Pennyroyal Academy--M.A. Larson

Title: Pennyroyal Academy
Author: M.A. Larson
Publisher: G.P. Putnam, 2014.
Pages: 320 p.
Source: VOYA
Compensation: None

The first novel in a planned series, Pennyroyal Academy, opens with a young girl lost in a dark magical forest who stumbles on a deserted cottage. Hoping for shelter, she enters and quickly realizes she has made a huge mistake. The cottage belongs to a witch who returns with a captured boy. But this is no ordinary boy and girl. The two of them are able to escape the evil witch and begin a journey to Pennyroyal Academy, a school for knights and princesses who learn how to battle evil witches. While at the Academy the girl with no name discovers she is the victim of a curse and slowly discovers her true identity.

The traditional idea of princesses as kind generous girls remains true, but M.A. Larson has given them other qualities as well: strength and witch fighting abilities. Pennyroyal Academy is a boot camp for girls to train to join the Princess Army and help rid the world of the evil dangerous witches.  Readers will love the references to well-known Grimm's fairy tales as well as the idea of princesses who are not damsels in distress and can do their own saving. Younger readers who are closer to the princess-loving age may enjoy the novel more, but older readers will also appreciate the girl-power update to the fairy tale world of their youth.

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That's my official VOYA review. I just finished reading Pennyroyal Academy to my 7 year old and she decided to do her own review as well:

M.A. Larson, Author
Pennyroyal Academy, Title

I liked Pennyroyal Academy because it is fiction and Evie learns about her family and I liked that it was different because the princesses were fighting witches instead of laying around.

I think that people should read it.

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Edited 1/6/15 to include this tweet from Larson. How cool is he?

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