The Princess Diaries
by Meg Cabot
Book published in 2000, movie released in 2001
Mia Thermopolis is your average girl living in New York. She is 15, a freshman at Albert Einstein High School (a private school), flat-chested, failing algebra, a bit shy, and without a boyfriend. Luckily, she and her best friend, Lilly, are a great pair, considering they have been friends since kindergarten. Mia lives in a renovated warehouse with her eclectic artist mom, Helen, and cat Fat Louis. Her parents were divorced before her birth, although she sees her dad pretty regularly. Her life is going pretty smoothly until one day, her father comes to town and needs to meet with Mia about something important. Her life changes forever when she finds out that he is a prince, and she is a princess! Throughout this part of the saga, she is not at all excited about being royal--she just wants to be normal. Before she knows it, her grandmother (Grandmere) comes to town to give her "princess lessons," she is being driven to school every day by her father's driver, and she has a full-time bodyguard. She does not tell her friend Lilly about the "princess-ness" until it comes out through the media, so she is without the support of nearly anyone her age until the very end of the story. After her school becomes the target of mass-media on a daily basis, the most popular boy in school asks her to the school dance, but only as a publicity stunt. Devastated, Mia finally sees what being a true friend entails when she and Lilly resolve their friendship, as well as Mia potentially having a REAL boyfriend in the next novel (Lilly's brother, Michael).
When I originally read this book years ago, around the time of the movie, it seemed like it was much more similar to the movie than I now realize that it is. In the book, Mia's parents are simply divorced, and Mia is only told that she is a princess due to his lack of being able to produce another heir; in the movie, the father dies, and since there is no other heir to the throne, Mia is told by the grandmother of her royal status. In addition, the book is set in New York; the movie is solidly set in San Francisco--providing a much different background and culture. Mia is friends with both Lilly and Michael in the movie, but there is no mention of Tina Hakim Baba (who in the book Mia spends a great deal of time being friends with while split with Lilly). The grandmother's character is also a bit different--in the book, she seems very unfriendly, smokes and is generally not likeable to be around; in the movie, Julie Andrews plays the strict-then-compassionate grandmother role, minus the cigarettes, hotel suite, calling of the media, and general lack of compassion for Mia that she exhibits in the movie. Personally, I like the movie's story better. I feel more comparable to Mia in the movie, possibly because her character is much like me in high school. In the movie, Mia is a bit more intelligent than in the book--she is not failing Algebra, but instead P.E. Mia's mother is dating one of her teachers, but it is not such a big deal as she makes it in the book. I also think that watching the transformation from commoner to princess in the movie is much more interesting, as well as entertaining. The main aspect of reading the book that I like BETTER than watching the movie is that the story continues through another 15 books by the same author, rather than just one more movie.
Mia Thermopolis is your average girl living in New York. She is 15, a freshman at Albert Einstein High School (a private school), flat-chested, failing algebra, a bit shy, and without a boyfriend. Luckily, she and her best friend, Lilly, are a great pair, considering they have been friends since kindergarten. Mia lives in a renovated warehouse with her eclectic artist mom, Helen, and cat Fat Louis. Her parents were divorced before her birth, although she sees her dad pretty regularly. Her life is going pretty smoothly until one day, her father comes to town and needs to meet with Mia about something important. Her life changes forever when she finds out that he is a prince, and she is a princess! Throughout this part of the saga, she is not at all excited about being royal--she just wants to be normal. Before she knows it, her grandmother (Grandmere) comes to town to give her "princess lessons," she is being driven to school every day by her father's driver, and she has a full-time bodyguard. She does not tell her friend Lilly about the "princess-ness" until it comes out through the media, so she is without the support of nearly anyone her age until the very end of the story. After her school becomes the target of mass-media on a daily basis, the most popular boy in school asks her to the school dance, but only as a publicity stunt. Devastated, Mia finally sees what being a true friend entails when she and Lilly resolve their friendship, as well as Mia potentially having a REAL boyfriend in the next novel (Lilly's brother, Michael).
When I originally read this book years ago, around the time of the movie, it seemed like it was much more similar to the movie than I now realize that it is. In the book, Mia's parents are simply divorced, and Mia is only told that she is a princess due to his lack of being able to produce another heir; in the movie, the father dies, and since there is no other heir to the throne, Mia is told by the grandmother of her royal status. In addition, the book is set in New York; the movie is solidly set in San Francisco--providing a much different background and culture. Mia is friends with both Lilly and Michael in the movie, but there is no mention of Tina Hakim Baba (who in the book Mia spends a great deal of time being friends with while split with Lilly). The grandmother's character is also a bit different--in the book, she seems very unfriendly, smokes and is generally not likeable to be around; in the movie, Julie Andrews plays the strict-then-compassionate grandmother role, minus the cigarettes, hotel suite, calling of the media, and general lack of compassion for Mia that she exhibits in the movie. Personally, I like the movie's story better. I feel more comparable to Mia in the movie, possibly because her character is much like me in high school. In the movie, Mia is a bit more intelligent than in the book--she is not failing Algebra, but instead P.E. Mia's mother is dating one of her teachers, but it is not such a big deal as she makes it in the book. I also think that watching the transformation from commoner to princess in the movie is much more interesting, as well as entertaining. The main aspect of reading the book that I like BETTER than watching the movie is that the story continues through another 15 books by the same author, rather than just one more movie.
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