From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess: 6 Reasons We Bow Down to Meg Cabot’s New Book
Whether we admit it or not, most of us crave royal luxury—which is why everyone’s so obsessed with Will and Kate, and books like Meg Cabot’s young-adult series The Princess Diaries are so insanely popular. And now Cabot is opening up her royal world to a new category of readers with the just-released middle-grade novel From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess.
In it, we meet Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison, who believes she’s a totally average 12-year-old—except for having so many “bizarre” middle names. Olivia’s mom died when she was a baby, and she’s never even met her father—she has only ever communicated with him by letter. She lives with her aunt, step-uncle, and step-cousins, who don’t exactly treat her like one of the family. But one day, popular girl Annabelle Jenkins threatens to beat her up for being a princess. Olivia?? A princess??? The very same day Olivia is greeted after school by none other than the Princess Mia Thermopolis of Genovia, who explains that she’s Olivia’s half-sister, and promptly whisks her off to New York to meet her father and Grandmère for the first time. Olivia’s dad wants Olivia to come live with him in Genovia, but her aunt and uncle might not be willing to let her—and her dad’s hefty monthly support payments—go so quickly.
From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess: Meg Cabot; Read by Kathleen McInerney
Hardcover $16.99
From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess: Meg Cabot; Read by Kathleen McInerney
By Meg Cabot
Hardcover $16.99
The book flies by, but it packs in a lot of heart. Here are six things we love about the newest member of Genovia’s royal family.
Olivia is not another white princess with straight blond hair and blue eyes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there are already so many lovely fair-haired princesses with sparkling eyes the color of the ocean. Olivia is half African-American and half Caucasian, with hazel eyes and brown curly hair, which she mostly wears in braids due to its frizzy tendencies. Princesses—they’re just like us, frizz and all!
This girl loves The Cheesecake Factory. After Princess Mia picks Olivia up from school in a limo, she tells Olivia she can take her to any destination of Olivia’s choosing. “No one had ever taken me to a destination of my own choosing before! If they had, I’d have chosen to go to Cheesecake Factory EVERY SINGLE TIME.” She ends up asking to meet her father instead, but Cheesecake Factory is undoubtedly a close second.
Olivia’s more worried about getting a demerit at school than going on a shopping spree. Olivia’s Grandmère wants to take her shopping for an entirely new wardrobe, since the sixth-grader doesn’t have many clothes outside of her school uniform. However, Olivia worries about skipping school. She’s gone the whole year without one demerit and isn’t about to start getting them now just so she can get some new clothes. Of course, a phone call to the school from the Dowager Princess Clarisse Renaldo of Genovia on behalf of her granddaughter is all it takes for Olivia to be excused from classes.
No makeover. Makeovers can be super-fun, but they can also have the opposite of their intended effect: rather than making you feel beautiful, they can make you feel that you need a ton of makeup to be pretty. The lovely Olivia may think she’s totally average, but she’s anything but. Naturally, Olivia’s Grandmère tries to give her a makeover at a fancy salon, but Princess Mia puts a stop to it before they can do anything more than make Olivia’s curls a little bouncier.
Olivia wants to be a wildlife illustrator when she grows up. All of those drawings you see of animals in textbooks, online, and on zoo placards—that’s what Olivia wants to do. And she pours a lot of energy and effort into her passion. Her art teacher at school thinks she has real talent; she just needs to keep practicing, especially at perspective.
Not a lot of FOMO for our princess. Olivia thinks it’s a little unfair that her step-cousins get to have their own computers, TVs, and cell phones, while she doesn’t have any of those things. But she’s more concerned with enjoying the possessions and people she does have in her life rather than worrying about what she doesn’t. Plus, she has her art career to focus on, so there’s no time to veg out for hours in front of a screen.
Olivia is a princess, but she’s also a regular girl—one who will inspire the young readers in your life.
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The book flies by, but it packs in a lot of heart. Here are six things we love about the newest member of Genovia’s royal family.
Olivia is not another white princess with straight blond hair and blue eyes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there are already so many lovely fair-haired princesses with sparkling eyes the color of the ocean. Olivia is half African-American and half Caucasian, with hazel eyes and brown curly hair, which she mostly wears in braids due to its frizzy tendencies. Princesses—they’re just like us, frizz and all!
This girl loves The Cheesecake Factory. After Princess Mia picks Olivia up from school in a limo, she tells Olivia she can take her to any destination of Olivia’s choosing. “No one had ever taken me to a destination of my own choosing before! If they had, I’d have chosen to go to Cheesecake Factory EVERY SINGLE TIME.” She ends up asking to meet her father instead, but Cheesecake Factory is undoubtedly a close second.
Olivia’s more worried about getting a demerit at school than going on a shopping spree. Olivia’s Grandmère wants to take her shopping for an entirely new wardrobe, since the sixth-grader doesn’t have many clothes outside of her school uniform. However, Olivia worries about skipping school. She’s gone the whole year without one demerit and isn’t about to start getting them now just so she can get some new clothes. Of course, a phone call to the school from the Dowager Princess Clarisse Renaldo of Genovia on behalf of her granddaughter is all it takes for Olivia to be excused from classes.
No makeover. Makeovers can be super-fun, but they can also have the opposite of their intended effect: rather than making you feel beautiful, they can make you feel that you need a ton of makeup to be pretty. The lovely Olivia may think she’s totally average, but she’s anything but. Naturally, Olivia’s Grandmère tries to give her a makeover at a fancy salon, but Princess Mia puts a stop to it before they can do anything more than make Olivia’s curls a little bouncier.
Olivia wants to be a wildlife illustrator when she grows up. All of those drawings you see of animals in textbooks, online, and on zoo placards—that’s what Olivia wants to do. And she pours a lot of energy and effort into her passion. Her art teacher at school thinks she has real talent; she just needs to keep practicing, especially at perspective.
Not a lot of FOMO for our princess. Olivia thinks it’s a little unfair that her step-cousins get to have their own computers, TVs, and cell phones, while she doesn’t have any of those things. But she’s more concerned with enjoying the possessions and people she does have in her life rather than worrying about what she doesn’t. Plus, she has her art career to focus on, so there’s no time to veg out for hours in front of a screen.
Olivia is a princess, but she’s also a regular girl—one who will inspire the young readers in your life.
Shop All Books for Young Readers >