PRINCESS ACADEMY: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, by Shannon Hale, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, April 7, 2026, Hardcover, $24.99, Paperback, $16.99 (ages 10 and up)
Shannon Hale’s Newbery-Honor winning classic, Princess Academy, is now available in graphic novel format with art from Victoria Ying.
Miri lives high atop Mount Eskel where, for generations, her ancestors have lived a simple life, working in the quarry. But everything changes when word arrives that the prince of the kingdom will choose his princess from among the village girls.
A makeshift academy is set up on the mountain and every eligible girl must attend and learn how to become a proper princess. Soon Miri finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires. Being chosen could give her everything she ever wanted, but does Miri really want to leave her home and family behind for a royal life? —Synopsis provided by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
I have been trying to get my now 12-year-old to read Princess Academy since she was 8. She’s a voracious reader, and I knew she would love it. But she never picked it up. Then came the advanced reader copy of Princess Academy: The Graphic Novel, and she immediately snatched it out of my hands. It didn’t matter that only the first few pages were in color or that others were still rough sketches.
My kid loved it.
She loved it so much that she went back to the source material and read the OG Princess Academy twice.
That’s the power of a good graphic novel.
This new adaptation takes the beloved story and brings it to life with bold, bright colors, lots of movement and emotion. You really can’t go wrong with it. I can’t wait for an entire new generation to fall in love with Miri and the other girls of Mount Eskel.
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