Princess Academy

Bibliography
Hale, Shannon. 2005. PRINCESS ACADEMY. Bloomsbury Publishing. New York, NY. ISBN 1582349932.

Plot
Miri, an unusually small, and intelligent girl, longs to be able to work in the quarry of linder with her father and sister. She feels useless and outcast, as if she does not belong because she is not allowed to step foot into the quarry. When the news that an academy for princesses will be built at the old mansion ruins, she scoffs at the idea of leaving her home and her family. Who would want to be a princess? As she learns from the harsh Tutor Olana, she realizes she will show the old bat a thing or two. Making friends with the shy and isolated Britta, Miri studies and eventually stands up to Tutor Olana, only adding to the hatred the other girls feel for Miri. As Miri learns about the rest of the kingdom, she begins to wonder about life outside of the mountains, and begins studying extra hard so she can be the top ranking student in the academy. She discovers, by accident, how to use quarry-speech when she is trapped in a closet and deals with a rat burrowing in her hair. During her studies, she discovers the lowlanders have been taking advantage of the trusting mountain people, and she urges her father to tell everyone of the true expense of linder. The community unites and their prices are met, and simultaneously Miri begins perfecting the use of quarry-speech. As the prince is expected for the ball, all the girls are on edge, especially Katar who is determined to leave the mountain as soon as possible, no matter how she does it. The day of the ball arrives, the prince shows up, he shares a special talk with Miri, and leaves suddenly the next day. That evening, the academy is overtaken by robbers who want the princess for a ransom. Using quarry-speech, she is able to bring help to the academy, and through a daring escape, manages to save the town, the academy, and the future princess.

Critical Analysis
The theme of this book is the feeling of an unfulfilled destiny. This theme is presented again and again through Miri’s longing to be of use in the quarry, the precious hidden linder in the mountains and the power in uncovering it, and is finally realized when Miri is able to get the city it’s financial prosperity. Miri is a believable teen—full of spirit, haste, dreams, pride in her home, and self-doubts. The simple mountain people presented in this tale are full of a quiet pride, and the beauty of their mountains adds to the richness of the story. Quarry-speech, entirely conceivable within Miri’s world, becomes the voice that helps Miri rescue her town. Hale’s imagery, play on words, and ingenuity create a beautifully stylized story that is fun to read and has a poignant grain of truth that you intuitively feel. All though geared for female readers, males will enjoy the snobbery of Poise class, silly conversations Miri has using the rules of conversation, and the heart-racing kidnapping that determines the outcome of the entire town.

Review Excerpts
School Library Journal-The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father. All eligible females are sent off to attend a special academy where they face many challenges and hardships as they are forced to adapt to the cultured life of a lowlander. First, strict Tutor Olana denies a visit home. Then, they are cut off from their village by heavy winter snowstorms. As their isolation increases, competition builds among them. The story is much like the mountains, with plenty of suspenseful moments that peak and fall, building into the next intense event. Miri discovers much about herself, including a special talent called quarry speak, a silent way to communicate. She uses this ability in many ways, most importantly to save herself and the other girls from harm. Each girl's story is brought to a satisfying conclusion, but this is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale, even though it has wonderful moments of humor. Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home.
Publishers Weekly-Readers enchanted by Hale's Goose Girl are in for an experience that's a bit more earthbound in this latest fantasy-cum-tribute to girl-power. Cheerful and witty 14-year-old Miri loves her life on Mount Eskel, home to the quarries filled with the most precious linder stone in the land, though she longs to be big and strong enough to do quarry work like her sister and father. But Miri experiences big changes when the king announces that the prince will choose a potential wife from among the village's eligible girls—and that said girls must attend a new Princess Academy in preparation. Princess training is not all it's cracked up to be for spunky Miri in the isolated school overseen by cruel Tutor Olana. But through education—and the realization that she has the common mountain power to communicate wordlessly via magical "quarry-speech"—Miri and the girls eventually gain confidence and knowledge that helps transform their village. Unfortunately, Hale's lighthearted premise and underlying romantic plot bog down in overlong passages about commerce and class, a surprise hostage situation and the specifics of "quarry-speech." The prince's final princess selection hastily and patly wraps things up.
Kirkus Reviews-There are many pleasures to this satisfying tale: a precise lyricism to the language ("The world was as dark as eyes closed" or "Miri's laugh is a tune you love to whistle") and a rhythm to the story that takes its tropes from many places, but its heart from ours. Miri is very small; her father has never let her work in the linder stone quarries where her village makes its living and she fears that it's because she lacks something. However, she's rounded up, with the other handful of girls ages 12 to 17, to be taught and trained when it's foreseen that the prince's bride will come from their own Mount Eskel. Olana, their teacher, is pinched and cruel, but Miri and the others take to their studies, for it opens the world beyond the linder quarries to them. Miri seeks other learning as well, including the mindspeech that ties her to her people, and seems to work through the linder stone itself. There's a lot about girls in groups, both kind and cutting; a sweet boy; the warmth of friends, fathers and sisters; and the possibility of being chosen by a prince one barely knows. The climax involving evil brigands is a bit forced, but everything else is an unalloyed joy.
BookList-- Miri would love to join her father and older sister as a miner in Mount Eskel's quarry. Not a glamorous aspiration for a 14-year-old, perhaps, but the miners produce the humble village's prize stone, linder, and mining is a respected occupation that drives the local economy. When the local girls are rounded up to compete for the hand of the kingdom's prince, Miri, the prize student in the Princess Academy, gets her chance to shine. In addition to her natural intelligence and spunk, she discovers an intuitive, and at times unspoken, language that grew out of work songs in the mines and uses linder as a medium. With this "quarry-speech" giving a boost to her courage and intelligence, Miri leads her classmates in the fight against being treated as social inferiors in the academy, at the same time educating herself in ways that will better the village. Hale nicely interweaves feminist sensibilities in this quest-for-a-prince-charming, historical-fantasy tale. Strong suspense and plot drive the action as the girls outwit would-be kidnappers and explore the boundaries of leadership, competition, and friendship.

Connections

Performance
Announce to the students that a producer is looking to purchase the script of the play Princess Academy. Tell the students they will each be writing a script for a portion of the book. A break down might look like this:
Beginning: Miri’s history, family life, friendship with Peder, longing to work in the mines
Rising Action: Announcement of the Princess Academy, going to live there, meeting Tutor Olana, and entering the Academy, Miri’s defiance with Tutor Olana, wishing to run away, discovery of quarry speak
Climax 1: boycott and walk out, visit home, realization of Miri’s feelings toward Peder, return to Academy, preparing for ball, Britta’s sickness
Climax 2: Meeting the prince, Steffan’s abrupt departure, Argument with Peder, capture at the Academy
Falling Action: Negotiations with robbers, escape
Ending: Peder and Miri finally talk, Miri learns about why she has been kept from the quarry, and Katar’s new position in court

Show examples of writing a script. Each group will present their part, using name tags for their characters (so the audience will be able to follow along). Present scripts by inviting other classes to watch.