Jenny Ingram (VOYA, August 2005 (Vol. 28, No. 3))
In her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri is much smaller than her peers and not allowed to work in the quarry alongside the other able-bodied villagers. Instead she keeps house for her widower father and her sister and hopes to strike a good deal with the trader who visits periodically. When a royal messenger arrives one day to tell the villagers that the country's priests have determined that the prince's bride will come from their region, the village girls go away to school to be educated for royal life. Despite the bleak, strict nature of their school, Miri comes away from the experience with knowledge that she uses to change the economy and quality of life for her village. The imaginative setting for the story makes it timeless and universal. Hale creates a parallel universe where things are just familiar enough to recognize yet remain unique to the story. In their isolation, the mountain people have learned to communicate telepathically, which contributes to the magical aura of the story. Miri's emerging leadership at the school and her choice to use her education for the benefit of her village are refreshing takes on a classic setup. In the end, she gets her man, having known all along that the prince was not for her. This new classic will have a place with leisure readers and in the classroom. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2005, Bloomsbury, 300p., $16.95. Ages 11 to 15.