From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess: Meg Cabot; Read by Kathleen McInerney

by Meg Cabot

Overview

Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison is a completely average twelve-year-old: average height, average weight, average brown hair of average length, average brown skin and average hazel eyes. The only things about her that aren't average are her name (too long and princess themed), her ability to draw animals (useful for her future career as a wildlife illustrator), and the fact that she is a half-orphan who has never met her father and is forced to live with her aunt and uncle (who treat her almost like their own kids, so she doesn't want to complain).

Then one completely average day, everything goes wrong: the most popular girl in school, Annabelle Jenkins, threatens to beat her up, the principal gives her a demerit, and she's knocked down at the bus stop . . .

Until a limo containing Princess Mia Thermopolis of Genovia pulls up to invite her to New York to finally meet her father, who promptly invites her to come live with him, Mia, Grandmère and her two fabulous poodles . . . .

Maybe Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison isn't so average after all!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250066022
Publisher:	Feiwel & Friends
Publication date:	05/19/2015
Series:	DC Board Books , #1
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	278,895
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Meg Cabot knows that one of the best cures for feeling gawky and conspicuous is reading about someone who sticks out even more than you do. Her books for young adults invariably feature girls who have extraordinary powers that carry extraordinary burdens. Cabot's Princess Diaries series offers up the secret thoughts of Mia Thermopolis, who discovers at age 14 that she is actually the princess of a small European country. This revelation adds significantly to her extant concerns about crushes, friendships, school, and other matters falling under adolescent scrutiny.

Cabot, a native of Indiana weaned on Judy Blume and Barbara Cartland, was already a successful romance novelist (as Patricia Cabot) before she began writing for young adults; her alter-alter ego, Jenny Carroll, began a new series shortly after The Princess Diaries debuted. The Carroll books are divided between the Mediator series, starring a girl who can communicate with restless ghosts; and the 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU books, in which a girl struck by lightning acquires the ability to locate missing people.

Cabot writes her books in a conspiratorial, first-person style that resonates with her readers. She has obviously kept a grip on the vernacular and the key issues of adolescence; but what makes her books so irresistible is the mixing of the mundane with the fantastic. After all, who wouldn't like to wake up and be a princess all of a sudden, or a seer? Cabot takes such offhand notions and roots them firmly in the details of average, middle-class American life. She has also tiptoed into mystery and paranormal suspense with other YA novels and series installments.

Cabot continues to write adult novels under various permutations of her given name (Meggin Patricia Cabot): from 19th-century historical romances to contemporary chick lit. And, as with her books for teens, these romances have earned praise for their lighthearted humor and well drawn characters.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Place of Birth:

Bloomington, Indiana

Education:

B.A. in fine arts, Indiana University, 1991

Website:

http://www.megcabot.com

Editorial Reviews

03/09/2015
The nation of Genovia gains a new resident in this amusing spin-off of Cabot’s Princess Diaries series: self-effacing, biracial Olivia, a 12-year-old aspiring wildlife artist who discovers that she is the half-sister of Princess Mia Thermopolis. Because Olivia’s long-dead mother insisted that Olivia live in New Jersey with her aunt and uncle (who are only slightly more benign than Harry Potter’s kin), Olivia doesn’t know that the father she has never met is the prince of Genovia. Princess Mia dramatically appears at Olivia’s private school just as an angry classmate, Annabelle, is preparing to pummel her; she whisks Olivia off to Manhattan to meet her father and Grandmère, who wastes no time in informing Olivia how a princess ought to comport herself. Though there’s a bump in the road to Olivia’s new royal digs, she at last lands in Genovia, where plans for Mia’s wedding are in full swing. Text-message exchanges and Cabot’s own b&w cartoons further enliven Olivia’s entertaining and candid notebook entries, which will have readers looking forward to her future escapades. Ages 8–12. Agent: Laura Langlie. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Good news for fans of Meg Cabot’s crazy-popular “The Princess Diaries.” There is a fresh face on the Genovian scene, the young princess Olivia Grace. Like her half-sister Mia, Olivia Grace did not know of her royal heritage during her early years. Rather, she has been raised by her emotionally distant aunt and uncle since her mother’s death years ago. It is only when Princess Mia sweeps into the schoolyard and whisks Olivia Grace away that she begins to find out what royal life is like. Before you can say “poodle,” she is trading canine facts with her austere grandmother, hugging her long-absent father, and missing school for shopping trips. When her aunt and uncle decide they might not want to give up guardianship of Olivia, the family reunion comes to a grinding halt. Fortunately, with Princess Mia in charge of the situation, it is a sure thing that all will turn out “happily ever after” in the end. Readers will cheer at the start of this new Cabot-penned princess series. Reviewer: Heidi Hauser Green; Ages 8 to 12.

Children's Literature - Heidi Hauser Green

06/01/2015
Gr 3–5—Return to the world of Cabot's widely popular series in this sweet and sassy spin-off featuring the younger half sister of Princess Mia Thermopolis, Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison. Olivia, a biracial sixth grader with dreams of growing up to be a wildlife illustrator, believes herself to be completely ordinary and average. In fact, that's how she's being raised by her Aunt and Uncle O'Toole. Consumed with texting her BFF Nishi and avoiding an afternoon scrape with Annabeth, the most popular girl in middle school, Olivia's world is about to become a reality show when her sister Mia arrives in a chauffeured limousine, ready to whisk her back to her rightful home in Genovia. Readers familiar with Cabot's previous books know that these princesses are made of tough stuff and use their brains (as well as their bodyguards and limousines) to save themselves and make the world a better place. Olivia's voice comes through strongly in the text, though her overuse of exclamatory phrases can be a bit off-putting. VERDICT This bubble-gum flavored contemporary tale will be a perfect fit for Fancy Nancy alumni and readers not quite ready for Cabot's longer novels.—Meg Allison, The Moretown School, VT

School Library Journal

2015-03-17
Olivia's middle school worries get a lot easier when she gets the surprise of a lifetime. The most exotic things about Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison are her long name, her talent for drawing, and the facts that her mother died when she was a baby and she's never actually met her father, who sends letters and gifts from all over the world. Other than that, she's pretty average. At least, that's what she thinks until a sister she's never met arrives in the schoolyard just in time to save Olivia from getting beaten up by Anabelle Jenkins, who used to be nice but whose desire for popularity is sprouting into bullying behavior. What's even more shocking is her lineage: pure princess! The best part of all? Meeting her dad for the first time. Cabot turns her Princess Diaries brand to a younger crowd, who will be thrilled to fall into the age-old fantasy of kids everywhere: what if my real mom or dad lived in a palace? Cabot manages to combine wit and lavish details to positive effect, as evidenced by a royal grandmother who manages to be both familiar and surprising. While readers who already know the Princess Diaries might find this fairy tale a bit too retold, young newcomers to the Cabot magic will be charmed. A sweet fantasy, both funny and highly satisfying. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews