[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Amulet Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Princess Miranda is about to start third grade, and she’ll be going to school for the first time ever. Her castle tutor has finally retired (maybe several years later than she should have). Her teacher seems nice enough, but Princess Miranda would rather still be at home.
Maude Kaye is joining the same third grade class as Princess Miranda. She’s highly verbal and describes herself as a “social justice advocate.”
The girls don’t hit it off. Maude always has several hard boiled eggs with her for lunch, and Princess Miranda finds the thought of them disgusting, much less the smell. Maude thinks Princess Miranda believes she’s better than everyone. And Princess Miranda is overwhelmed by school and standardized testing and feeling completely unprepared academically for school.
The tension comes to a head when Princess Miranda starts handing out birthday party invitations and sees Maude has been drawing and writing about her in her class journal. So she refuses to invite Maude to her party. And Maude knows she is the only one left out.
Review
At it’s core, this is a story about misunderstandings and faulty assumptions getting in the way of friendship. It’s easy to see things from the perspective of each of the girls. Readers just have to wait until the girls work out their misconceptions.
There’s an opportunity here for readers to learn empathy for Princess Miranda and her struggles at school. They can also see that for every behavior (for example Miranda is always at school early), there are several possible motives (Maude assumes it is because she is trying to flaunt the rules because she is better than everyone else. In truth, she is there for extra help.). Readers can also see how alike the girls can be – and how they can help one another – once they give it a try.
There are hints at a deeper story – like the kids who bonded over the loss of their parents, the solidarity of the kids when Maude tells them she wasn’t invited to the party – that might develop in future books.
This is a solid early chapter book /transitional chapter book for kids ready to stretch their new reading skills into longer stories. This is book one in the Miranda and Maude series.