Princess Lessons

Meg Cabot entertained thousands of readers with her Princess Diaries series about a somewhat awkward teenage girl from Manhattan who discovers that she's actually heir to the throne of a small European principality. In this princess-pink guidebook, the unlikely royal Mia Thermopolis informs her fans that if she can be a princess, anyone can--with the help of a few princess lessons, that is. (Of course, she honestly doesn't know why anyone would want to when they could lead a perfectly normal life.) This how-to guide for princesses-in-training--written in the voices of Tina, Grandmère, and other characters from the series--is surprisingly applicable to daily, non-royal life. While it is peppered with princess-specific advice (such as how to perfect a curtsy), it is not quite the spoof one might expect. In the Beauty section, for example, the manual emphasizes confidence, minimal makeup, and hygiene. In the Etiquette section, we learn not to slouch, shuffle, skip, or saunter. Readers will find polite e-mail protocol, musings on popularity, five easy ways to save the planet, and even Lily and Mia's list of movies in which characters achieve self-actualization. Chesley McLaren's comical, artful illustrations reflect the tongue-in-cheek tone of this fairly common-sense manual for surviving Polite Society. And remember: "Throughout history, princesses have been remembered not for the waist size of their 501s, but for the good deeds they performed when they were on the throne." (Ages 10 and older) --Karin Snelson