In 2001, I saw The Princess Diaries in the theater with my best friend and my mom. It was awesome! I left the theater really wanting a scooter… Being the total geek that I am, I wasted no time in purchasing the book by Meg Cabot. (I probably even bought it the same day we saw the movie) To say I enjoyed the book would be an understatement. I loved it. I had to keep reading. I bought every Princess Diaries book that came out through my high school graduation. The rest I checked out from the library, because I was a broke college student, after all. And that’s what libraries are for.
The Princess Diaries follows Mia through her high school career. She writes down anything that comes into her head and everything that happens to her. Frequently, she writes in bathrooms. She writes about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Princess Leia, Lifetime movies and her fellow royals. And, of course, she writes about her crushes, her friends, and her enemies. These are her diaries, after all, and in a diary, you don’t have a filter.
In college, I learned about “stream of consciousness” while reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, and since then it’s how I describe The Princess Diaries. It’s GOOD stream of consciousness. It still makes sense, but you learn how Mia thinks. And she thinks like a teenager. Worrying about homework, worrying about her mom dating her algebra teacher, worrying about her best friend’s brother and how good his neck smells.
It’s hilarious and unique. Just like Meg Cabot, who I got to meet in person three years ago.
Last month, I was elated to find a new Princess Diaries book, this time written for adults. 
Now, Mia’s all grown up. Recent drama has brought her back to writing in her diary to relieve stress. She writes the same way she always has: no filter, lots of pop culture references, a laugh on every page. Her friends and enemies from previous books are back, Grandmere is still around with her crazy dog and tattooed-on eyeliner, and readers will not be disappointed to find out who Mia is marrying.
Reading Royal Wedding was like catching up with an old friend I haven’t spoken to in a while. I had no idea how much I missed her, and even though I can’t find anything about a Volume 12, I’ll still cross my fingers that this still isn’t the last I’ll hear from my friend Mia.
– Liz Strauss, Teen Librarian
PS: Meg Cabot can write anything, and pretty much has. Aside from The Princess Diaries, she’s written a mystery series (Size 12 is Not Fat), several adult books including a paranormal romance (Insatiable) and even has a few children’s series (Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls). A new middle-grade spin-off of The Princess Diaries also began this year with From the Notebooks of a Middle-School Princess. Check out the Meg Cabot books available at the library!