Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale, is about a Miri, a girl who lives in the on a mountain and whose only dream is to work in a mine with the rest of her village. But for an unknown reason, her father won’t let her. Then news arrives at the village that the new princess will be found on the mountain and that all the girls from twelve to seventeen must go to a kind of school to learn how to become a princess for the upcoming ball where the prince will choose one of the girls to become the next princess.
I loved this book! I probably like it a lot more than I would have if I hadn’t read After a few hours before I read this. I really like stories with a kind of medieval school setting, like Hogwarts and the school in the Protector of the Small series, and this one was kind of like those, minus the moving stairs and secret passageways like the ones in Hogwarts. One of the great things about this book is that it’s funny. I love books with at least a little humor in them. I really liked how Miri reacted to different situations (like finding a rat trying to nest in her hair), and went through the different choices put to her. She felt like a real girl growing up and having very real feelings.
The Come and Go Room 