The Princess Academy

The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is about Miri and 20 other girls aged 12 to 18. They come from Mount Eskel to attend an academy for a year to learn proper etiquette. In the academy they learn skills to impress the prince so they can marry him.


When you see the cover of the Princess Academy, you think: pink, fluffy,and timid. These girls are the opposite. They are tough and intelligent. These girls are confident because they will fight for their rights. In the book they had to be separated from their families for a full year. They all banded together against their tutor Olana, and used their knowledge to defend their rights to see their families once a month when the traders came. Another example that showed how they stand up for themselves, is getting their tutor to stop abusing them if they spoke out of turn of misbehaved.  Miri had accidentially spoken out of turn, and was locked up in a closet with a rat for hours too long to count. They all stood up to Olana their tutor and never gave up until Olana promised never to do it again.          


These girls are not only mentally robust, but physically too. They are very intelligent because when they came to the academy all they knew was quarry work. By the end of the year, they learned every subject and proper manners too. When the hostages came, they wanted to know who the princess was so they could kill her. All the girls acted like they were her without communicating with each other in order to confuse the hostages.                
                                                                                                                                             I think this story shows that you should never judge a book by it's cover. Even though the book cover may look or sound interesting or boring, the title does not define the text.

Princess Academy

Princess Academy is about girls from a mountain called Mount Eskle having to go to an academy and leaving their families. When the girls get to the academy, a lady named Olana teaches them about how to read Danlander History, Commerce, Geography, Diplomacy, Conversation, Poise and Kings and Queens. All of the girls have to learn these subjects because next year the prince is going to pick one of the girls to become his wife. If a girl speaks out of term or breaks any rule, she either gets locked up in a closest or smacked on the palm of her hand; I find that unfair and mean, but maybe if Olana doesn’t do a good job of teaching she'll be put in jail, or something like that. 

When I read this book I sometimes think stuff like, "Yes, girls!" or, "No, don’t do that," or, "Wow! You girls are a really good team when you work together!" and other stuff like that.