Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

2006 Newbery Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Miri’s mother is hurt in the quarry while she is pregnant with Miri.  Miri is born early and her mother dies a week later.  Marda’s leg is broken as a cart in the quarry rolls back down the mountain and crushes her leg.  The teenage girls in the village are forcibly taken to the Princess Academy.  The tutor, Olana is an extremely strict teacher.  She punishes them with palm lashings and deprives them of meals.  Olana also locks them in a cold, dark closet inhabited by a rat.  The rat tries to nest in Miri’s hair, as she lies on the cold stone floor for hours.   Miri tries to run away as the bandits take the academy hostage.  She is tackled by a bandit.  Knut, the school caretaker has his arm broken by the bandits.  A bandit catches Olana by the throat and shoves her against the wall.  Dan, a bandit, lifts Esa from the ground by her neck and threatens to make sure she never speaks again.  Dan tells Onor, both bandits there will be “plenty of time for killing later”.  A bandit stuffs his cap in one of a girl’s mouth.  Dan gags Miri and pulls her by the hair.  He then threatens to slit her throat.  As the girls try to escape, Dan grabs Miri and tells her, “I’ll see you broken and dead.”  Dan and Miri fall off a cliff onto a ledge together.  Dan clenches Miri’s leg until Miri’s father strikes him on the forehead with a mallet.  He then falls to his death.

Sexuality:  Miri and Peder dance, hold hands and kiss.  Miri has butterflies when she thinks of Peder and envisions marrying Prince Steffan, who looks just like Peder.

Synopsis

Miri is named after a flower that grows on Mount Eskel.  Miri is a fourteen year old girl, that lives in a village near the top of Mount Eskel.  The village quarries linder, a unique, highly-prized, pale stone used to build palaces.  At age eight, the children in the village begin to work in the quarry.  Miri’s father, a widower, has forbidden her to work in the quarry.  However, Marda, her older sister gets to work in the quarry.  Miri longs to be a part of the unifying song and speech of the quarry workers.  Instead, Miri spends her days tending to the goats and caring for their home.

A delegate of the King of Danlander arrives in the village and declares the priests have read the omens and divined the home of the prince’s future bride as Mount Eskel.  All teenage girls younger than the prince are required to attend a makeshift Princess Academy for one year to prepare for royal life.  The young women begin their education and their perspective is forever changed. The girls become fierce competitors for “Academy Princess”, the valedictorian of the class.  The entire academy is then held hostage by violent bandits, hoping to ransom the future princess.  Miri finds a way to outwit the bandits, using a unique gift.  A new princess is chosen and Miri learns that real love is based on friendship.  Miri is a strong and determined young woman.  Miri realizes that the application of her education, will ultimately increase the quality of life for her village.

This book is not the predictable fairy-tale you envision from the title, “Princess Academy”.  This book is a multi-layered story about a young girl’s education, relationships and the meaning of family.  Her perspective of the world completely changes through the course of the story.  I found myself cheering Miri on in her quest for knowledge.  “Princess Academy” is a breath of fresh air and an inspiring book for young females to read.

©2009 The Literate Mother