| Booktalk
#1
(Pretend to be writing in diary)
Thursday, October 2
Penguin House, Central Park
Zoo
I'm so freaked out I can barely
write. But I have to get this down exactly the way it happened. Otherwise,
when I wake up tomorrow I might think it was just a nightmare. But it wasn't
a nightmare. It was REAL!
When I woke up this morning,
I was just Mia Thermopolis. Fourteen year old, five foot nine, flat-chested
freshman freak at Albert Einstein High School. But everything changed when
I met my dad for High tea today at the Plaza Hotel. First, he starts telling
me how he is the Prince of Genovia,
And how I am not Mia Thermopolis
anymore. Now I'm Ameilia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess
of Genovia! Then he tells me that I have to take princess lessons from
my Grandmere (the Dowager Princess) AND I have to move to Genovia! Okay.
I am so NOT a princess!
I've never seen anyone who
was LESS of a princess than I am. My life is so totally over! I don't know
what to do.
(Look up at audience to ask
this question):
What would you do if you were
me?
(Continue writing in diary)
I do know that I am NOT moving
to Genovia!
(Now address audience)
If you've ever imagined what
it would be like to be royalty, sneak a peek
inside the diary of a real
princess in The Princess Diaries, Princess in the Spotlight & Princess
in Love by Meg Cabot. See if being a modern day princess is as great
as you'd think it would be. (Virginia L. Wright, wrightvi@oplin.lib.oh.us)
Booktalk #2
I'm so freaked out I can barely
write. But I have to get this down exactly the way it happened. Otherwise,
when I wake up tomorrow I might think it was just a nightmare. But it wasn't
a nightmare. It was REAL!
I just found out my Dad is
the Prince of Genovia. I think that I could deal with that, but then he
kept asking me if I really understood what he was telling me. I guessed
a few things. Dad could tell that he had me stumped. So then he dropped
the bombshell on me. "You are not Mia Thermopolis anymore, honey." I raised
my head and said, "I'm not, then who am I?" He then went on to say," You're
Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia!"
WHAT!! ME!! A PRINCESS!!!
Yeah!! Right!!
I am practically the biggest
freak in high school. Let's face it, I am fourteen years old, five foot
nine, flat-chested and a freshman who is flunking algebra and I have never
ever had a date ever. How much more of a freak could I be! And now I am
a Princess!
I am so not a Princess that
when Dad started telling me that I was one, I started crying. I could see
my face getting all splotchy, like it does in PE whenever we play dodge
ball and I get hit. You never saw a Princess with really bad hair, that
isn't curly or straight. It's sort of triangular; I look like a Yield Sign.
It isn't blonde or brunette, it's in the middle as in mousy brown or dishwater
blonde. I am smart but still not smarter that my hair. I have a really
big mouth and feet that looked like skis; they grew a half-inch just last
month.
Then he said "that he was so
sorry, and that it wasn't that bad, that I would like living at the palace
in Genovia with him and that I could come back and visit my little friends
as often as I wanted." That's when I lost it. I said in a really loud voice
in the middle of the dining room of the Plaza, " I AM NOT MOVING TO GENOVIA,"
My Dad looked kind of shocked, He said But Mia, I thought you understood.
And then I fired back, "All I understand is that you lied to me my whole
life. I stood up real fast and ran out the door. I ran past the big fountain
with the gold statues, past all the traffic, right into Central Park where
it was getting dark and cold and spooky. I went to the Central Park Zoo
and sat down in the penguin house and started writing in my journal. WHAT
AM I GOING TO DO??? I can't move to Genovia, Who would look after Fat Cat?
My Mom can't. She forgets to feed herself.
What Am I Going to DO???????
Marilyn Bunker for The
Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
Booktalk #3
I admit it. When I was little,
and sometimes in my current I-must-not-be-human teenage years, I've wanted
to be a princess. Every little girl wants to be a princess at some point,
right? The dresses, the dancing, and living happily ever after with some
gorgeous hunk of a prince? Getting dressed would be a snap: a fairy godmother
and a bunch of cute little animals get you ready for a party.
Right, like that'd happen.
Dresses never look right on
me, at least they never look like they do in the magazines. I'm tall enough,
too tall in fact, but built like your average coat rack. Pathetic when
the dress actually looks better on the hanger than it does on you. I'm
smart, but still not smarter than my own hair, which has a mind of its
own. My feet are WAY too big, and I'm always tripping over them.
Think how bad life would be
in glass slippers - your feet would smell and you'd have no traction, so
you'd slip and fall walking on those fancy red carpets. Then you'd have
all those glass shards to deal with. I'll take my Doc Martens any day.
No way could a bunch of happy bunnies make me princess material, even with
a DOZEN magic wands.
Okay, but the gorgeous hunk
of a prince? I'd still go for that. But I don't believe in happily ever
after. You see, my parents split up early on, and life is better that way.
I'm a lot closer to my mom. She's kind of a crazy painter, but I like having
a mom who isn't convinced minivans are the ultimate in sporty transport.
Dad is a little harder to get
to know, always distracted on the rare occasions when I see him. I know
he loves me, but I'm never sure where I rank on his list of priorities.
My parents are disappointed that I come from a *broken home*, but they
had to break up. They still like each other; they just can't live with
each other. We're all better off because they aren't married, if you know
what I mean.
So I know life doesn't always
turn out like you planned. Sometimes it turns out better, sometimes worse.
But this is ridiculous. Mom's dating my LEAST favorite teacher, the cutest
boy at school KNOWS I'm a geek, and Dad chooses this time to spring a little
family secret on me? "Oh, by the way, you are a royal princess. Someday
you will run the country of Genovia."
Right, like that'd happen.
Mary McCarthy for The
Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
Booktalk #4
In the book Princess Diaries there is a teenage girl named Mia. Who
has a normal teenage life in a house with her mom and is about to live
with her math teacher. But has no idea that her life is about to change
forever.
The lesson that is learned from this story is that don't always get use
to the way that things are because you might not know when your life is
going to change forever and then you won't be use to the way you live.
The reader will get excited and won't want to stop on reading this book
on how exciting the book is and how much drama the book has this book is
really good written book.
The reason that I like this book is because the author writes about what
can happen in someone's teenage life. She also knows how to describe what
a teenager can go through in his/her high school life. (Karina
L., student) |
