May 12, 2014

Two new ‘Princess Diaries’ books to come

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princess-cover

The cover for the first novel in the series, published in 2000.

Good news for Meg Cabot lovers, or for myself in the sixth grade: Cabot is at work on two new Princess Diaries books after a five-year hiatus from the series.

The first sequel, called Royal Wedding, will actually be aimed at adult readers, in contrast to the sixteen existing books in the YA series. In an exclusive with Cabot, the Washington Post reports,

The idea for the adult novel came from repeated requests from fans, who often wrote to Ms. Cabot and asked if Mia could have a royal wedding to rival Prince William and Duchess Kate’s nuptials.

A short synopsis was also provided in Cabot’s blog post on the subject:

In ROYAL WEDDING (William Morrow), Princess Diaries XI, Princess Mia’s planned nuptials to longtime love Michael Moscovitz are in jeopardy when the paparazzi uncover a startling secret: Mia has a long lost younger sister.

Now a scheming politico is using the royal scandal to force Mia’s father from the throne, leaving Genovia without a monarch… unless Mia can prove to everyone—especially herself—that she’s finally fit to rule.

The other forthcoming Princess Diaries book will be aimed for its usual middle grade audience, and will follow Mia Thermopolis’ newly-discovered sister. Cabot explains,

In From The Notebooks of a Middle School Princess (Macmillan), a new middle grade series, I’m taking readers back to Genovia, this time through the illustrated diaries of a spunky new heroine, 12 year old Olivia Grace, who happens to be the long lost half-sister of Princess Mia Thermopolis. . . .

I’ve been planning this book for some time. I got the inspiration a few years ago from actual goings-on in a certain royal family of a small European principality (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to brush up on your royal family gossip).

Though I can’t say I stayed as interested in the Princess Diaries once I was, say, graduating from high school, I stuck with this series for a long time. (And to an antisocial degree.) I can’t find my copies now, but judging from the amount of the books I accidentally memorized, it was consistently hilarious. More of the series can only be a good thing—particularly, as Cabot points out, because a “lot of the readers who grew up with ‘The Princess Diaries’ YA book are having kids of their own, . . . so the adult book is perfect for them.”

The books will be released in summer of 2015, fifteen years after the publication of the original Princess Diaries.

 

Emma Aylor is a former Melville House intern.

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