Princess in Pink (Princess Diaries, Vol. 5) [Hardcover]

Meg Cabot (Author)

Book Description

Series: Princess Diaries | Publication Date: March 23, 2004

Things are looking up for Mia: She's the newest staffer on the school paper, and her miraculous completion of freshman Algebra is just around the corner. Plus she's about to get a new baby brother or sister. Could things possibly get any better?

But in her heart of hearts, Mia has one wish: an evening spent with Michael in a tux and a corsage on her wrist -- in other words, the PROM. Michael, however, does not seem to share the dream that is the prom. Worse still, a service workers strike (with Grandmère and Lilly at the heart of it and on opposite sides) threatens the very existence of this year's prom.

Will the strike end in time? Can Michael be dissuaded from his anti-prom views? Most importantly, will Mia get to wear her pink prom dress?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9–In volume five in the series, Princess Mia has a new problem to overcome–how to get to the senior prom when boyfriend Michael thinks it's the height of lame. More drama erupts when Grandmère brings her poodle to Mia's 15th birthday party at a fancy restaurant. He gets loose, a busboy from Nepal gets fired, Mia's best friend starts a protest on his behalf, and the subsequent restaurant workers' strike shuts down the entire food and hotel industry, including the prom venue. Grandmère refuses to take responsibility, but finds an alternate prom site, and Mia manages to get the gig for Michael's new band. Thus, she gets to go to the prom. Fans will eat up this newest installment in the life of a teenage royal, and they won't mind Mia's whining and often shallow insistence on the importance of the dance over a fight that might end her long-standing friendship with her best friend, and Grandmère's immature behavior. Mia is an engaging if sometimes not very memorable heroine, and the conversational tone of the diary entries makes this a fun, lighthearted read.–Linda Bindner, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. The fifth volume in the Princess Diaries series finds Mia Thermopolis, high-school freshman and Genovian princess-in-waiting, with much on her mind: her fifteenth birthday, her continuing search for self-actualization, princess lessons with imperious Grandmere, her pregnant mom's approaching due date, and, most important, boyfriend Michael's senior prom. As expected, snafus abound. Michael shows no interest in prom; there's a rift with best friend Lilly; Grandmere's pooch causes haute uproar in a snooty restaurant, resulting in a service workers' strike; and, horrors, the prom is canceled. Mia's journal entries, filled with pop references and animated commentary, are sure to entertain; her romantic expectations (drawn largely from her favorite movies) contrast humorously with reality checks. Series fans will enjoy Mia's continuing saga that once again blends typical teen trials with noblesse oblige, and look forward to another installment. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (March 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060096101
• ISBN-13: 978-0060096106
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write! Books for you, your sister, your best friend, your mother . . . . even for men with good taste!

Most of my time is spent over at my website, http://megcabot.com, so be sure to stop by!

UK, New Zealand, and Australia fans, visit http://www.megcabot.co.uk.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vastly improved from 4 but still lacking, May 2, 2004

By 

hiphopgirl_1000 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Princess in Pink (Princess Diaries, Vol. 5) (Hardcover)

Yes, I admit, after book #4, I had my doubts if Meg Cabot could ever write another Princess Diaries book as good as the first three. But boy was I wrong...

We catch up with Mia almost at the end of the school year. Of course things are now definitely clicking better than the beginning of the year. She is going to become a big sister and has just gotten a job on the newspaper "The Atom", even if it is the lowly position of reporting the school's lunch menu for the week. (Just as a side note : I loved the issues of "The Atom" in this book! Wish there had been more. They were so light-hearted and fun to read). But the best thing of all is that she has the world's greatest boyfriend, the love of her life, Micheal and it is Mia's dream of a lifetime to go the the school Prom with Micheal and spend an evening with him and hopefully getting to "second base". Unfortuntely things go all wrong before they do right. A diaster at Mia's 15th birthday party has caused the whole city's busboys to go on strike and now both Grandmere and Lily are in a deadlocked battle against eachother because of it. If things don't get settled soon, there might be no prom at all. But most importanty, the BIGGEST problem is that Micheal thinks the Prom is LAME!!! LAME!! Can Mia work some magic so her dream comes true? Or will she have to spend all her life regretting that she never went to the Prom with her love?

Okay, okay, enough with telling what happens. Now onto my opinion of the book. Like always, Mia made me laugh with all the idiot things she keeps coming up with. Being the same age as Mia herself, I can relate to some of those lame teen things everybody goes through. But my favorite part was when Mia thought she had Asperger's syndrome. So why didn't I give this book 5 stars? Because Mia obsessed way too much about the prom! Every other thought of hers was HOW AM I GOING TO GO TO THE PROM or WHY HASN'T MICHEAL ASKED ME TO THE PROM. Way too repetetive. Besides that, this book was a vast improvement over #4, and I can say that Mia is officially back, bright and bubbly.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ow my brain..., March 3, 2005

By 

SeeTheTruth - See all my reviews

This review is from: Princess in Pink (Princess Diaries, Vol. 5) (Hardcover)

This was the worst book in the P.D. series! Mia whines. And complains. And whines some more about her annoying boyfriend who WON'T TAKE HER TO PROM!!!!(gasp shock!!!!) Who really cared? I hadn't read the other books in a while so I decided to re-read them and realized that they were nothing more than loooong whine fests. Try reading Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging if you want a book that's acually worth reading!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Addition to the Series, March 23, 2004

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Princess in Pink (Princess Diaries, Vol. 5) (Hardcover)

Everyone's favorite Princess, Mia Thermopolis, is back, and better than ever. After waiting five long years to see Mia finally hit 15-years-old, the time has come. In PRINCESS IN PINK, Mia is celebrating a long-awaited birthday, where she is hoping for many fantastic gifts; she is the newest staffer on the school newspaper, which is extremely exciting, even if she's got a boring topic to cover; she's reaching the end of Freshman Algebra, which she just knows she's going to pass; she's got a fantastic boyfriend, who would be even more fantstic if he would just ask her to the prom; and she's waiting to find out whether her Mother's baby will be a boy or girl. But now trouble has begun, as there is a food worker's strike which is pitting Grandmere (Mia's Grandmother, and the Dowager Princess of Genovia) against Lilly (Mia's best friend), and threatening the very existence of this year's prom. Now Mia is unsure that she will ever have the chance of attending the prom with Michael.

The year's wait was definitely worth it, as some of the old Mia is shining through yet again. As opposed to being so infatuated and obsessed with Michael, as in the last PRINCESS DIARIES book, PRINCESS IN WAITING, Mia is showing off her brain, and working on many other things that don't even involve Michael. Cabot has created a fun addition to the PRINCESS DIARIES series, featuring Mia and her pals. The few issues of Albert Einstein High School's Newspaper THE ATOM are quite fun to read as well, as you get to see what Mia's new project is all about. Overall this was a fantastic read, and will be cherished by all fans of Cabot's work. Pick this up as soon as possible, as you won't be disappointed.

Erika Sorocco