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Princess Academy is a fantasy novel exploring themes of families, relationships, and education by Shannon Hale published on June 16, 2005, by Bloomsbury Press. It tells the story of fourteen-year-old Miri who attends a princess academy that will determine who wins the hand of the prince. The book was named a 2006 Newbery Honor winner as well as a New York Times Bestseller. It is the first in the Princess Academy series, followed by and .
Miri and the other girls attend the academy, where they meet a strict teacher, Tutor Olana. They first learn how to read and write, then move on to subjects such as the history of Danland, poise, conversation, and commerce. All the girls are eager to please the prince and win a comfortable life for themselves and their families. Miri makes friends with some of the other girls, including Britta, a lowlander who had recently moved to Mount Eskel. Miri's new knowledge of commerce helps the village improve their situation in trading with the lowlanders. After they break Tutor Olana's rules and flee home to the village for spring holiday, the girls use what they learned of diplomacy to negotiate a more bearable living arrangement with their teacher, including weekly visits home. Miri also begins to explore the mechanics of quarry-speech, a form of unspoken communication used by natives to Mount Eskel. Miri discovers her ability to use it outside of the quarry—though this was previously thought impossible—and does so to assist the other girls in their final exam. As a result, they all pass and qualify to attend the ball and meet the prince. On their final visit home before the big event, Miri's sister Marda gets in an accident while working in the quarry and breaks her leg. Miri runs to help, but her father yells for her to leave the quarry; he never allows her in it. Upset, Miri runs into Peder's mother, Doter, who tells her the real reason Miri's father never lets her into the quarry: Miri's mother was involved in an accident very similar to Marda's shortly before she gave birth to Miri and died. This encounter helps Miri realize her father truly does love her. Once back at the academy, her conversation with the other girls reveals that they never judged her for not working in the quarry alongside them. Miri realizes her feelings of resentment have dissipated, and that she now has the potential, with her new education, to become whatever she wishes.
Miri's excellence in her studies and her willingness to help her peers despite bitter competition eventually earn her the title of academy princess and the privilege of having the first dance with the prince. At the academy ball, the prince dances with every girl except Britta, who is ill, and generally acts very distant. Later in the evening, he takes a walk with Miri and shows a more human side. However, he leaves without choosing a bride. Once the prince has left, promising to return in the spring to announce his choice, bandits attack the academy hoping to hold the princess-to-be hostage and demand a ransom. Miri uses her new knowledge of quarry-speech to call for help from the village. At first no one seems to hear her, but eventually she is able to contact Peder. The villagers come to the academy through the blizzard, and the girls escape from the bandits and spend the whole winter at home with their families. In the spring, the prince returns and chooses to marry Britta—whom he has known since childhood—and names Mount Eskel an official province. Britta promises Miri the opportunity to travel to the capitol and continue her studies. The book ends with Peder and Miri admitting their feelings toward each other, and Miri choosing to stay in Mount Eskel with her family for a while.
Britta Paweldaughter: A lowlander by birth who's initially presented as an orphan who moved to Mount Eskel to live with her only remaining relatives. She has a difficult time fitting into the local culture, and her silence is often misinterpreted by her peers as typical lowlander arrogance. At the princess academy, she befriends Miri and several other girls, although she never manages to hear the unique "quarry-speech" that unites all residents of the mountain. Britta starts out as the only girl who could read, although she tries to hide the fact in the hopes of blending in. It is later revealed that Prince Steffan had been Britta's childhood playmate and later love interest. Her father is a nobleman and has deliberately sent her to Mount Eskel under a false pretense so that she could wed the prince. In the end, Britta is selected by Steffan as his chosen princess and leaves to prepare for a future with the man of her dreams.
Katar Jinsdaughter: A brusque older girl at the Princess Academy who becomes Miri's rival as the top student and is determined to be chosen as the future princess. Deliberately setting herself apart from other girls, Katar comes across as snobbish and does not hesitate to demonstrate the extent of her learning as much as possible to the academy tutor, Olana Mansdaughter. However, she reluctantly joins the other girls when they oppose Olana's unfair treatment, though she points out how they have broken the rules of the academy and the resulting consequences. It is eventually revealed that Katar had lost her mother shortly after she was born, but unlike Miri, she felt unloved by her father. As a result, she wishes to leave Mount Eskel no matter what, even if it means marrying the prince despite her lack of interest in him. When Miri turns down Britta's offer to become the delegate for the newly designated province of Mount Eskel, Miri suggests Katar instead, believing her qualifications as the highest scoring graduate of the Princess Academy and her wish to leave Mount Eskel make her the most suitable candidate for the position.
Peder Doterson: is a 15-year-old boy and a resident of Mount Eskel who works in the quarry with the rest of the village. He and Miri were childhood friends, and once they grew older, their affection for each other blossomed into romantic love, a fact that they both feared to reveal. Whereas Miri considers herself scrawny, useless, and undesirable compared to other village girls, Peder is discouraged by his belief that Miri desires to marry the prince. Throughout the novel, Peder seems to have a special connection to Miri, as he is able to hear her pleas for help (when bandits held the academy girls) when even her own father could not. In addition, Peder has considerable artistic talent and finds a passion in carving linder, a hobby that is discouraged due to the need for extra hands to help with mining. However, as conditions improve due to Miri's skills in commerce, Peder is able to spend time on his hobby and looks forward to the day when he can formally study from a skilled artisan.
Subsequently, a third book was published in February 2015, titled Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters. After spending a year in Asland, Miri is looking forward to returning to Mount Eskel and reuniting with her family, but is unexpectedly ordered by the king to become the tutor at a princess academy for three royal sisters: Astrid, Felissa, and Susanna. Miri reluctantly agrees to journey to Lesser Alva, a swampy and remote territory where the sisters are residing when she learns that her beloved Mount Eskel could be lost in an impending war against a neighboring nation of Stora and that the successful marriage of one of sisters to Stora's king may save Asland. Miri is forced to endure the challenge of educating the three independently minded girls against suspicious locals and the natural dangers of the swamp land, while discovering that there is a greater mystery regarding the true identities of the three girls and the war looming closer than she realizes.
The Kensington Theatre Company in South Jordan, Utah, adapted the novel into a musical, featuring folk music.
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