Sunday Sunshine: Life Gets In The Way Edition

So...another two-book week.  What have I been doing this whole time?  PACKING.  I've packed 25 boxes so far--and, the part that makes my former stage-manager self very happy--I have a spreadsheet listing every item in every box.  Down to the book and movie titles.  So you can bet my first project in our new home (after unpacking, of course) will be to cull the book titles from that list and make a library catalog for our apartment.  (Of course, as the move approaches, we'll see if this holds up.  But with nearly a month left, this feels sustainable.)

I've also been visiting family this weekend, while Mr. S finishes studying for the Bar Exam (two days from now!)  So I've been having a great time--and I think he's just wishing Thursday (the day after the exam!) would hurry up and get here.

In my travels, though, I managed to read and review (well, "review", meaning "ramble at length about") Shannon Hale's excellent Princess Academy and the soon-to-be-released sequel, Palace of Stone.   I highly recommend these for any girls in your life, ages 10 (or younger, especially as a readaloud) to [insert your age here]. 

What I Read This Week:


Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a fantastic read! I had read this one before, when one of my younger students was reading it--I had no intention of loving a book named Princess Academy but I like to read books my students are reading, so I gave it a shot. It turned out to be a really wonderful story, appropriate for young kids but not at all written "down" to them. Miri, the heroine, is fourteen when the story starts, and it has many hallmarks of a YA fantasy--a group of girls from a remote town are groomed for the chance to become the next princess. So there's (light, sweet) romance, and a lot about the girls' evolving relationships with their peers as they bond even as the competition heats up. But Miri is concerned with more than the prince--she is also coming to terms with her place in her family and her community. The outcome surprised and delighted me my first time through, and it continues to delight me now. In true fairy-tale style, people get what they deserve, but the satisfaction I feel at the ending has as much to do with societal infrastructure as it does with hand-holding. I can't wait to finally find out what happens next; I'll be posting a review of the sequel in the next few days, and it's officially out a month from today!



Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A lot can change in a year! Palace of Stone feels like a markedly different book from Princess Academy--not in quality, but in age. While it remains appropriate for fairly young readers (some scary/violent scenes, a little more intense than the first book, but nothing too graphic) the concerns of the book have shifted and Miri is suddenly shouldering many more burdens. This makes the whole book feel a little more YA where the first straddled the YA-MG border a bit more.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR PRINCESS ACADEMY!

With Britta in the big city, preparing for her wedding to Prince Steffan, and Katar working as the delegate from Mount Eskel, Miri and some of the other girls leave the mountain for the first time and quickly find themselves ensconced in court. All of the girls (and Peder!) find new things to learn: music, medicine, craftsmanship. Miri, however, is sent to the university and finds herself overwhelmed by all there is to learn. She also finds herself in the middle of a revolution. Miri being Miri, and coming from a town of impoverished laborers, she supports the revolutionary ideals, but is dismayed to find that her friendship with Britta is considered incompatible with the revolution. She must figure out a balance that will allow her to help her town, her kingdom, and her best friend.[With Britta in the big city, preparing for her wedding to Prince Steffan, and Katar working as the delegate from Mount Eskel, Miri and some of the other girls leave the mountain for the first time and quickly find themselves ensconced in court. All of the girls (and Peder!) find new things to learn: music, medicine, craftsmanship. Miri, however, is sent to the university and finds herself overwhelmed by all there is to learn. She also finds herself in the middle of a revolution. Miri being Miri, and coming from a town of impoverished laborers, she supports the revolutionary ideals, but is dismayed to find that her friendship with Britta is considered incompatible with the revolution. She must figure out a balance that will allow her to help her town, her kingdom, and her best friend. (hide spoiler)]

One of Miri's biggest concerns is how to make her new opportunities work for everyone she cares about. She is well aware that she is one of just a few from Mount Eskel to ever go down the mountain, and even of those, she is the only one to formally continue her studies. This idea really weighs on her--that she has to get as much education as she can before she goes home, because her people will only ever get as much as she can pass along to them. Thinking like this, Miri seems much more like an adult; even in Princess Academy when Miri tries to bring about improvements for her village, she is much more hesitant because she knows she is seen as a child. She has really grown in this book and doesn't blink at the idea that suddenly she is responsible for not just Mount Eskel but also for keeping the peace in all of Danland. This broader scope really appealed to me, and I thought Shannon Hale did a great job weaving in the principles of popular revolution, along with some new twists and turns for the characters. I found this to be a really satisfying expansion of Miri's story, one that was well worth the long wait.

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