February 24, 2022 - YA Series of the Month

This month BCPL is excited to feature a beloved young adult series: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. Most young girls, and boys, are more familiar with the Disney movie of the same name. But, the book series continues to charm many readers!

About the books -

The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary young adult novels and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series revolves around Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis, a teenager in New York City who discovers that she is the princess of a small European principality called Genovia. The books are noted for containing many popular culture references, which include singers, movies, and fads in modern culture.

Meg Cabot quotes the series' inspiration on her website stating: "I was inspired to write The Princess Diaries when my mom, after the death of my father, began dating one of my teachers; they later went on to get married just as Mia's mom does in the book! I have always had a 'thing' for princesses (my parents used to joke that when I was smaller, I did a lot of insisting that my 'real' parents, the king and queen, were going to come get me soon, and that everyone had better start being a LOT nicer to me) so I stuck a princess in the book just for kicks... and VOILÀ! The Princess Diaries was born."

Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi is the protagonist of the series. She is the daughter of Helen Thermopolis, a painter and Philippe Renaldi, the prince of Genovia. Mia is also the current Queen of Genovia.

Having spent most of her life in Greenwich Village with her mother, Mia attends Albert Einstein High School, a private school in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Mia chronicles the main aspects of her life in various personal diaries, through which she also later develops her talent for various forms of writing. She prefers to be called Mia, although her best friend Lilly often bestows upon her nicknames such as BL (Baby Licker), POG (Princess Of Genovia), or PIT (Princess In Training).

Mia is known for her sometimes shy and down-to-earth personality, though on occasion Mia shows herself to be quite sarcastic and sly. Mia also speaks to her self described flat chest, 5-foot-9 height, upside-down-triangle-shaped hair, and extremely large feet. She also has a tendency to over-analyze things and worry too much. Mia's spends her afternoons throughout the series with her grandmother (Grandmere) in princess lessons, which attempt to teach Mia the finer points of being a princess. These lessons range from making more princess-like Mia's sense of fashion, food, and relationships, and also inform about royal duties such as her visits during school breaks to Genovia and the events she must attend and speak at as a royal throughout the year as well.

About the author - 

Meggin Patricia Cabot (born February 1, 1967) is a prolific American novelist. She has written and published over fifty novels of young adult and adult fiction, and is best known for her young adult series Princess Diaries, which was later adapted by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films. Cabot has been the recipient of numerous book awards, including the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, the American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, the Tennessee Volunteer State TASL Book Award, the Book Sense Pick, the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, the IRA/CBC Young Adult Choice, and many others.[1][2] She has also had numerous number one New York Times bestsellers, and more than 25 million copies of her books are in print across the world.

After she graduated from Indiana University, Cabot moved to New York City, with the original aim of pursuing a career as an illustrator.[3][4] However, she soon quit this job and started working as an assistant manager of the freshman dormitory at New York University.[3][4]

Meg Cabot married financial writer and poet Benjamin D. Egnatz on April 1, 1993. Their wedding date,[1] April Fool's Day, was a deliberate play on her husband's belief that only fools get married in the first place. The wedding was actually an elopement in Italy. Her novel Every Boy's Got One is loosely based on her own elopement. She has cats, Henrietta (a one-eyed cat) (1993-Jan 2013)[5] and Gem, about which she often blogs.

After living in Indiana, California, New York, and France, she now splits her time between New York, Key West, Florida, and Bloomington.[

All images and info are courtesy of Google, Wikipedia, WV Reads, and author webpages.

Were you a fan of the series growing up? Maybe could recommend some similar stories? Please share with us in the comment section, on our social media pages, or even in person if you're stopping by the library!

Interested in reading about Mia and all her quirky friends and adventures? Check out the titles we have available as ebooks and eaudiobooks on WV Reads below!

https://wvreads.overdrive.com/search/series?query=The%20Princess%20Diaries&sortBy=newlyadded