Princess in Love (Princess Diaries Series #3)

\ English Class\ Assignment (Due December 8): Here at Albert Einstein High School, we have a very diverse student population. Over one hundred and seventy different nations, religions, and ethnic groups are represented by our student body. In the space below, describe the manner in which your family celebrates the uniquely American holiday, Thanksgiving. Please utilize appropriate margins.\ My Thanksgiving\ by Mia Thermopolis\ \ 6:45 a.m. — Roused by the sound of my mother vomiting. She is well into her third month of pregnancy now. According to her obstetrician, all the throwing up should stop in the next trimester. I can't wait. I have been marking the days off on my 'N Sync calendar. (I don't really like 'N Sync. At least, not that much. My best friend, Lilly, bought me the calendar as a joke. Except that one guy really is pretty cute.)\ 7:45 a.m. — Mr. Gianini, my new stepfather, knocks on my door. Only now I am supposed to call him Frank. This is very difficult to remember due to the fact that at school, where he is my first-period Algebra teacher, I am supposed to call him Mr. Gianini. So I just don't call him anything (to his face).\ It's time to get up, Mr. Gianini says. We are having Thanksgiving at his parents' house on Long Island. We have to leave now if we are going to beat the traffic.\ 8:45 a.m. — There is no traffic this early on Thanksgiving Day. We arrive at Mr. G's parents' house in Sagaponic three hours early.\ Mrs. Gianini (Mr. Gianini's mother, not my mother. My mother is still Helen Thermopolis because she is a fairly wellknown modern painter under that name, and also because she does not believe in the cult of the patriarchy) is still in curlers. She looks very surprised. This might not only be because we arrived so early, but also because no sooner had my mother entered the house than she was forced to run for the bathroom with her hand pressed over her mouth, on account of the smell of the roasting turkey. I am hoping this means that my future half-brother or -sister is a vegetarian, since the smell of meat cooking used to make my mother hungry, not nauseated.\ My mother had already informed me in the car on the way over from Manhattan that Mr. Gianini's parents are very old-fashioned and are used to enjoying a conventional Thanksgiving meal. She does not think they will appreciate hearing my traditional Thanksgiving speech about how the Pilgrims are guilty of committing mass genocide by giving their new Native American friends blankets filled with the smallpox virus, and that it is reprehensible that we as a country annually celebrate this rape and destruction of an entire culture.\ Instead, my mother said, I should discuss more neutral topics, such as the weather.\ I asked if it was all right if I discussed the astonishingly high rate of attendance at the Reykjavik opera house in Iceland (over 98 percent of the country's population has seen Tosca at least once).\ My mother sighed and said, “If you must,” which I take to be a sign that she is beginning to tire of hearing about Iceland.\ Well, I am sorry, but I find Iceland extremely fascinating, and I will not rest until I have visited the ice hotel.\ 9:45 a.m.–11:45 a.m. — I watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with Mr. Gianini Senior in what he calls the rec room.\ They don't have rec rooms in Manhattan.\ Just lobbies.\ Remembering my mother's warning, I refrain from repeating another one of my traditional holiday rants, that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is a gross example of American capitalism run amok.\ At one point during the broadcast, I catch sight of Lilly standing in the crowd outside of Office Max on Broadway and Thirty-Seventh, her videocamera clutched to her slightly squished-in face (so much like a pug) as a float carrying Miss America and William Shatner of Star Trek fame passes by. So I know Lilly is going to take care of denouncing Macy's on the next episode of her public access television show, Lilly Tells It Like It Is (every Friday night at nine, Manhattan cable channel 67).\ 12:00 p.m. — Mr. Gianini Junior's sister arrives with her husband, their two kids, and the pumpkin pies. The kids, who are my age, are twins, a boy, Nathan, and a girl, Claire. I know right away Claire and I are not going to get along, because when we are introduced she looks me up and down the way the cheerleaders do in the hallway at school and goes, in a very snotty voice, “You're the one who's supposed to be a princess?”\ And while I am perfectly aware that at five foot nine inches tall, with no visible breasts, feet the size of snowshoes, and hair that sits in a tuft on my head like the cotton on the end of a Q-tip, I am the biggest freak in the freshman class of Albert Einstein High School for Boys (made coeducational circa 1975), I do not appreciate being reminded of it by girls who do not even bother finding out that beneath this mutant facade beats the heart of a person who is only striving, just like everybody else in this world, to find self-actualization.\ Not that I even care what Mr. Gianini's niece Claire thinks of me. I mean, she is wearing a pony-skin miniskirt. And it is not even imitation pony skin. She must know that a horse had to die just so she could have that skirt, but she obviously doesn't care...\ The Princess Diaries, Volume III: Princess in Love. Copyright © by Meg Cabot. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

\ From Barnes & NobleThe Barnes & Noble Review\ Meg Cabot continues the hilarious adventures of Mia Thermopolis, a very ordinary teenager whose life takes an extraordinary turn when she learns she's the heir apparent to the throne of a small European country. In this third installment of The Princess Diaries, Mia's self-deprecating wit, self-absorption, and adolescent angst are as entertaining as ever as she struggles with the realization that despite being a princess, she isn't guaranteed any fairy-tale endings. \ Mia discovers yet another branch on the royal side of her family tree when she meets her cousin, Sebastiano, an up-and-coming fashion designer. Mia worries that Sebastiano might want her dead, since he's next in line to inherit the throne, she's not yet willing to toss him aside -- his dress creations are not only exquisite, they are perfectly tailored to bring out the best in Mia's flat-chested, big-footed physique. Life is looking better on other fronts as well, for Mia finally has a boyfriend. Unfortunately, it's Kenny, her study partner, good friend, and fellow classmate, whereas the real love of her life is Michael, the brother of Mia's best friend, Lilly. But not only does Michael seem clueless about Mia's affections; it looks like he has a girlfriend.\ While bemoaning her inability to compete for Michael's affections, Mia spends her time trying to avoid Kenny's kisses, pondering the best way to break up with him even as she wonders why he hasn't asked her to the big Christmas dance. Adding to Mia's stresses are her upcoming final exams, her mother's incessant morning sickness, the usual unwanted media attention, and the ongoing torments of her fellow classmate and nemesis, Lana.\ While Mia's sometimes simplistic view of life remains intact and her adolescent shallowness is often apparent, she also shows an evolving maturity as she prepares for her royal role under Grandmere's overbearing guidance. But never fear, the seriousness is kept in balance with plenty of fun, tons of laughs, and several amusing disasters. And, if Mia isn't careful, she might even get that fairy-tale ending. (Beth Amos)\ \ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyHer Royal Highness Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo of Genovia, also known as Mia, prepares to meet the populace of her newfound kingdom all while trying to dump one boyfriend for another in Princess in Love, the third in the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ VOYAReaders will be delighted that charming Princess Mia is back, filling their heads with her frank inner monologue about high school romance, classwork, and the pressures of being a teen in this third installment of The Princess Diaries. She continues her story in diary format from the essay assignment about Thanksgiving until she leaves for Genovia for the Christmas holiday. Mia's open dialogue and activities are the material of girls' fantasies of becoming a real-life princess. The politically correct agenda she readily supports is proper and endearing, and those readers taken with fashion will appreciate her commentary declaring tangerine the new gray or white becoming the new black. This third volume is about boyfriends, kissing, stalking, anonymous notes, and Grandmére's love advice. The familiar cast of characters—best friend, Lilly, and her brother, Michael; Mom and Mr. G.; bodyguard Lars; Kenny; and Fat Louie—is back, creating an immediate intimacy with the reader. The twists and turns of the plot take a heartwarming roller coaster ride for the heir to the throne of her father's small Mediterranean country. Although Mia successfully has commanded attention on the silver screen, teens will find the readable princess more personal and sophisticated, a treasure for middle school girls. PLB \ — Nancy Zachary\ \ \ \ \ KLIATTPrincess Mia is back, still struggling with life as a freshman at Albert Einstein High School and her crush on her best friend's older brother—not to mention the responsibility of being the heir to the throne of Genovia, a small European country. Her trials and tribulations in this latest outing include her mother's pregnancy (she's now married to Mia's algebra teacher), princess lessons from her imperious and scary Grandmère, and her boyfriend Kenny, who is wild about her though she isn't wild about him. Told in diary entries, à la Bridget Jones, Mia's hilarious account will delight middle school, junior high and even high school girls. Last year's Disney movie, The Princess Diaries, will increase interest in this new volume in the series. Enough is recapped so that new readers can pick the series up with this title. Here's hoping there are many more to come. My 14-year-old daughter gobbled this up in an evening. A great choice for reluctant readers. (The Princess Diaries, Vol. III) Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2002, HarperCollins, 236p., $15.89. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; KLIATT SOURCE: KLIATT, March 2002 (Vol. 36, No. 2)\ \ \ \ \ Children's LiteratureThe erstwhile princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, previously known—before that unfortunate communication from her unknown-but-true grandmother the queen of Genovia¾as just plain (very plain) New York schoolgirl Mia, continues her life, as it was and as it now must be. If that sentence exhausts you, you are now prepared to slide breathlessly through the pages of this third chapter in Mia's life, experiencing with her all the ups and downs of a barely-attractive klutz with weird friends, a boyfriend she doesn't want, a boy she wants as a boyfriend, embarrassments in school exceeded only by etiquette goofs with Grandmère the Queen, zits, kisses wanted and spurned, and all the other intricacies of adolescence compounded by her upcoming introduction into Genovian society. Believe me, the movie was only the beginning of this romp. Here's where you'll get all the yearned-for details. Teen-aged girls will love this book in its Passion Pink, crown-adorned dust jacket—it's just the ticket for keeping their dreams while cutting the strings from their Barbies. 2002, HarperCollins, \ — Judy Chernak\ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalGr 6-9-In this frothy tale about the heir to the throne of Genovia, 14-year-old Mia wrestles royally with algebra at her New York City high school (her stepfather is her teacher), while learning Genovian protocol from her rigid grandmother, adding to the usual tale of teenage angst and drama. Through her diary entries, ranging from December 6 to her departure on December 20 for the tiny European nation that she will someday rule, readers follow Mia's ups and downs. Typical boyfriend troubles, a date for the Nondenominational Winter Dance (formerly Christmas Dance, which offended some students), and relationships with her friends are all part of the mix. Cabot has crafted characters who are recognizable in a plot that is fun to follow. A treat.-Lisa Denton, Oneida-Herkimer School Library System, Utica, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsWhat is a princess to do when she doesn't feel sparks fly after kissing Kenny, her supposed boyfriend, because she's really in love with her best friend's brother, high-school senior Michael Moscovitz? And, oh yeah, Michael is probably falling for a girl who cloned a fruit fly, her mother is expecting the baby of her algebra teacher, no one has asked her to the Nondenominational Winter Dance (not even Kenny), and she has to prepare for her Christmas-time introduction to the populace of Genovia. Once again, Mia captures all her ups-and mostly downs-in her diary, which is all told in perfect teenage vernacular. But when some of her greatest dilemmas are discovering the nuances of French kissing and a one-day suspension for thwarting a student walkout, readers can't help but love this self-obsessed (i.e., normal) teenager. Princess lessons with Grandmere may be paying off in this volume, as Mia's self-deprecating humor gives way to a newfound spunkiness. The third in the series (Princess in the Spotlight, 2001, etc.) has the best ending yet, which proves that princesses-even tall, flat-chested, algebraically challenged ones-always find true love. (Fiction. 12-15)\ \