The Princess Diaries (Book 1)

Ahh, the blistering summer is here…time to sweat bullets, crib constantly, guzzle tall cool drinks and catch up on some light-hearted reading. And for the past couple of years, I tend to start my summer-reading with a relatively new favourite: “The Princess Diaries” by best-selling author, Meg Cabot.

Meet Mia Thermopolis. 14 years. Frustrated with teen-life and its innumerable woes. Namely:
1> She has feet like skis, is the tallest girl in her class and is flatter than a surf-board.
2> Her mouse-brown/dishwater-blonde hair is “triangular” in shape and has a rampant life of it’s own.
3> She is a child out of wedlock and is being brought up by her mother, the scatter-brained, avant-garde artist Helen Thermopolis. Who by-the-way is dating her algebra professor, Frank Gianini a.k.a.Mr.G.
4> She regularly gets picked on by her school nemesis, the predictably pretty but obnoxious cheerleader, Lana Weinberger
5> She has an unrequited crush on the most popular senior in class, Josh Richter.
6> Her best friend, Lilly Moscovitz has an IQ of 170, is opinionated, a radical speaker and loves to psychoanalyze Mia at every given opportunity.
7> Lilly's brother, the cool and nonchalant Michael Moscovitz would make the perfect boyfriend....if he would only stop thinking of Mia as his kid sister's best friend.

And if that carpet-bombing wasn’t enough, she wakes up to a startling discovery. She isn’t plain old Mia Thermopolis. She is in fact Her Royal Highness, *Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldi*, Crown Princess of Genovia.

Yep, that’s right, a true-blue Princess! A “small” fact that her father (the current ruler of Genovia) would have gladly kept hidden. However, Mia’s dad has had testicular cancer which rendered him infertile, which is why Mia, an illegitimate child, is heir to the throne.

So while finding out that you are a princess sounds like every girl's dream come true…for Mia it’s just another can of worms that she has to deal with. And guiding her through would be the grandmother-from-hell, Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo, the Dowager Princess of Genovia.

Suddenly Mia has to deal with Princess Lessons and everything thing else that being royalty entails. So say hello to drastic make-overs, unwanted paparazzi and gold-diggers galore.

Written in a series of journal entries, the book is hilarious and at times even drop-dead funny. Mia’s hyperactive approach to life and it’s vagaries is captured perfectly by the supremely talented Meg Cabot.

A book which should have been around, when I was going through my own personal blend of heaven and hell in college.....The Princess Diaries is sort of like a fun talisman that every teenage girl should own, read and commiserate with.