It turns out that Princess Academy has a lot to do with modern life, especially for readers who are still in school.

What could that possibly have to do with our lives in the modern world? So we're looking at a book about girls vying to become princesses in some nonexistent land. What is Princess Academy About and Why Should I Care? Miri undergoes a personal journey and comes out of it realizing who and what is important in her life-and you can't buy that kind of knowledge with all the jewels in the kingdom. This is a book about learning about yourself and your place in the world.

They also come to realize that their lives don't have to be limited to what they've always done Miri, for her part, discovers that she's good at teaching and would like to make it her life's work. They're able to renegotiate with the traders for more supplies, create terms and conditions for their own education, and gain the respect of lowlanders and other adults. With their newfound knowledge, the girls are able to make important changes. Princess Academy shouts from the rooftops that knowledge is power. Miri finds herself enamored with books rather than becoming a princess, and even Katar-who desperately wants to be chosen-wants to live in the lowlands and see the world more than she wants to be married.

The girls attending the academy are interested in learning and getting out of Mount Eskel more than marrying the prince, and once Tutor Olana starts teaching them new subjects, their minds expand and they discover hidden talents. The book isn't just about bowing and curtsying demurely, though, and the message here is definitely more girl power than it is marry well. When it's announced that the new princess will be selected from Mount Eskel, all eligible girls-including Miri-are sent off to a remote academy and trained to become proper, ladylike potential princesses. The main character is a spunky fourteen-year-old named Miri, who is small for her age and not allowed to work in the quarries with everyone else, much to her dismay. Princess Academy takes place on Mount Eskel, a territory of Danland where the villagers harvest a precious stone called linder in the quarries.

Shannon Hale's book, Princess Academy, may sound like it's just another Princess Diaries knock-off.

Princess academy book series