Sonderbooks Book Review of Princess in Pink

Reviewed April 5, 2004.
HarperCollins, New York, 2004. 256 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF CAB).

Well, maybe as I’m getting close to 40, I’ve outgrown the Princess Diaries books. In this book, Mia’s worried because her boyfriend hasn’t asked her to the Prom and her Mom’s expecting a baby.

Now, the reader isn’t worried for a moment that Mia won’t end up at the Prom, and we know her Mom will have the baby safely, so there’s no real suspense here (although there are some surprises about the Prom and relationships of other characters). The book is definitely amusing, like all the books in the series, but I found myself a little tired of Mia’s day-to-day life and her tendency to be overdramatic. Perhaps I’m getting old.

One thing that bothered me about the book is that mostly the girls I see checking out these books are preteens, and in this installment, Mia is very obsessed about her boyfriend getting to second base, and completely explicit about what that means. Call me sheltered, but I’m glad I didn’t read a book like that when I was in junior high. My friends and I were still dreaming that the guys we liked would notice our existence! Parents should know that these books are not the Disney version.

Perhaps it’s not fair for me to give this book a lower rating (Remember, I don’t review books I don’t like—I did like it!) when it’s so similar to the other books I rated more highly. It goes to show that the ratings are subjective and depend on my personal reaction to the books when I read them. This fifth book was much like the others, and although it’s amusing, I’m beginning to get tired of that.

As you can tell, this book made me feel old! Princess Mia Thermopolis is still funny and always gets closer to self-actualization, but I’ll probably leave the rest of her adventures to teens.

Reader comment: An anonymous reader gives this book five stars.

Reviews of other books by Meg Cabot:
Princess in the Spotlight (Volume II)
Princess in Love (Volume III)
Princess in Waiting: The Princess Diaries, Volume IV
Princess Lessons
All-American Girl

For adults:
The Boy Next Door
Size 12 Is Not Fat
Every Boy's Got One

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

**Princess in Pink*

The Princess Diaries, Volume V

by Meg Cabot