The Princess Diaries. Meg Cabot. 2000. Harper Collins. New York, New York.
Annotation: Mia Thermopolis is a 9th grader living with her mother in New York. She thinks she looks like a "freak", gets made fun of by the popular girls, and is not having trouble in Algebra. Everything changes when she finds out the she is the Princess of Genovia.
Justification for nomination: Meg Cabot does a great job conveying the main character, Mia, in this diary-style book. Mia suffers from self confidence issues, thinking her "hair looks like a yield sign", she is flat chested, too tall, and has huge feet. She is also very embarrassed that her mother is dating her Algebra teacher. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, she recieves a surprise visit from her father, who lives in Genovia. He drops a bomb on her, saying that she is the only heir to the throne of Genovia, and is a princess. Mia goes beserk. She is upset that her parents lied to her this whole time, that she may have to move far away from her best friend, Lilly, and she does NOT want to be a princess. In this hilarious story, Mia goes through a transformation from the shy girl she once was, into an assertive, confident, happy young woman.
I loved this book because Meg did such a great job speaking to her teenage audience, and the whole story is very entertaining and funny. Any teen girl who ever dreampt of becoming a Princess or celebrity, or just wants to be recognized will love this tale of Mia Thermopolis.
Genre: YA Fiction, Humor, ALEX Award winner, coming of age.
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