The Princess Diaries

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This article is about the Meg Cabot novel. For the 2001 film, see The Princess Diaries (film).

**The Princess Diaries**

The Princess Diaries (UK cover)
Author	Meg Cabot
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Princess Diaries
Genre(s)	Chick-lit
Publisher	HarperTrophy
Released	2000
Pages	304
ISBN	ISBN 0380814021
Followed by	The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight

The Princess Diaries is a chick-lit series written by Meg Cabot. The first volume, with the same title, was published in 2000. Unlike most novels, those in The Princess Diaries series are not sorted into chapters, but journal entries of varying lengths.

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 December 13, 2006, the series compromised of seven books; The Princess Diaries, TPD: Take Two, TPD: Third Time Lucky, TPD: Fourth Heaven, TPD: Give Me Five, TPD: Sixsational and TPD: Seventh Heaven.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Volumes
4 Awards
5 Differences Between the Books And the Movies
6 Pop culture references
7 Trivia
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Plot

The Princess Diaries is the diary of Mia Thermopolis, a fourteen-year-old freshman at the fictional Albert Einstein High School, a private school in New York City.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Mia is a tall, socially awkward teenager who was raised by her liberal artist mother Helen in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Her parents had a brief fling and separated before she was born; she sees her father Phillipe Renaldo, whom she is told is a Genovian politician, mostly when she spends every summer at her grandmère (grandmother) Clarisse's French chateau, Miragnac.

Mia's world is thrown upside down when her father, who recently underwent treatment for testicular cancer, finds out he cannot have any more children--because he is really Prince Artur Cristoff Gerard Grimaldi Renaldo of Genovia, and he informs her that since he cannot produce another heir, she is now Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Her Royal Highness, the princess of Genovia.

Mia does not adjust to this news easily; but she certainly objects when her father informs her she must now move to Genovia to learn to be a princess. Eventually, Grandmère decides to come to America to provide "princess lessons," which her father offers to pay her for. Mia declines, but asks instead that her father donate a hundred dollars a day to Greenpeace.

[edit] Characters

Mia Thermopolis - 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 gray 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 is often doing 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), 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.

Lilly Moscovitz - Mia often feels inadequate as compared to Lilly, who is a slightly overweight feminist with an IQ of 170. They are undoubtedly best friends, however, and have been since kindergarten; Mia lists her as one of her heroes. She is portrayed as having a "squished" visage and brown curls. Often, probably at times without realizing it, she 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, and even has her own public access television show, Lilly Tells it Like it Is, financed by her psychoanalyst parents, the Drs. Ruth and Morty Moscovitz.

Michael Moscovitz - Lilly's older brother, a senior at Albert Einstein. He is also very intelligent and has an extensive vocabulary, but does not flaunt it as much as Lilly does. When he feels Lilly to be going overboard in using her intelligence to intimidate someone, he sometimes steps in with his own well-formulated argument to defuse the situation. 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. This happens right before Mia has to leave to spend her Christmas in Genovia.

Helen Thermopolis - Mia's mother, a 36-year-old Greek-American painter who begins dating her algebra teacher, Mr. Frank Gianini. She is rather scatterbrained, though Mia notes that though she may not remember things like buying toilet paper, she always keeps track of Mia. She has black curly hair, and Mia thinks she's very pretty and looks like Carmen Electra.

Phillipe Renaldo - Mia's bald father, the prince of Genovia. He is around 40, and also attractive, according to Mia. She also compares him to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, in that his voice sounds like his, he is bald, and he has to rule over a small body of people. He often dates beautiful women, though none of the relationships are serious. He also speaks French and English, and he almost always wears suits.

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, which is probably why she refuses to be called grandma by Mia. She perceives herself as superior to many, and often dresses in purple, flaunting her royalty. When she was a young woman she married King Rupert Renaldo, and had one son, Phillipe. A disdainful and manipulative woman, Clarisse is constantly scolding Mia, drinking Sidecars, and smoking French filterless cigarettes. She is very indifferent towards Mia's feelings most of the time. When using Mia's full name, she tends to leave out Thermopolis, Mia's mother's maiden name, which really 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.

Lars van der Hooten - Mia's bodyguard, who is very protective of her. He becomes friends with Tina's bodyguard, Wahim.

Frank Gianini - Mia's algebra teacher, who begins to date her mother.

Josh Richter - The most popular boy at Albert Einstein, a senior, whom Mia has a huge crush on, 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 sentive boy in school.

Lana Weinberger - A popular cheerleader and freshman at Albert Einstein who is very spiteful towards Mia. She has long blonde hair. She is dating Josh Richter.

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, leading to a close friendship between them.

Boris Pelkowski - Russian violin virtuoso whom Lilly has a crush on. His mentioned habits are 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.

Shameeka Taylor - A friend of Mia's who is African American. Her father is very overprotective of her.

Ling Su Wong - A friend of Mia's who is an artist. She is Asian American.

[edit] Volumes

Volumes in The Princess Diaries series include:

The Princess Diaries, 2000
The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, 2001
The Princess Diaries, Volume III: Princess in Love, 2002
The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting, 2003
- The Princess Diaries, Volume IV and a Quarter: Valentine Princess, December 12, 2006
- The Princess Diaries, Volume IV and a Half: Project Princess, 2003
Princess Lessons (A Princess Diaries Book), 2003
Perfect Princess (A Princess Diaries Book), 2004
The Princess Diaries, Volume V: Princess in Pink, 2004
Mia Tells It like It Is (compilation), 2004
The Highs and Lows of Being Mia (compilation), 2004
The Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in Training, 2005
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VI and a Half: The Princess Present, 2004
Holiday Princess (A Princess Diaries Book), 2005
The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess, 2006
- The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and a Half: Sweet Sixteen Princess, 2006
The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink, January 2, 2007
The Princess Diaries, Volume IX, 2008
The Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess, 2009

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

2001 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults^[1]
2001 American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers^[2]
2001 New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age^[3]
2002 International Reading Association/Children's Book Council Young Adults' Choice^[4]
2002-2003 Volunteer State Book Award (Tennessee)^[5]
2003 Evergreen Young Adult Book Award (Washington)^[6]

[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.
Mia's father, Phillipe Renaldo, is dead.
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.
Mia is a brunette not a blonde and her eyes are brown not grey.

[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 makes reference to wearing her Doc Martens combat boots, which are usually made of leather.