The Princess Diaries is the first of many children’s books on the top 100, and as someone who makes Children’s TV for a living, this is not something I’m against! Kids books are brilliant! They can be so much fun and as a total bookworm of a child, reading when I was younger holds some of my favourite memories, and makes me feel all nostalgic!
The Princess Diaries was released in 2000, so I was too old for it but the film adaptation is a secret guilty pleasure for me and I’m glad I got the chance to read it via this challenge. It tells the story of Mia, a normal teenager who lives in New York with her Mum and her fat cat. Her biggest problem is how to deal with the fact her Mum is dating her algebra teacher, and how to breathe when she runs into her crush at school - that is until she finds out she’s actually a princess and is forced by her Dad to take Princess lessons from her witch of a ‘grandmere’, who is nowhere near as nice in the book as Julie Andrews in the film!
The books deals with the usual subjects of teenage literature; friends, school, teachers, boys, overcoming cancer, and then how to deal with new found unwanted celebrity - all while juggling the usual pressures teenagers face. She looses her best friend, realises people treat her differently now she’s a princess and learns a lot of life lessons along the way. The ending could have been developed further as the storylines felt unfinished, but then this is the first of a series of novels. The characters of Mia and her friend Lilly totally steal the show though; Mia is unknowingly sassy and has a hilarious take on life and is unimpressed by anything superficial. She comes out with great lines like: 'I dont know if you've ever been to the Ladies' Room at the Plaza, but it's like totally the nicest one in Manhattan. It's all pink and ther are mirrors and little couches everywhere, in case you look at yourself and feel the urge to faint from your beauty or something.'
I laughed out loud in public whilst reading this book, and I would have loved to have read it when I was 12. Instead I got to read it in my late twenties, and I still enjoyed it. And as a daughter of someone who married her former teacher, even I can identify with Mia! Sadly though, I’ve definitely not been born into royalty….oh well, there’s always Prince Harry…
