Greg Pattridge hosts Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (MMGM) on his Always in the Middle website each week. Check it out for more great kidlit!
“The girl,” raised by a family of dragons, flees the forest with no name and no past. She knows only that she must find Pennyroyal Academy, where the bold and courageous train to become Princesses and Knights. Only after she enrolls does she learn that the job of a fully qualified Princesses is to kill witches. And that Knights all train to kill dragons.
This is a rollicking adventure with nods to Harry Potter. Under the tutelage of her Fairy Drillsergeant, newly christened Cadet Eleven (Evie) navigates the academy’s stringent military training. Along the way, she makes some new friends and some new enemies, and she learns a great deal about her self—what she is capable of and where she came from. And during the Helpless Maiden, the end-of-year, hands-on practicum, it becomes abundantly clear that those who should have cared for Evie have not always had her best interests at heart.
I’ve seen a lot of terrible reviews for this one, and I can’t agree. It’s a lighthearted read set in a fairytale world. Not the best of literature, but definitely not the worst. If you’re looking for a Harry Potter-equivalent read, however, this isn’t it. The cast of teachers lacks greatly in comparison, Evie’s friends don’t have the same depth and likeability as Harry’s, the setting isn’t as grand, and plot isn’t as captivating. It lacks the imagination, uniqueness, and awe of Rowling’s series. So I do get it–the often-made comparison is unequal. There’s only one Harry Potter, but Pennyroyal is fun in its own way.
Some notes about content. This is very Grimm’s fairytale-ish. Witches are bad, like the witch that tried to cook Hansel and Gretel. They eat children’s hearts, though we never see anything that gruesome. They are scary and evil and dark but never actually occultic. Also, Evie’s friend Basil is the 22nd son of a woman who longed for a girl and enrolls him in the princess program. I thought I spotted a deviant political statement in the making, but it never goes there. Basil wants to fight witches, not be a girl. He’s given quarters in an outbuilding and becomes the most dynamic of Evie’s friends. He was probably my favorite character. So if you’re leery of such messages in children’s literature, as I am, you needn’t be in this case.
I’d rate this one 3.5 stars.
For ages 9-12.
Grab a copy of Pennyroyal Academy off Amazon.