The Princess Diaries

Customer Reviews

• Teenage Angst at it's Best  Sep 22, 2000 (17 of 17 found this helpful)

  Not since Judy Blume has a writer so skillfully navigated the mind of a teenage girl. The Princess Diaries tells, through her own words, the story of a typical high school freshman's discovery that she is the princess of a small European principality (a-la Monaco). Mia is a typically gawky 15 year-old with all the problems that come with this age---flat chest, feet too big, bad hair, cute boy doesn't khow she is alive, etc. etc. Meg Cabot does a phenomenal job of making this everyday teenage angst funny, exciting, scary, and exhilarating. As a male reader, Cabot allowed me inside the mind of this difficult teenage phase. Any girl in junior high or high school will love this book, and any guy willing to get past the pink cover will love it too!

• The Perfect Book for a Princess.....  Mar 13, 2001 (20 of 21 found this helpful)

  This book kept me amused long after the final page was turned. It tells the story of Mia Thermopolis, who lives with her mom in the suburbs. Her parents are divorced, and her father lives in Genovia. In the story, she learns that her father is a prince--the prince of Genovia! Because her father cannot have any more children, Mia is heir to the throne! In the book, she finds this out and tries to deal with it. The book is written in diary format, which made it enjoyable, because it let me see her thoughts day by day. She is very much like a real teen, at times going overboard with guys, style, and friends. Mia's attitude was well written, the author did a good job finding out how a teen thinks. These things together led me to rate this book a four. I would recommend this book to any girl over age twelve, who like to read about other teen's lives. Because this story revolves around a teenage girl, if you're a guy, this book will most likely not be interesting to you. Also, there are a few spots in this book that wouldn't be appropriate for girls under twelve. All in all, The Princess Diaries is a great read that will keep you smiling until the last page.

• One of the best diaries I've read all year  Dec 31, 2001 (20 of 22 found this helpful)

  The Princess Diaries gets two enthusiastic thumbs-up from me! This book was extremely cute and funny. The writing was very "authentically teenage" and the characters were an absolute treat. A very quick read and enjoyable to the last page.

  High school freshman, Mia Thermopolis, just wants to be normal... Oh, and to have the school's hottest guy, Josh Richter, to fall madly in love with her, but she knows THAT will never happen. Then something very terrible happens: her father, after finding out he can no longer have any other children, tells Mia she is the heir to the throne of his small, European home, Genovia. Excuse me?! So that would make her...a PRINCESS!! Most girls would fall all over themselves with excitement, but for Mia, who just wants to be your average teenage high school freshman, vows to keep this disturbing news all to herself. Well, as if THAT would ever happen...

  So cute, so refreshing, so fun to read. Deals with regular adolescent tribulations, as well as some that only happen in dreams, i.e., becoming a princess overnight. I highly recommend The Princess Diaries to teens and grown-ups alike. It has all the best qualities and is a great way to spend an entertaining afternoon. I am not even kidding.

• WARNING!!! Fun read but morally irresponsible  Oct 15, 2007 (11 of 11 found this helpful)

  This series of books, of which this book is the first, is entertaining and addictive. I found the character of Mia delightful in a neurotic-teenage-girl kind of way. (Please forgive my redundancy.) From the first I realized that my children were too young yet to enjoy this series - it is inappropriate for anyone pre-teen or younger - but after reading the entire series so far, I've decided that I don't want my children reading it even when they are older.
  
  As the series progresses it deals with more and more serious issues in ways that I'm finding less and less responsible and moral. For instance, by the time you reach "Princess on the Brink" it is clear that the author considers 16-year-old Mia's desire to save her virginity as a gift for a life-long love, to be shared at the most romantic moment possible (albeit, NOT marriage - just the prom) as a silly, juvenile fantasy. By contrast her college-aged boyfriend, who shed his virginity at the first opportunity to a girl for whom he had no special feelings and who was dating someone else at the time, is apparently considered more normal and mature. All supposedly "wise" adults, and even her grandmother who dislikes Mia's boyfriend, try to urge Mia to give up her folly. Her Grandmother even gives her a hotel room for the purpose of using it for a "romantic" evening alone with her boyfriend. The idea of virginity as anything worthy of saving is laughed at and the concept of waiting until marriage is considered ludicrous even by "silly," romantically deluded Mia. Worse, her desire to keep sex as something special and important is shown as possibly destroying what is supposedly a healthy, potentially life-long, true-love relationship.
  
  For any parent who does NOT share the author's values, I would strongly recommend keeping your children and teens as far away from these books as possible. They are too engaging and enjoyable. With all the references to pop culture the world of these books feels like the "real" world, only lacking in any sort of common sense or traditional values as far as sexual and personal relationships are concerned. If you do not want your children confused by the supposedly "modern," hedonistic and self-centered attitudes these books take for granted as normal and proper, it is better not even to let them start reading the series. Once begun, it will be difficult to stop.

• Princess Diaries  Mar 9, 2001 (10 of 10 found this helpful)

  Princess Diaries isn't some predictable book, and it isn't about some snobby stuck up, already popular girl who becomes a princess. It is a story of a girl (15 years old) that has never had a date, sucks at algebra, and her mom is dating her algebra teacher(YUCK!!!)  One day though everything changes because her dad can't have kids anymore, which makes Mia the heir of the throne for a small country no one has even ever heard of!!!!!  She tries to keep the news that she is a princess a secret, but someone tells the newspaper that all about it.  Now, of course, everyone knows she is a princess and now she is Ms. Popular, someone she has always dreamed about being.  Of course, her friend Lilly gets mad at her, and things just grow, and grow, and grow until it is almost unbearable for Mia. Will Mia ever get her life back?   All and all this was a very entertaining book, and I couldn't put it down.  It is probably one of my all time fav's and I'm a teen.  SO, I hope I have inspired you to read this book, and thanks for reading my review!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)