Forever Princess by Meg Cabot (audio)

Forever Princess (Princess Diaries, book 10, Finale!) by Meg Cabot. 2009.
Audience: 12 and up
My Rating: 4.5*s of 5
Summary: Mia, who is finally a senior at Albert Einstein High, faces difficult choices about boys and her status as princess while her future, and Genovia's, hang in the balance.
Comments: I heart Meg Cabot. It is official. I have now read enough of her books to safely say that she never disappoints. As she does so well, Cabot gives us another character who, for much of the book, cannot seem to make the right choices (veeeery similar to the way her target audience might think/behave? Bless my adult, fully formed pre-frontal lobe!). The love triangle between Mia, J.P., and Michael is delicious as are the interspersed excerpts from Mia's senior project, a medieval romance book called Ransom My Heart (published under Meg Cabot as an adult romance! Clever Meg). My only prior Princess exposure was part of book 1, but I still completely enjoyed this royale finale.
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Read-alikes: duh

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day by Meg Cabot. 2008.
Audience: 8-12, Grades 3-5
My Rating: 4.5*s out of 5
Summary: When nine-year-old Allie Finkle's parents announce that they are moving her and her brothers from their suburban split-level into an ancient Victorian in town, Allie's sure her life is over. She's not at all happy about having to give up her pretty pink wall-to-wall carpeting for creaky floorboards and creepy secret passageways-not to mention leaving her modern, state-of-the-art suburban school for a rundown, old-fashioned school just two blocks from her new house.
Comments: How does Meg Cabot do it? I have enjoyed everything I've read by her, regardless of the subject or audience. Her writing is current and vernacular, but doesn't seem dumbed-down. Allie was honest, independent, and endearlingly flawed. At first I thought the "rules" concept would get in the way, but instead it nicely threaded the story together. My favorite rule (very hard to choose just one)..."When you finally figure out what the right thing to do is, you have to do it, even if you don't want to."
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