Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

This one won the Newbery honor award this year, and quite deservedly so. Miri, the main character, is a young girl who lives in a mountain mining community in a kind of fairy tale time and place. One day, an announcement comes from the king that the prince’s bride will come from Miri’s town, and as such all the girls 14 to 17 are taken to an academy designed to make them more presentable (because we can’t have coarse, uneducated peasant girls meeting the prince, now can we?). Miri struggles with conflicting desires to meet and impress the prince and to potentially have an easier life, and to be with her friend, who truly cares about her. There’s more to the store than the romance, but that’s the basic idea. Miri is a strong female role model, and the rest of the characters kind of fade in comparison. It’s very good storytelling, and takes some twists and turns. Very well written, two thumbs up, five stars, yadda yadda. Just go read it (even if it is a kid’s book. Lots of great books are children’s books).