It's Mia's senior year, and things seem great. She aced her senior project, got accepted to her dream college(s), and has her birthday gala coming up . . . not to mention prom, graduation, and Genovia's first-ever elections.
What's not to love about her life? Well . . .
• Her senior project? It's a romance novel she secretly wrote, and no one wants to publish it.
• Prince Phillipe's campaign in the Genovian elections isn't going well, thanks to her totally loathsome cousin René, who decided to run against him.
• Her boyfriend, J.P., is so sweet and seemingly perfect. But is he the one?
• And her first love, Michael, is back from Japan . . . and back in her life.
With Genovia's and her own future hanging in the balance, Mia's got some decisions to make: Which college? Which guy? How can she choose? Especially when what she decides might determine not just the next four years, but . . . forever!
Publishers Weekly
The Princess Diaries wraps up in a series finale certain to please the legions of Princess Mia fans. Cabot shows off her singular ability to retread her story lines while leaving audiences breathless to get to the last page: Mia will be certain that this time she's sunk, for real, and oblivious to what is writ large to everyone around her. Here she copes with the pressures of prom (J.P. hasn't asked her), graduation and college acceptances (she's lied through her teeth about them), not to mention her 18th birthday and a party orchestrated by the imposing Grandmère. And why doesn't anyone want to publish her pseudonymous romance novel, Ransom My Heart? (Brief excerpts are tossed in, and absolute devotees can polish off the entire work; see Fiction Reviews, p. 32.) When former boyfriend Michael returns from Japan with his revolutionary medical technology a complete success, Mia is where readers love her: insecure and self-deprecating. By now, however, she understands that being royal means "always being the bigger person, and being kind to others"-and she can act accordingly. A character like this deserves the happy ending Cabot virtually guarantees. Ages 12-up. (Jan.)
Publishers Weekly
"This is how NOT a princess I am. I am so NOT a princess that when my dad started telling me I was one, I totally started crying." Raised in a Greenwich Village loft in New York City by her flaky-but-loving artist mother, ninth grader Mia Thermopolis is shocked to learn from her father that she is now the heir apparent to Genovia, the tiny European kingdom he rules. Her paternal grandmother further disrupts Mia's life when she comes to town to mold the girl into a proper royal. Cabot's debut children's novel is essentially a classic makeover tale souped up on imperial steroids: a better haircut and an improved wardrobe garner Mia the attention of a hitherto unattainable boy. (Of course this boy isn't all he appears to be, and another boy--the true friend Mia mostly takes for granted--turns out to be Mr. Right.) A running gag involving sexual harassment (including a foot fetishist obsessed with Mia's best friend Lilly Moscovitz and a sidewalk groper dubbed the "Blind Guy") is more creepy than funny, and the portrayal of the self-conscious pseudo-zaniness of downtown life is over the top (Lilly's parents, both psychoanalysts, get Rolfed, practice t'ai chi and attend benefits for "the homosexual children of survivors of the Holocaust"). Though Mia's loopy narration has its charms and princess stories can be irresistible, a slapstick cartoonishness prevails here. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Alan Review
The Princess Diaries is the diary of Mia Thermopolis, who is living a confused and hard to believe life. She is the not most popular girl in school, but is in love with the most popular boy. She lives in New York City with her artist mom, who is divorced and is dating her algebra teacher — a class Mia is failing. One day, her father arrives and upsets her troubled life. He tells her that he has cancer, and then, to her disbelief, that she is the Princess of Genvoia. That's right! As it turns out, her father is not just the European politician he's always led to her believe, but actually the prince of a small country. Before long, the New York paparazzi arrive at her school and front door, eager to take pictures of real live princess. Offbeat Mia will win the hearts of teenage girls dying to fit in without too much fanfare, and Meg Cabot's writing is silly and entertaining enough to capture the fancy of young readers who are looking for a fun story about ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. With tons of pop culture references, this book will make today's teens feel right at home.
KLIATT
Mia figures that she already has enough problems in life—her mother is dating her algebra teacher, while she's flunking his class, and she's nursing an unrequited crush on Josh, the handsomest boy in their school. When her father comes to visit her in Manhattan and explains that he is really a prince and that Mia is heir to the throne of the little European principality of Genovia, it's really the last straw as far as she is concerned. Now Mia has to take princess lessons from her scary Grandmére, while trying to conceal her embarrassing new status from her friends and classmates. Of course, the media find out (Grandmére calls them) and one unexpected result for Mia is that Josh is suddenly interested in her. But when he invites her to the Cultural Diversity Dance at school Mia finds out what he's really like, and who her friends really are. This humorous romantic fantasy has a bit of that ubiquitous Bridget Jones's Diary flavor to it, written as it is in journal form. Mia's complaints and observations are interspersed with various lists, and the overall tone is light and funny, with many up-to-date cultural references and brand names thrown in. Preteen and teenage girls will gobble this up like cotton candy. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2000, HarperCollins, 240p, $14.95. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; September 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 5)
VOYA
Mia's dreams are simple: She wants to pass algebra, she wants to grow breasts, and she wants Josh Richter, the gorgeous boy who can see into her soul, somehow to notice her. She does not dream of becoming wealthy and internationally famous or of wearing designer gowns and dining with elegant society. Nevertheless, to her dismay, these things are thrust upon her when she discovers that she is the sole heir to the throne of the tiny country Genovia. Dreading the scorn of her militant filmmaker best friend, Lilly, Mia tries to hide her newfound royalty. When Mia's photograph appears in the newspaper, however, her cover is blown. Suddenly everything changes, as Lilly withdraws to a disdainful, chilly distance, Josh Richter dumps his popular girlfriend to ask Mia out, and the world that once left her alone crushes her privacy with its frenzied fascination. Mia's wonderfully funny and oblivious diary entries chart her progression from an awkward, shy pushover to a princess who speaks her own mind. Sprinkled throughout Mia's diary are her revealing lists, poems, and attempts at algebra. Her narrative emotes as only a teenage girl can. Fretting about her father she writes, "He's usually so organized. How could he have let himself become a prince?" This breezy, fun read would be appropriate for girls in the junior high school range. Recommend it for patrons who enjoyed Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (HarperCollins, 2000/VOYA June 2000), another hilarious teen diary. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High,defined as grades 10 to 12). 2000, HarperCollins, 238p, . Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Diane Masla SOURCE: VOYA, April 2001 (Vol. 24, No.1)
VOYA
Mia Thermopolis, Princess of Genovia and heroine of Cabot's Princess Diaries series, has turned into a "Big Fat Liar." Even though she got into every college to which she applied, Mia told everyone she was admitted to none of them. She devoted a year to writing a romance novel as her senior project and not the history of Genovia olive-oil pressing that she told everyone she was writing, and - this charade is the most difficult to maintain - Mia does not feel the same spark with her new boyfriend, J. P., that she felt with her ex-boyfriend, Michael. Of course, Mia has sympathetic, although wayward, reasons for each of these falsehoods, and she describes and obsesses over these in detail in the diary format fans of the series have come to love. Although the last novel in Cabot's series is, in part, an advertisement for Mia's senior project romance, Ransom My Heart (Avon, 2009), the book's greater concern is with Mia's attempt to actualize her father's advice about what it means to be a princess: "You know what it's really all about is always being the bigger person, and being kind to others." Although this guidance seems clichEd, Mia's struggle to be "the bigger person" and "kind" to herself is at the heart of the novel. Cabot devotees will sigh with contentment at the satisfying conclusion of the novel and the series. Reviewer: Amy S. Pattee
Children's Literature
In the tenth volume of the "Princess Diaries" series, Princess Mia is burdened with the typical rites of passage facing high school seniors: prom, choosing a college, boys, trigonometry, and the everyday drama of her circle of friends. She also has to deal with the added pressure of being Princess of Genovia, keeping tabs on her father's campaign for prime minister of Genovia, and her ex-boyfriend's return to New York as the inventor of a robotic arm that has revolutionized the field of cardiac surgery. Then there is the matter of sex: who is having it, who is not, and when is it right for Mia? Mia has to strike a balance between her relationship with her boyfriend J.P. and her denial of her renewed interest in her ex-boyfriend Michael. With help from her family and true friends, Princess Mia untangles the disorder of her life in amazing fashion, while managing to emerge as a true heroine in every seemingly impossible circumstance of her life. Cabot narrates the story from the perspective of Princess Mia writing in her journal, with dated entries separating the segments of the book. In parts of the book, simple dialogue is replaced by texting sequences; detailing the sending of text messages by Mia and her friends. Fans of Cabot's books and newcomers to the Princess Mia tales will enjoy the hip, current style in which the book is written as well as the juicy storyline. Reviewer: Katie DeWald
School Library Journal
Gr 7-9-Insecure Mia Thermopolis, 14, discovers that she is actually Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo of Genovia. In her diary entries, which cover almost a month, she writes about going to a private school in New York City and living in Greenwich Village with her avant-garde artist mother. She fights with her best friend, struggles to pass algebra, and worries that she is the only one without a date for the Cultural Diversity Dance. On top of that, her divorced mother begins dating her teacher; her father visits and reveals that she is his heir; her intimidating grandmother gives her "Princess lessons"; and she has to contend with the embarrassment of having a bodyguard and reporters who follow her everywhere. Readers will relate to Mia's bubbly, chatty voice and enjoy the humor of this unlikely fairy tale. More accessible than, though perhaps not as clever as, Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging (HarperCollins, 2000), this funny, fast-paced book should appeal to hip young women, including reluctant readers.-Debbie Stewart, Grand Rapids Public Library, MI Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
ALA Booklist
She wines; she gloats; she cheers, worries, rants, raves; reading her journal is like reading a note from your best friend.
Kirkus Reviews
The conclusion of the Princess Diaries saga. The tenth and (at) last diary of Mia Thermopolis, crown princess of Genovia and New York City teen, chronicles her anxieties about college, sex, lying and loyalty in the weeks leading up to her graduation from high school. Excerpts from Ransom My Heart, the romance novel Mia secretly wrote for her senior project and is pseudonymously shopping around to publishers, punctuate the journal. Poor "Daphne Delacroix" is plagued by a constant stream of rejection letters-although Avon apparently has no such compunction and will simultaneously publish the work, with proceeds to benefit Greenpeace (9780061700071, $13.95). Meanwhile, boyfriend J.P. is exasperatingly remote, her grandmother runs amok while planning her 18th birthday party and exboyfriend Michael unexpectedly returns from Japan. How Mia resolves her various conflicts with boys, friends and family will surprise no one, but the tidy ending will satisfy readers who have stuck with her through nine previous volumes. Cabot's skillful use of text messaging, slang and humor strike a breezy tone that makes this a quick, easy read. (Fiction. 12 & up)
What People Are Saying
Chris Sherman
Teens like novels written in diary format, and you can bet they'll be lining up for this hilarious story about a gawky 14-year-old New Yorker who learns she is a princess. Mia spends every available moment pouring her feelings into the journal her mother gave her: she writes during algebra class, in the ladies' room at the plaza (much nicer than the one in Tavern on the Green), in her grandmother's limousine. She writes down her thoughts on everything - from algebra and her mother's love life to her jet-setting father's announcement that she's the heir to the throne of the principality of Genovia. Then, of course, she records her grandmother's efforts to turn her into a princess, her dealings with classmates, the press, and a bodyguard, and also her attraction to the most gorgeous guy in school and her attempts to be assertive and happy with her new life. She whines; she gloats; she sheers, worries, rants, and raves. Reading her journal is like reading a note from your best friend. Cabot has a fine grasp of teen dialect (and punctuation), an off-the-wall sense of humor that will have readers laughing out loud, and a knack for creating fully realized teen and adult characters that readers will miss when the story ends.
