The Princess Diaries (novel)

The Princess Diaries is the first volume of the critically acclaimed, best-selling series of the same name by Meg Cabot. It was released in 2000 by Harper Collins Publishers, and later became a film of the same name starring Anne Hathaway.

Summary

Mia Thermopolis an average urban ninth grader. She lives in Greenwich Village with a single, liberal mom who is a semi-famous painter, but Mia puts on her Doc Martens one at a time, and the most exciting things she ever dreams about are kissing senior Josh Richter ("six feet of hotness") and passing Algebra. Mia's dad comes to town and drops a major bomb: he's not just a European politician as he's always led her to believe, but actually the prince of a small country. And Mia, his only heir, is now considered the crown princess of Genovia. She doesn't even know how to begin to cope: "I am so NOT a princess.... You never saw anyone who looked less like a princess than I do. I mean, I have really bad hair... and... a really big mouth and no breasts and feet that look like skis." Mia's troubles are worsened: her mom has started dating her algebra teacher, the paparazzi are showing up at school, and she has a fight with her best friend Lilly after this they don't talk for a while so they become distant from each other. Mia goes to her Grandmère's Plaza Hotel room in order to train to be a princess and she starts to develop into a great princess. Throughout story Mia also makes another friend named Tina, who is shunned because of her overprotective father, who makes her have a body guard.

Characters

Mia Thermopolis: says she is a five foot nine, flat chested, freshman, freak ; also known as Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermapolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia. Mia loves to write, has a tendency to obsess over everything that happens to her, is a vegetarian, and is currently failing algebra.

Grandmere: Mia's grandmother, who loves Sidecars, is highly critical of everyone around her, and has a hairless poodle, Rommel and she calles Michael Moscovitz that boy.

Lilly Moscovitz: Mia's bossy and activist best friend, who has her own television cable show, Lilly Tells It Like It Is.

Michael Moscovitz: Lilly's older brother, who is extremely smart and plays guitar.

Josh Richter: a popular jock at Mia's high school whom Mia crushes on for most of the book until a confrontation during their date when Mia figures he used her to have his picture published on the local newspaper.

Lana Weinburger: Head cheerleader,initially Josh's girlfriend, and the person Mia dislikes most at her school.

Helen Thermopolis: Mia's quirky, painter mother, who surprises Mia by dating her algebra teacher. She is described as irresponsible.

Philippe Renaldo: Mia's royal father, who is the prince of Genovia. He had Mia out of wedlock, and is constantly annoyed by his domineering mother, has many girlfriends, and tells Mia that she is a princess after he is no longer able to have children because he had cancer.

Tina Hakim-Baba: A girl whom Mia befriends throughout the novel. She originally is shunned because her overprotective father forces her to have a bodyguard, but she and Mia quickly become close. She loves romance novels.

Lars: Mia's bodyguard