THE PRINCESS DIARIES

:'''Princess Mia' redirects here. For the novel, see ''.

'''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 ''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

Series Description

Character histories

Secondary characters

Volumes

Awards and nominations

Style of writing

Meta-References

References

Footnotes

See also

External links

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, and betrayal are explored through her very opinionated eyes.

Character histories

★ 'Her Royal Highness, 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" or "mouse brown" 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 (similar to that of a pug) 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 ''. 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 his dishonesty, the night before he is to fly to Japan for a year, where a company has expressed interest in his robotic arm prototype that will replace open heart surgery.

★ '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 Prince Artur 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."

★ '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. She's an extremely laid back parent who doesn't believe in much punishment.

★ '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. In contrast to Helen, Phillipe is a strict parent. The first book alludes to Phillipe using spanking as a punishment.

★ '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.

★ 'Tina Hakim Baba': A current junior 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.

★ 'J.P. or John Paul Abernathy Reynolds IV'- Formerly known as Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn In the Chili, he meets Mia in a musical that Grandmere writes with a hidden agenda. Mia asks him to sit with the rest of her friends in 'Party Princess'. Surprisingly cute and talented when Mia gets to know him, and then he becomes one of Mia's best friends. He is described having 'broad shoulders, floppy brown hair, and surprisingly blue eyes'. J.P. dates Lilly for quite some time, then breaks up with her when he sees how she treats her best friend (Mia) when she is angry. J.P. is Mia's chemistry partner in Book Eight. After Mia and Michael break up, when Mia learns he was dishonest with her about Judith Greshner, she and J.P. share a kiss outside Chemistry. In the latest book, J.P and Mia go to watch ''Beauty and the Beast'' on Broadway, after the fateful events of the past few days, where they both promise to forget both of the Moscovitzes, at least for the duration of the musical.

★ '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, gets laser eye surgery and becomes, by Mia's standards, a hottie.

★ 'Josh Richter': The most popular senior at Albert Einstein, on whom Mia has a huge crush during the first book, 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 with, 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 named Gretchen, who starts at AEHS in Volume Eight.

★ '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's 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.

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. It is hinted at that his feelings for Mia still may be loving. In book six, he pretends to have a "perfect" girlfriend named Heather, but he later admits that he invented Heather to make Mia jealous.

★ 'Perin Thomas': 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. She is again later confused for a boy in Mia's Grandmere's musical, in which she is given a male role.

★ '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 "messed around" 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': A critical English teacher who expects more from Mia's writing. Tina thinks she is very pretty, compares her to Maggie Gyllenhaal and often comments on her clothes.

★ 'Rocky Thermopolis-Gianini': Mia's half-brother and son of her mother and algebra teacher, Mr. Gianini. Mia is much too over-protective of him.

★ 'Sebastiano Grimaldi': 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, and often has trouble pronouncing the ends of words.

Volumes

Volumes in ''The Princess Diaries'' series include:

★ ''The Princess Diaries'', October 2000

★ '', June 2001

★ '', March 2002

★ '', April 2003

★
★ '', August 2003

★ '', March 2004

★ '', March 2005

★
★ '', October 2004

★ '', March 2006

★
★ '', May 2006

★
★ '', December 2006

★ '', January 2007

★ '' (tentative), January 2008FAQS Meg Cabot Website.

★ '', January 2009
Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren:

★ ''Princess Lessons'', March 2003

★ ''Perfect Princess'', March 2004

★ ''Holiday Princess'', November 2005
In the United Kingdom and Australian editions of the books, the titles differ from the US release. Instead of referring to the plot line, the titles are puns on the book number. They are: ''The Princess Diaries'', '', ''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'', ''The Princess Diaries: After Eight'', and ''The Princess Diaries: To the Nines''.

Awards and nominations

★ 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]

Style of writing

The books are noted for containing many popular 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."

Meta-References

★ 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.

★ 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 the bestseller list once. The original ''The Princess Diaries'' novel did make the bestseller list.

★ The eighth novel mentions Samantha Madison and Jessica Mastriani, two heroines from other Meg Cabot books ''All-American Girl'' and ''1-800-Where-R-You''.

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.

Footnotes

1. "ALA |2001 Best Books for Young Adults"
2. "ALA |2001 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers"
3. "The Princess Diaries, Volume I"
4. "Young Adults' Choices for 2002"
5. "Volunteer State Book Award Winners 1978-present"
6. "Past Winners of the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award"

See also

★ Jazmin Grace Grimaldi: a daughter of the Prince of Monaco born and living in the U.S.

External links

★ Official site of Meg Cabot

★ Official Meg Cabot Book Club