Princess Academy

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. B+

"Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.

Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates."
-Back of the book.

I heard about this book from my friends but didn't really want to read it because I thought her other books were pretty boring. But I got a copy for my birthday and decided to give it a whirl. It wasn't the most exciting book and not the cleverest fantasy, but it was well written and I think it's a good book for girls around the ages of 9-15. I liked it enough to keep reading it and I thought it was a very cute book with fun, creative characters, but I don't think I'd put this other in my top ten list.