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뉴욕의 평범한 고등학생인 미아 더모폴리스가 어느 날 유럽의 소국인 제노비아 공국(가상의 국가)의 공주이며 왕위 계승자라는 사실이 밝혀지면서 겪는 에피소드를 주인공의 일기 형식으로 풀어간 소설이다. '공주 신화'라는 19세기 식 동화 소재를 신선하게 비틀어 21세기를 살아가는 미국의 청소년들의 삶에 대입시켜 변주한 이 책의 매력은 어찌 보면 뻔한 소재를 그럴싸하게 끌고 나가는 유쾌한 상상력과 작품 속에서 금방이라도 튀어나와 숨을 쉴 듯한 생동감 넘치는 인물묘사에 있다. “어느 날 갑자기 공주가 되었다”라는 드라마틱한 사건의 이면에 사춘기 소녀의 갈등, 친구 관계, 이성 문제, 개성적인 등장인물들과 함께 그것을 아우르는 소심한 듯하면서 당찬, 평범한 듯하면서도 매력적인 주인공 미아의 캐릭터를 교직함으로써 이 작품이 '신데렐라 콤플렉스'를 자극하는 또 하나의 소설이 아니라 지금 이 시대를 살아가는 청소년의 생생한 일상과 그들의 꿈과 고민을 구체적으로 형상화한 흥미로운 성장소설로 기능하고 있음을 보여준다.

English ClassM.
Assignment (Due December 8): Here at Albert Einstein High School, we have a very diverse student population. Over one hundred and seventy different nations, religions, and ethnic groups are represented by our student body. In the space below, describe the manner in which your family celebrates the uniquely American holiday, Thanksgiving. Please utilize appropriate margins.

My Thanksgiving
by Mia Thermopolis

6:45 a.m. ? Roused by the sound of my mother vomiting. She is well into her third month of pregnancy now. According to her obstetrician, all the throwing up should stop in the next trimester. I can't wait. I have been marking the days off on my 'N Sync calendar. (I don't really like 'N Sync. At least, not that much. My best friend, Lilly, bought me the calendar as a joke. Except that one guy really is pretty cute.)

7:45 a.m. ? Mr. Gianini, my new stepfather, knocks on my door. Only now I am supposed to call him Frank. This is very difficult to remember due to the fact that at school, where he is my first-period Algebra teacher, I am supposed to call him Mr. Gianini. So I just don't call him anything (to his face).

It's time to get up, Mr. Gianini says. We are having Thanksgiving at his parents' house on Long Island. We have to leave now if we are going to beat the traffic.

8:45 a.m. ? There is no traffic this early on Thanksgiving Day. We arrive at Mr. G's parents' house in Sagaponic three hours early.

Mrs. Gianini (Mr. Gianini's mother, not my mother. My mother is still Helen Thermopolis because she is a fairly wellknown modern painter under that name, and also because she does not believe in the cult of the patriarchy) is still in curlers. She looks very surprised. This might not only be because we arrived so early, but also because no sooner had my mother entered the house than she was forced to run for the bathroom with her hand pressed over her mouth, on account of the smell of the roasting turkey. I am hoping this means that my future half-brother or -sister is a vegetarian, since the smell of meat cooking used to make my mother hungry, not nauseated.

My mother had already informed me in the car on the way over from Manhattan that Mr. Gianini's parents are very old-fashioned and are used to enjoying a conventional Thanksgiving meal. She does not think they will appreciate hearing my traditional Thanksgiving speech about how the Pilgrims are guilty of committing mass genocide by giving their new Native American friends blankets filled with the smallpox virus, and that it is reprehensible that we as a country annually celebrate this rape and destruction of an entire culture.

Instead, my mother said, I should discuss more neutral topics, such as the weather.

But the truth is, Mia spends all her time doing one of three things: preparing for her nerve-racking entr_e into Genovian society, slogging through the congestion unique to Manhattan in December, and avoiding further smooches from her hapless boyfriend, Kenny. For Mia, being a princess in love is not the fairy tale it's supposed to be . . . or is it?