The Princess Diaries
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The Princess Diaries is a series of novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The Princess Diaries novels are divided into journal entries of varying lengths, not chapters as in most novels.
The series spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Children's Series Best Sellers List and has been sold to publishers in 37 foreign countries. As of January 2007 eight books in the series have been published.
Contents |
[edit] Series Description
- Plot Summaries have been moved to their individual volume pages.
The story of Mia's adventures as an average teenager who happens to be a princess of royal descent are chronicled in Mia's ongoing journals. Themes of teenage angst, love, betrayal, are explored through her very opinionated eyes.
[edit] Characters
- Her Royal Highness, Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Crown Princess of Genovia - Mia is a vegetarian and animal-rights activist who cares deeply about the environment. She often laments her looks; she says she has triangular, "dishwater blond" hair, "a really big mouth and no breasts and feet that look like skis," and that at 5'9" she is the tallest girl in her class, which she does not appreciate. According to her outspoken best friend Lilly Moscovitz, her "only attractive feature" is her grey eyes. Mia often struggles to understand her new role in the world as princess of Genovia. She prefers to wear combat boots and overalls, though she wears a uniform to school. She speaks French very well due to speaking it with her grandmère from a very young age, though she sometimes humorously mistakes synonymous words for one another, such as poulet ("chicken"/"prostitute"). Though Mia often does something inappropriate or mortifying, in the end she learns from her mistakes. She is known for biting her nails, obsessing over her cat "Fat Louie" (whom she admits to loving the most in the world, over her mother and friends), being concerned about her life to an exaggerated degree, and writing in her diary whenever she can. After receiving the news about being a princess, she also receives her own bodyguard, Lars, who is friends with Wahim, Tina's bodyguard. She feels she is not self-actualized and lives on take out from Number One Noodle Son.
- Lilly Moscovitz - Mia often feels inadequate compared to Lilly, who is a slightly overweight feminist with an IQ of 170. Regardless, they have been best friends since kindergarten; Mia lists her as one of her heroes. She is portrayed as having a "squished" visage and brown curls. She frequently talks down to Mia and uses an extensive vocabulary that Mia cannot always understand. She always says what is on her mind and has a very loud voice. She hosts her own public access television show, Lilly Tells it Like it Is, financed by her psychoanalyst parents, the Drs. Ruth and Morty Moscovitz. They rescind their financing after Lilly baits Norman, the stalker who has repeatedly asked for her to remove her shoes on camera. She finds a new producer in Tina Hakim Baba, who has been receiving an allowance of fifty dollars per week.
- Michael Moscovitz - Lilly's older brother, a senior. With high intelligence and an extensive vocabulary, he sometimes steps in with his own well-formulated argument to stop Lilly from intimidating someone. He is the treasurer of the computer club and co-valedictorian, and he spends a lot of time in his room. Mia notes that he has a "surprisingly" well-defined chest. He is a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Wars. Mia has a crush on Michael until Princess in Love, when they become boyfriend and girlfriend the night before Mia has to leave to spend her Christmas in Genovia. They remain a couple until the end of Volume Eight, where Mia breaks up with him on account of dishonesty, the night before he is to fly to Japan for a year, where a company has expressed interest in his machine that will replace open heart surgery.
- Helen Thermopolis - Mia's mother, a 36-year-old Greek-American painter who begins dating the high school algebra teacher, Mr. Frank Gianini. She is rather scatterbrained, but Mia notes that "she always keeps track of Mia." With black curly hair, Mia thinks she's very pretty, like Carmen Sandiego (minus the trench coat). Like Lilly, she is a feminist and most of her friends are very outspoken performance artists who tend to be on the wild side.
- Phillipe Renaldo - Mia's bald father, the Prince of Genovia. He is around 40, and also attractive, according to Mia, who compares him to Captain Jean-Luc Picard: his voice is similar, he is bald, and he has to rule over a small body of people. He often dates beautiful women, though the relationships are not serious. He speaks French and English, and he almost always wears suits. He has painful incurable cancer, which is treated with special pills.
- Clarisse Renaldo - Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo, the dowager Princess of Genovia and Mia's paternal grandmother. She speaks French most of the time; though she can speak English, she considers it vulgar - she refuses to be called grandma by Mia. She perceives herself as superior to many, and often dresses in purple to flaunt her royalty. As a young woman she married King Rupert Renaldo and had one son, Phillipe. Clarisse is a disdainful and manipulative woman who constantly scolds Mia, drinks Sidecars, and smokes French filterless cigarettes. She is usually indifferent towards Mia's feelings. When using Mia's full name, she habitually leaves out Thermopolis, Mia's mother's maiden name, which annoys Mia. Nevertheless, Clarisse sometimes offers profound advice to Mia that surprisingly eases Mia's pain at being her granddaughter. She is very short, and in the eighties, she had black eyeliner tattooed on her eyelids in "a brief manic phase shortly after Princess Grace died."
- Lars van der Hooten - Mia's very protective bodyguard. He becomes friends with Tina's bodyguard, Wahim. He tends to voice his opinions when Mia is being particularly ridiculous, yet goes along with her schemes anyway. He also tends to turn a blind eye to Mia and Michael when they make out, for which Mia is grateful.
- Frank Gianini - Mia's algebra teacher who begins to date her mother, then marries her when she becomes pregnant with his child, Rocky. He plays drums, which annoys the neighbors. He is unfazed by his step-daughter's fame, and treats her the same as every other student during class.
- Josh Richter - The most popular senior at Albert Einstein, on whom Mia has a huge crush, though he is dating Lana Weinberger. He is on the crew team and is valedictorian. Mia believes he is the most attractive boy in school; he is very tall and muscular and has "electric" blue eyes. She also believes that Josh is the most sensitive boy in school. At the end of the first book, Josh Richter uses Mia for a chance to be in the media spotlight by taking her to the "Cultural Diversity Dance" dance and kisses her on the steps leading to the entrance of her school. Mia realizes Josh used her, and so avoids and dislikes him; this is difficult due to their adjacent lockers.
- Lana Weinberger - A popular cheerleader and freshman at Albert Einstein who is very spiteful towards Mia. She has long blonde hair, a peaches-and-cream complexion, baby blue eyes, large breasts, and regularly Brazilian waxes. She dates Josh Richter, with whom she has slept, if the scrawl on the bathroom wall is true. She breaks up with him between the fifth and sixth books, due to the four-mile distance that tears them apart over summer break and his leaving to go to college. She has a younger sister Gretchen, who starts at AEHS in Volume Eight.
- Tina Hakim Baba - A freshman at Albert Einstein; the daughter of a Saudi Arabian oil company owner and sheik and a British former supermodel. Tina, like Lilly, is slightly overweight, and due to her father's status, she has to be followed by a bodyguard, Wahim. Tina constantly reads romance novels and is therefore considered by Mia an expert on love. When Mia and Lilly have a fight, Mia begins to sit with the former outcast Tina, beginning a close friendship. Tina supports Lilly's public-access television show with her allowance. Later in the series, she begins to date Boris Pelkowski, after Lilly breaks his heart.
- Boris Pelkowski - Russian violin virtuoso on whom Lilly has a crush. His habits include tucking his sweater into his pants, breathing through his mouth, and playing the violin in Gifted and Talented when everyone else wants him to be quiet. When Lilly dumps him he starts dating Tina Hakim Baba. During the summer before the sophomore year, he lifts weights and becomes, by Mia's standards, a hottie.
- Shameeka Taylor - A friend of Mia, with an overprotective father. She successfully tries out for the cheerleading team. Spiteful Lana asserts that African American Shameeka was put on the team to "fill our freak quota" and that her relationship with Mia and her friends will not change.
- Ling Su Wong - An artist friend of Mia who has illegible "artist handwriting". She is temporarily treasurer in book seven for Mia's school government, until they go broke. She is Asian American. Mia thinks she is very pretty; in the first book she was apparently asked out seven times.
[edit] Secondary Characters
- Prince Rene of Italy - Seen in the fourth novel, Rene is Mia's distant cousin. Clarisse has tried to fix them up, but has failed on those occasions. Rene is described as devilishly handsome, and is often sneaking off to have sex with some new beautiful young woman he has met. He enjoys wearing tiny speedos on the beach, and strutting his well-toned body, and "impressive pecs". He was once found playing strip-tennis with a government official's wife, entertaining topless sunbathers in the pool house, disappearing with a prime minister's eighteen year old daughter, and photo-copying his nether-region in the palace administration office. He currently resides at the Palis de Genovia, for he was de-throned and his ancestral palace now belongs to a shoe designer.
- "Mamaw" Shirley Thermopolis and "Papaw" Thermopolis - Helen's mother and father from Indiana whom she constantly feuds with. They, however, keep in touch, and were seen in the second novel.
- Hank Thermopolis - Son of Helen's sister Marie, Hank is a Hoosier teenager from Indiana. He and Lilly, for a short time, were romantically intertwined. He leaves Indiana, however, to become a Calvin Klein underwear model. He is seen in book two.
- Kenneth "Kenny" Showalter - Mia's boyfriend in book three, Kenny is good at biology and chemistry, and a fan of anime. He wants to discover a cure for cancer when he becomes older.
- Perin - A student at AEHS who no one could tell was a boy or girl. She ended up being a girl and becoming friends with Mia.
- John Paul "J.P." Abernathy Reynolds IV - He becomes a friend of the gang's in book seven. He was formerly know as "Guy-Who-Hates-When-They-Put Corn-In-The-Chili." He is particularly a close friend to Mia in book eight, where they are frequently passing notes during Chemistry. Also during this time, he dates Lilly, but breaks off the relationship.
- Trisha Hayes - Also known as Trish; one of Lana's cronies who helps terrorize Mia.
- Judith Gershner - A friend of Michael's who Mia suspected of having romantic feeling for Michael. Mia states that "her boobs are HUGE". She later becomes the object of Mia and Michael's break up at the end of book eight due to the fact that she had sex with Michael. She is also well known for being able to clone fruit flies.
- Jangbu Panasa - A good-looking busboy of Sherpa descent who was fired thanks to an incident involving Clarisse and her dog. Lilly campaigns to get his job back, and ends up getting to second base with him, despite her boyfriend.
- Karen Martinez - An english teacher who does not accept Mia's sense of writing style.
- Rocky Gianini - Mia's half-brother and son of her mother and algebra teacher, Mr Gianini.
- Sebastiano - Mia's cousin who is second in line to the crown of Genovia. He is an up and coming fashion designer who designs some of Mia's gowns.
[edit] Volumes
Volumes in The Princess Diaries series include:
- The Princess Diaries, October 2000
- The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, June 2001
- The Princess Diaries, Volume III: Princess in Love, March 2002
- The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting, April 2003
- The Princess Diaries, Volume IV and 1/2: Project Princess, August 2003
- The Princess Diaries, Volume V: Princess in Pink, March 2004
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in Training, March 2005
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VI and 1/2: The Princess Present, October 2004
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess, March 2006
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and 1/2: Sweet Sixteen Princess, May 2006
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and 3/4: Valentine Princess, December 2006
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink, January 2007
- The Princess Diaries, Volume IX: Princess Mia (tentative), January 2008[1]
- The Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess, January 2009[1]
Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren:
- Princess Lessons, March 2003
- Perfect Princess, March 2004
- Holiday Princess, November 2005
In the UK and Australian editions of the books, the titles differ from the US release. Instead of referring to the plot line, they are puns on the book number. They are: The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries: Take Two, The Princess Diaries: Third Time Lucky, The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth, The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five, The Princess Diaries: Sixsational, The Princess Diaries: Seventh Heaven, and The Princess Diaries: After Eight.
[edit] Awards and nominations
- 2001 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults[2]
- 2001 American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers[3]
- 2001 New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age[4]
- 2002 International Reading Association/Children's Book Council Young Adults' Choice[5]
- 2002-2003 Volunteer State Book Award (Tennessee)[6]
- 2003 Evergreen Young Adult Book Award (Washington)[7]
[edit] Differences Between the Books And the Movies
- The character of Mia was played by Anne Hathaway in 2001's The Princess Diaries and 2004's The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement movie versions based on the book series.
- The first movie is more of a makeover story in the tradition of Pretty Woman than the book is.
- Grandmère, whom she calls "Grandma," is the queen of Genovia rather than the dowager princess, and is portrayed by Julie Andrews as much more kind and grandmotherly.
- In the movie, Mia's father, Phillipe Renaldo, is dead. In the books he is alive but infertile, leaving Mia as the only heir.
- Mia's surnames Renaldo and Grimaldi are combined into Renaldi.
- For the movie, Lana's last name was changed from Weinberger to Thomas.
- Instead of Albert Einstein High School in New York, the movie takes place at Grove High School in San Francisco.
- Mr. Gianini was called Mr. O'Connell in the movie.
- In the movie, Mia hates public speaking, which Mr. O'Connell teaches. In the book, it is Algebra that she hates and Mr. Gianini is the teacher for that.
- In the movie, Mia is a brunette, not a blonde, and her eyes are brown, not grey.
- Genovia is a principality in the books, but portrayed as a kingdom in the movies.
- Lana Weinberger puts a boy down outdoors in the movie and Mia gets angry and sticks her ice cream cone on Lana but in the first book Lana puts a girl (Tina Hakim Baba) down in the cafeteria and Mia thrusts her ice cream cone on Lana.
- Lilly Moscovitz likes Boris Pelkowski in the book but in the movie she likes a boy called Jeremiah, who, like Boris, tucks his sweater in his 'pants', but is obsessed with magic tricks rather than the violin.
- Michael Moscovitz plays the keyboard in the movie but in the book he secretly plays the guitar.
- In the books the popular guy Mia likes is named Josh Richter and in the movies his name is Josh Bryant.
- Lilly in the movies has straight, short hair but Lilly in the books has curly hair.
- In the books Michael doesn't have a fixation with M&Ms
- In the books, Fat Louis is an orange cat, whereas in the movies, he is black and white.
- Within the books Mia goes on to describe the movies as if her books were part of real life and explains why certain characters are left out (such as Tina who plays a main part in the books). She also criticizes the choice of Julie Andrews as her grandmother being her grandmother is nothing like her.
[edit] Pop culture references
The books are noted for containing many pop culture references, which include singers, movies, and fads in modern culture. Many critics have taken unkindly to this form of storytelling. In response, Cabot wrote an English teacher into the book Princess In Training who criticizes Mia's writing, telling her that it relies too much on "slick pop culture references."
[edit] Trivia
- Though Mia claims both that she is a "strict vegetarian" and that she will not eat anything that was ever alive, she makes reference more than once to her eating fish without a problem, which would more accurately define her as a pescetarian.
- Also, though Mia is a self-proclaimed animal rights activist and environmentalist, she frequently refers to wearing her Doc Martens combat boots, which are usually made of leather: "Nobody messes with a girl in combat boots, particularly when she's also a vegetarian." She justifies this with "other people - not me - eat cows, so you know they are not being slaughtered merely for their hides."
- Mia makes many references to "the movie", which in the book is supposed to be a movie made about her life. She refers to things that relate to the real movie, for example: her dead dad, and breaking up with Michael in the sequel (which she thought would never happen). Lilly complains that in the movie, the portrayal of her is mean and untrue, and Tina Hakim Baba was not allowed to be in it as her overprotective father forbade it for security reasons. Also, Grandmere is portrayed as being kind and compassionate in the movies, while in the books, Mia hates her.
- Mia also makes references to the other Princess books: in the fourth book, Mia says that there are already three or four unofficial biographies out there, and that one made thee bestseller list once. This would be true, seeing as she said this in the fourth book published and the first book did make the bestseller list.
[edit] See also
- Jazmin Grace Rotolo - a daughter of the Prince of Monaco born and living in the U.S.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b FAQS Meg Cabot Website.
- ^ "ALA |2001 Best Books for Young Adults"
- ^ "ALA |2001 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers"
- ^ "The Princess Diaries, Volume I"
- ^ "Young Adults' Choices for 2002"
- ^ "Volunteer State Book Award Winners 1978-present"
- ^ "Past Winners of the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award"
[edit] References
- Cabot, Meg (2001). The Princess Diaries. New York, New York. HarperTrophy. ISBN 0-380-81402-1.
- Cabot, Meg (2006). The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess. New York, New York. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-072453-6.
[edit] External links
| The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot |
|---|
| The Princess Diaries • Princess in the Spotlight • Princess in Love • Princess in Waiting • Princess in Pink • Party Princess • Princess on the Brink • Princess Mia • Forever Princess |
| Princess Diaries novellas |
| Valentine Princess • Project Princess • The Princess Present • Sweet Sixteen Princess |
| Related articles |
| Genovia • The Princess Diaries movie • The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement • Princess Lessons • Perfect Princess • Holiday Princess |
