Princess Academy

The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is about a girl named Miri who lives in a territory called Mount Eskel. The prince of the country is turning eighteen the next year so he has to be married. The person who foretells where the future princess will come from, says the bride will come from Mount Eskel. The government sends a tutor to take all the girls in Mount Eskel, ages 12-17, to go to the princess academy a few miles away. Miri is one of these girls so she is whisked away to the academy for a year. Here they learn how to read, how to write, history, poise, and other things a princess must face. Miri makes a lot of new friends and even becomes princess of the academy (not the country, just the school). Then the prince comes and meets the girls. The next day he leaves without even choosing his bride and says he will choose in about another six months. When he returns he picks Miri's friend, Britta. Relieved with joy because she didn't want to be princess, Miri returns to her home in Mount Eskel and Britta happily becomes princess.

The theme of this book is love. The Mount Eskel girls are going to the academy to see which girl the prince will love. At the academy the girls tend to think about love quite a bit. Britta, who was not from Mount Eskel, already knew the price and moved to the territory because she already loved him. It turns out even the prince is in love with Britta. After the prince choose his bride, Miri falls in love with a guy named Peder. Miri also loves her family and after a great deal of miscommunication, she finds out they love her back. That is why the theme of this book is love.

The main character in the Princess Academy is Miri. Miri is small, caring, honest, and at the beginning kind of shy and self conscious. At the end she becomes confident, smart, and a leader. Another character is Britta. Britta is from the "lowlands" (which is what people on Mount Eskel call people who live in the rest of the country) and came to Mount Eskel to marry the prince. She is smart, pretty when she smiles, kind, and a good friend to Miri. Peder is the boy who loves Miri. He has blond hair and likes to carve things in stone. Peder is kind-hearted, brave, and is popular among the younger generation in Mount Eskel. 

The Princess Academy  is a great book and is worth reading. The story has a good plot and keeps you interested in it with quick exciting parts in the story and at the ends of the chapters. It is well written and I like the authors voice. You will also tend to like this book better if you are a girl. One inspiring quote from the Princess Academy that comes up repeatedly is "Truth is when your mind and your gut agree.” I hope you enjoy this book.




MLA Citations- 

Hale, Shannon. The Princess Academy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005. Print.


I got my picture at:  http://bookhavenextraordinaire.blogspot.com/2012/03/princess-academy.html

City of Ember

 



The City of Ember is a book by Jeanne DuPrau. It starts out on assignment day, which is where twelve year olds are assigned jobs. Lina, the main character, gets pipe works which is the job she wanted the least. Doon, another main character gets messenger. Doon wanted pipe works as his job because he knew Ember (the underground city) was falling. He wanted to help, but unfortunately he couldn't find out how. When Lina finds an old torn up document chewed up by her siter, Doon and Lina team up to find the way out of Ember. When they finally uncode the document, they make a plan for all of Ember to get out. Unfortunately, their plan goes wrong and Lina, Doon, and Lina's little sister are the only ones who escape to find the Earth's surface.

The theme of this book is survival. Ember is falling, and it is a constant race for survival. The lights keep going out which reminds everyone that Ember could fall, and it would be very hard to survive. "The darkness seemed to fill not just the city around her but the inside of her head as well."(DuPrau 79) The food sources in Ember were low as well which caused the citizens to stock up their pantries for their survival. Lina and Doon are trying to find a way out of Ember for a better chance of survival. As you can see, survival is a reoccurring theme in this book.

There are two main characters in the City of Ember. Lina is the first character. She has dark hair, long legs, and wears her red messenger jacket around town proudly. She loves her little sister, Poppy, and she likes to run. She is nice and has a carefree attitude. Doon is the second main character. Doon is stubborn and he gets angry a lot, but he is also alert, resourcful, nice, and smart. Doon loves his father and likes to collect bugs. Those are the two main characters in this book.

I really enjoyed the City of Ember and I would reccomend it to other middle schoolers. The plot keeps you interested and has characters that are realistic. The adventure in this book is what kept me reading. You would like this book if you like action, mystery, adventure, and survival stories. Even if you don't really like those words listed above, you still will probally like this book. It's also pretty easy to read.


Citations-

DuPrau, Jeanne.  The City of Ember. New York: Random House Books, 2003. Print

I got my picture at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Ember