Challenges raise stakes for ‘Princess’ characters

Shannon Hale’s 2005 novel for young readers, “Princess Academy,” was not only a best-seller but it was also a Newbery Honor Book winner. Now, seven years later, there’s a sequel – “Princess Academy: Palace of Stone.”

It continues with the same protagonist, young Miri, who is leaving her hometown of Mount Eskel for the big city, where she will help Princess Britta prepare for a royal wedding. This may seem like a fairy tale, but the story confronts issues regarding the meaning of home, the value of friendship, the emotional challenges of a longtime boyfriend versus a new crush and the simmering class politics of the kingdom.

The time gap between “Princess Academy” and the new novel is the result of Hale concentrating on the book she’s writing at the moment, not long-range planning for sequels or series.

	“Princess Academy: Palace of Stone” by Shannon Hale Bloomsbury, $16.99, 321 pp.

“A lot of my books are more epic adventures. I thought of ‘Princess Academy’ as an intimate story, a quiet book that nobody notices,” she said in a phone interview from her home in Utah.

“Because of the award it got, there were 10 times as many readers as I expected. … It was published in 15 languages. Suddenly I didn’t feel alone with the story anymore; there were hundreds of thousands of readers who were there with me. … I began to get emails from readers asking for a sequel, and I felt the story didn’t belong to me anymore,” Hale said.

Intellectually she finally took control of what might be a second book when the word “revolution” flashed in her brain.

“I thought what a revolution would mean to the story, to the main character. How complicated and how exciting that plot twist would be to the story,” Hale said.

“I didn’t know how the end would come about, how the main character would solve the problem I was throwing at her. … My eagerness overcame any hesitation and I had to do it.”

She’s started writing a third “Princess Academy” book. Though it will have the same main characters, Hale won’t consider all three as a trilogy.

The target age for these books is 10 and up, she said, noting that half of the readers are adults.

Hale also has written just for adults. One of her adult titles is “Austenland,” which is now in post-production as a feature film. Hale co-wrote the screenplay with Jerusha Hess, who is directing.

“I got to go to England and be on the set for seven weeks. … I was with the crew. It was really magical,” she said.

Shannon Hale discusses, signs “Princess Academy: Palace of Stone” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23, at Simms Auditorium, Albuquerque Academy, 6400 Wyoming NE.