Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9802 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-17
• Released on: 2007-04-17
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 5-9–The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father. All eligible females are sent off to attend a special academy where they face many challenges and hardships as they are forced to adapt to the cultured life of a lowlander. First, strict Tutor Olana denies a visit home. Then, they are cut off from their village by heavy winter snowstorms. As their isolation increases, competition builds among them. The story is much like the mountains, with plenty of suspenseful moments that peak and fall, building into the next intense event. Miri discovers much about herself, including a special talent called quarry speak, a silent way to communicate. She uses this ability in many ways, most importantly to save herself and the other girls from harm. Each girl's story is brought to a satisfying conclusion, but this is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale, even though it has wonderful moments of humor. Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home.–Linda L. Plevak, Saint Mary's Hall, San Antonio, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Shannon Hales fantasy tells how Miri, a 14-year-old living in a mining village, comes into her own, saving the village from poverty and possible disaster and finding her place in the world. Narrator Laura Credidios voice is pleasant and soothing, and her narration is well paced. The ensembles acting is good, and the girls who attend the academy, including Miri, are uniformly charming. The casting reveals special care and intelligence in that the voices give dimension to the characters that the story bears out, a remarkable vocal foreshadowing that is due, of course, to the actors skill. This sweet story will primarily interest 10-14- year-old girls, but even boys may enjoy it (though they may not admit it). W.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Miri would love to join her father and older sister as a miner in Mount Eskel's quarry. Not a glamorous aspiration for a 14-year-old, perhaps, but the miners produce the humble village's prize stone, linder, and mining is a respected occupation that drives the local economy. When the local girls are rounded up to compete for the hand of the kingdom's prince, Miri, the prize student in the Princess Academy, gets her chance to shine. In addition to her natural intelligence and spunk, she discovers an intuitive, and at times unspoken, language that grew out of work songs in the mines and uses linder as a medium. With this "quarry-speech" giving a boost to her courage and intelligence, Miri leads her classmates in the fight against being treated as social inferiors in the academy, at the same time educating herself in ways that will better the village. 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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Amazing coming-of-age tale!
Are you looking for adventure? Relaxation? Maybe a little bit of tension? Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale, is the right book for you. This book is filled with excitement, adventure, and so much more.
The story starts in a quarry on Mount Eskel, but most of the story takes place at the academy on Mount Eskel. The setting is quite believable. I always envision the academy as a large, square, one-story building. Not much grows on Mount Eskel but the miri flower.
The book is about a girl named Miri who has to go to an academy with all of the girls from Mount Eskel who are the right age to become princess of Danland and its kingdom. Tutor Olana is terribly strict. She has understandable rules, but what I don't like is that she is very much a linguistic precisionist about the rules and her punishments are unbearable for the girls: terrible and senseless. will Miri and the other girls find a way to make time at the academy easier and get more visits home for themselves? Or will they get trapped into more hand lashings, visits to the closet, and other punishments of Olana's invention? To find out, read Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale.

WOW
I read this book outloud to my 11 year old son, 9 and 2 year old daugthers and they all loved it. Ok, it took my son a few chapters to get past the title and reading a "girl" book but it didn't take long for him to be hooked and begging for just one more chapter! It really is a must read. I recommend reading it to your children if they'll let you!

Wonderful Story!
I read this after Goose Girl, and found this as enjoyable, but not as long. It is wonderful for all ages to read and I recommend it to all.