Princess acadamy
By Ankita Ramabadran
“Princess Academy” by Shannon Hale is the story of Miri Larensdaughter, a fourteen-year-old girl living with her sister Marda and their father in a mountain village. Their mountain is called Mount Eskel and it is a territory of the kingdom of Danland. The main industry in the village is mining linder, a smooth white stone with ribbons that can vary in size and color. Miri, unlike her peers, is not allowed to help in the linder mines, though the exclusion makes her feel inadequate. Traders journey up the mountain once in a while to trade their goods for linder, although their prices are getting steeper. The priests in Asland, Danland’s capitol, have declared that the next princess will hail from Mount Eskel. The king requires all the eligible girls to attend the princess academy, a few hours’ walk from the town. Though many of them do not wish to go, their attendance is required by law. Miri misses her sister at the academy. The girls are taught by a strict lowlander named Olana, who punishes them harshly when they break rules. Miri accidentally causes the girls to miss going home before the big winter snows, effectively turning her into an outcast. Instead of socializing with the girls Miri focuses on her studies and on figuring out the properties of quarry-speech, the telepathy-like communication the workers use to communicate while in the mine. Miri misses her family and her friend Peder, for whom she has special feelings. Miri is at the head of the class and befriends Britta, a lowlander who has recently come to Mount Eskel to live. Katar and the older girls are jealous of Miri’s success in class. Miri eventually regains the trust of most of the girls and leads them back to the village for the spring holiday, although Olana has resolved that most of them have not earned the right to go. The girls band together and use Olana’s own teaches to regain entry into the academy, striking a balance between what the teacher expects and how the girls wants to be treated. Miri is unsure whether she wants to be princess but she is definitely curious about the world outside Mount Eskel. During an exam before the ball Miri uses quarry-speech to help the other girls pass. She thinks they all deserve to go to the ball because they have worked so hard. The prince is not what any of the girls expected and many of them are very disappointed in his behavior and demeanor. He makes a hasty retreat after the ball and the academy is taken over by bandits who demand to know which girl is the future princess. The girls refuse to abandon one another and work together to confuse the bandits. They are in great danger, and Miri uses the linder to try and communicate to Marda and Pa that they need help. Finally she gets through to Peder, who arrives with the villagers and defeats the bandits. The girls move back to the village to await the prince’s next visit. Miri starts a school for everyone ineligible for the princess academy. Upon the prince’s return he choose Britta, whom he has actually known for years, to be his princess. Miri is happy to stay on Mount Eskel with her family and to be truthful about her feelings for Peder. She knows that she is truly happy on Mount Eskel and is enthusiastic to teach everyone else what she has learned.
