the hardships of prejudice and feelings of isolation.

Give me a book by Shannon Hale and I’ll devour it cover to cover. As expected, I really enjoyed this story. While you will not find as many magical or fantastic elements in Princess Academy the story is engaging and the reader will easily find herself empathizing with Miri and her classmates.

I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy a strong female lead or stories about oppressed peoples gaining respect in society. Though Princess Academy is based in a rugged, cold mountain setting, Hale has created a world that left me wanting to discover more about the cultures and people she has imagined.

Princess Academy has earned several awards including a 2006 Newberry Honor Award.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Miri lives with her father and sister on Mount Eskel. Their small village has been mining the mountain quarries for generations, cutting blocks of precious, marbled linden. Miri, who is small for her age, has never been allowed to work and she feels useless in her community. One year, a delegate from the king announces that the priests have divined that their small town is the place where the prince heir's bride lives. All girls of the proper age are required to attend the princess academy where they will learn enough to make them 'fit' to marry the prince. At the end of a year, he will come to a ball at the academy and choose one of them. Miri's life is turned upside down, but she realizes, as she starts to do well in her lessons, that she might finally be good at something - and she starts to learn more about her heritage as well. But her lessons will all be more important than she thinks: when danger threatens, all of her skills will be put to the test.

I really enjoyed this book. The community where Miri lives has an oral tradition expressed in music - the language and story help to reproduce the lyricism for readers which adds to the feel throughout the book. The story itself is also rather unique and interesting, and the characters are realistic. Based on the characters, it might be more appealing to girls, but overall, I would recommend this book to fantasy fans.

• If this book sounds interesting, consider these: Annals of the Western Shore, Princess Nevermore, or East