From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Cabot - ADVISABLE

Cabot, Meg From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, 182 pages.  Feiwel (Macmillan), 2015.  $17.  Content: G (some lightly described bullying).

Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison has always lived a very ordinary life with her aunt and her aunt’s stepfamily ever since her mother died.  While she has always exchanged letters with her dad, she has never met him.  And there is no way she ever knew he was the Crown Prince of Genovia – not until Annabelle, the prettiest, most popular, and meanest girl at her middle school started pushing Olivia around and threatening Olivia just because of this previously unknown fact.  Now Olivia has been rescued from said beating by Princess Mia herself, and met her famous Grandmother Clarisse, and finally her Dad.  But will she be able to go to Genovia to live with them or will her aunt and uncle, who have their own reasons for holding onto Olivia, be able to threaten the royals away?

Wow – this looks like a cute princess book, and mostly reads like one, especially to someone young, but it is really bout abuse and control and unfortunately most of the world doesn’t have a rich father and beautiful half sister to whisk them away from these situations.  I thought is was kind of an odd direction for Cabot to go with the Princess Diaries series, but I read it twice myself ( it only took about 30 minutes because it is a short, young book) and enjoyed it both times. 

EL – ADVISABLE; MS – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher