Author: Lou Kuenzler
Illustrator: Kimberley Scott (Cover: Sara Not)
© Date: 2014
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 268
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, some pages have an illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: At Tall Towers Princess Academy, the Ballet of the Flowers is a very special performance. But Grace just can’t seem to get it right. First, she ruins the invitations when she falls off her unicorn and into the mud. Then she picks a flower called dragon’s heart. . . but it smells more like dragon poo! And graceful? Well, that’s just not Princess Grace. She has much more important things on her mind—like whether a real dragon is living near her school! But will Grace’s secret new friend mess up the ballet performance?
Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this a short bit ago.
Page Pig Thoughts: This one was alright. I did not mind the story and I found the illustrations inside the book cuter than the cover art. The story never really pulled me in, maybe a short bit at the end, but then it went back to being just okay again. Princess Grace does things her own way, but does have a knack for messing things up, even for her best friends. Overall, Princess Grace sees the good in people and does not mind getting dirty. The fact that I read this one not too long ago and don’t have much to say about it means that I must not have gotten overly attached.
Family Unit: Princess Grace lives at Tall Towers Academy. Back home, she lived with her father and younger sister, but her mother had died when she was younger. Her cousin, Princess Precious also attends Tall Towers Academy.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Grace struggles with her relationship with her best friends. She wants to be friends, but has shame and pride.
- Princesses are afraid of dragons, which led to all of the island’s dragons being chased away.
- Grace keeps secrets from her best friends and it makes her friends start to be more distant.
Positive Items:
- Grace’s best friends are kind and supportive, even when Grace is keeping secrets from them.
- Grace has one skill that she excels at, unicorn riding, and in the end, her skill is the one needed to save the island. Well, along with her boldness and uncanny ability to jump in without thinking too much.
- The dragons and princesses learn how to live peacefully together.
Items of Interest:
- Princess Grace does not excel at anything at Tall Towers Academy, except for riding her unicorn. She is frequently called Princess Dis-Grace because she is dirty, has tattered clothing items, has messy handwriting, cannot dance gracefully, etc.
- Princess Grace’s cousin, Princess Precious, is the mean girl of school. She is constantly pointing out Grace’s flaws and making Grace feel bad.
- Tall Towers Academy is on Coronet Island. Dragons used to live on the island, but they were known for eating princesses and being scary. All of the dragons were chased from the island. Gamekeeper Falcon is responsible for keeping the dragons away. Turns out he has been selling the dragons that he finds to the black market dragon fighters.
- Keeper Falcon’s niece, Hetty, lives with him on the island. Her mother is dead and the headmistress of Tall Towers allows Hetty to stay on the island and help with chores. Keeper Falcon is harsh when he deals with Hetty and her manners. He wants Hetty to mind her place, she is not a princess and cannot ride unicorns and needs to curtsy and such to the princesses.
- Grace befriends Hetty because Hetty reminds her of her younger sister back home.
- Grace discovers a baby dragon with Hetty. They know that they need to keep the dragon a secret and are sad that his mother hasn’t been around to properly care for him. Hetty helps Grace take care of the baby dragon in secret.
- Grace secretly gives Hetty unicorn riding lessons even though Hetty is a commoner and not allowed to ride a unicorn.
- Grace has a bit of a falling out with her best friends, Princess Scarlet and Princess Izumi. Grace rode her unicorn onto school grounds when she wasn’t supposed to and ruined the invitations that her friends had stayed up all night working on. Grace then gets a little upset that her friends are talking with Princess Precious. Grace keeping the dragon a secret from her friends continues pushing them away because they know Grace is hiding something. Despite everything, Grace’s friends keep coming back to do nice things for her.
- In the end, Grace winds up rescuing her friends and Hetty from a perilous cliff by boldly jumping on the mother dragon’s back and riding her. Princess Precious refuses to jump onto the dragon and needs to be rescued later.
- After the dragons are discovered, dragons are allowed back on the island in their nesting area. The inhabitants of Tall Towers Academy work to live in peace with them.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Book 1 – Princess DisGrace: A Royal Disaster
- Book 3 – Princess DisGrace: Third Term at Tall Towers
- Book 4 – Princess DisGrace: Winter Term at Tall Towers