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Meg Cabot

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Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot
BornFebruary 1, 1967
Bloomington, Indiana
Pen namePatricia Cabot
Jenny Carroll
OccupationNovelist
NationalityAmerican
Period1998-present
GenreChick-lit
Mystery
Romance
Science fiction
Website
http://www.megcabot.com/

Meg Cabot (born Meggin Patricia Cabot on February 1, 1967) is an American author of romantic comedies for teens and adults. She has also written under the pseudonyms Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll. She has written and published almost 40 books, and is best known for The Princess Diaries, later made by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films of the same name. Cabot has more than 15 million copies of her books — both young adult and adult — in print worldwide. Her website averages about 61,120 unique visitors a month and her online book club Meg Cabot Book Club (which also includes a writing forum where members can post their stories and fan fiction) averages 15,000 unique visitors a month.

Biography

Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana to college professor A. Victor and Barbara Cabot. She married financial writer Benjamin D. Egnatz on April 1, 1993. She has two cats, Henrietta (a one eyed cat) and Gem, about whom she often blogs.

In 1991, Cabot received a B.A. from Indiana University. Before she published her first book, Meg worked as an assistant dorm manager at New York University. After living in Indiana, California, New York, and France, she now currently resides in Key West, Florida.

In May 2006, the Harvard Crimson released reports that 19-year-old author Kaavya Viswanathan borrowed passages from Cabot's Princess Diaries series, and other books, to place in her novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. Viswanathan's novels were subsequently pulled from the shelves. Cabot has also written many books for teens, including The Princess Diaries series which has won many awards also, her more recent series, The Mediator.

Headline text

Series

The Princess Diaries
File:PrincessontheBrink.jpg
Princess on the Brink, January 2007

The first book in The Princess Diaries series was published in October 2000; the series has spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Children's Series Best Sellers List and has been sold to publishers in 37 foreign countries. As of April 14, 2006, the series was #4 on the New York Times bestseller list.

  • The Princess Diaries, Volume I, October 2000
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, June 2001
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume III: Princess in Love, March 2002
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting, April 2003
    • The Princess Diaries, Volume IV and 1/2: Project Princess, August 2003
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume V: Princess in Pink, March 2004
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in Training, March 2005
    • The Princess Diaries, Volume VI and 1/2: The Princess Present, October 2004
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess, March 2006
    • The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and 1/2: Sweet Sixteen Princess, May 2006
    • The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and 3/4: Valentine Princess, December 2006
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink, January 2007
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume IX: Princess Mia (tentative)
  • The Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess

Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren:

  • Princess Lessons, March 2003
  • Perfect Princess, March 2004
  • Holiday Princess, November 2005

In 2001 and 2004, respectfully, the series was brought to the big screen by Walt Disney Pictures as The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. Cabot has thanked the movies many times in interviews and on her website because she feels they helped boost her book sales and make her the success she is today.

Meg talks about her inspiration for the series: "I was inspired to write The Princess Diaries when my mom, after the death of my father, began dating one of my teachers, just as Mia’s mom does in the book! I have always had a 'thing' for princesses (my parents used to joke that when I was little, I did a lot of insisting that my 'real' parents, the king and queen, were going to come get me soon, and that everyone had better start being a LOT nicer to me) so I stuck a princess in the book just for kicks… and VOILA! The Princess Diaries was born." [1]

On April 6, 2006, Cabot announced a mistake on the back cover of her new book, Party Princess. In New Zealand and Australia, the picture on the back features Georgia Byng instead of Cabot. She said, "Don't worry. The copies of Princess Diaries 7 with Georgia Byng's picture on the back are being pulled from shops, and swapped for copies of the book with the correct author's photo (mine) on the back."[2]

In December, 2006, Cabot announced that a mistake had been made in the front cover summary of Valentine Princess. Since the book chronicles Mia glancing at her old diaries, the characters Boris and Tina were not dating, rather Boris and Lilly. However, on the book flap it says Boris and Tina are a couple. Cabot has announced that this will be fixed by the publishing company.

Cabot has stated that the series will end with its tenth book, when Mia turns 18.[3] However, she has also said that she may drop in on her (Mia) from time to time in the future.[4]

The Mediator
  1. Shadowland, October 2000
  2. Ninth Key, February 2001
  3. Reunion, July 2001
  4. Darkest Hour, December 2001
  5. Haunted, February 2003
  6. Twilight, December 2004

The Mediator series is about a 16-year-old girl named Suze Simon. Suze is a mediator, whose role is to help ghosts finish their business so they can pass onto the afterlife. In this series, she can see, touch, communicate with, hit, punch, and kick other ghosts. The series begins just after Suze's mother remarries a man named Andy Ackerman, and Suze is shipped off to Carmel, California, to live in an old house complete with three stepbrothers. To make matters worse, her bedroom is haunted by an attractive male ghost named Jesse, who died 150 years prior.

The first four books were originally released under her pseudonym Jenny Carroll (this was when Cabot was working with different publishing houses). Haunted was the first title to have Meg Cabot's name on it. The first four books were later reprinted under Cabot's real name in 2005 with new cover art when Twilight was released in hardcover.

1-800-WHERE-R-YOU
File:1800Missing5.jpg
Missing You, December 2006
  1. When Lightning Strikes, February 2001
  2. Code Name Cassandra, August 2001
  3. Safe House, March 2002
  4. Sanctuary, September 2002
  5. Missing You, December 26, 2006

This series revolves around Jessica Mastriani, an ordinary teenage girl given extraordinary psychic powers after being struck by lightning. Her powers allow her to know the exact location of missing children in her dreams. After seeing a picture of a person, they appear in her dreams. The four books chroncile her attempts help missing children while trying to avoid the scrutiny of the federal government.

The first four books were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll. After poor sales, the series was discontinued. Sales improved when the books were rereleased in 2004 under Cabot's real name. Cabot was unhappy with the discontinuation; she stated that she wanted to take the series up to eight books. Her current publishing house has agreed to publish one more installment.

Missing You was released in December 2006 and ended the series. The storyline revolves around Jess several years after Sanctuary, when her former flame Rob appears in the hopes that she will be able to find his younger sister, who has vanished.

The 1-800-WHERE-ARE-YOU series is the basis for the television show Missing, which aired on the Lifetime channel for 3 seasons from 2003 to 2006.

All-American Girl
Avalon High
  • Avalon High , December 2005
  • Avalon High: Coronation (three-book manga series)
    • The Merlin Prophecy (July 3, 2007)
    • Hunter's Moon (September 1, 2007; date subject to change)
    • Homecoming (unknown)

An Avalon High sequel is in the works. However, instead of a regular novel, it is part of a new partnership HarperCollins brokered with Tokyopop (a leading United States manga company). It will be released as a three-book manga series, called Avalon High: Coronation. The first manga, titled The Merlin Prophecy, will be released on July 3, 2007 and is being drawn by manga artist Jinky Coronado, who does the Banzai Girl manga.

On August 31, Cabot reported at her website that the original book has been optioned by the Disney Channel for a made-for-television, live-action movie.

Other young adult

File:Pantsonfire.jpg
The cover of Pants on Fire.

Adult Series

Size 12
  1. Size 12 is Not Fat, January 2006
  2. Size 14 is Not Fat Either, November 28, 2006
  3. Big Boned (tentative), December 2007

Size 12 is Not Fat is an adult mystery series that features former pop star Heather Wells. Heather was once a teen star, but was fired by her recording company when she asked to sing songs she had written instead of the ones they composed for her. The book opens just after Heather has gotten a job as a residence house coordinator at New York College and quickly discovers that young girls in the dorm are being murdered.

The second book was originally titled Phat Chick, but this was changed by the publishers to It's Not Over Until The Size 12 Chick Sings, and finally, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, which will continue with Heather's amateur sleuthing adventures.

The title of the third book, Big Boned, is tentative and may be changed.

Queen of Babble
File:QueenofBabble2.jpg
Queen of Babble in the Big City, June 2007.
  1. Queen of Babble, May 2006
  2. Queen of Babble in the Big City, May 2007
  3. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, May 2008

Queen of Babble debuted at #27 on the New York Times Bestseller List, the highest debut of any of Cabot's adult books; it was also the first of her adult books to be released in hardcover. The series focusses on Lizzie Nichols, a lover of vintage fashion - and of talking. In the first book, her big mouth gets her into trouble with her British boyfriend, Andrew, and Lizzie ends up rushing off to France where her good friend is vacationing and helping out with a wedding. Like most of Cabot's books, the plot is primarily based on romance, but it also deals with the aftermath of Lizzie's tendency to babble. The series is currently contracted as a trilogy.

Romance

  • Where Roses Grow Wild, March 1998
  • Portrait of My Heart, January 1999
  • An Improper Proposal, November 1999
  • A Little Scandal, June 2000
  • Lady of Skye, December 2000
  • Educating Caroline, November 2001
  • Kiss the Bride, May 2002

These romance novels were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Patricia Cabot.

Other adult

Short stories

  • "The Christmas Captive" (as Patricia Cabot), included in the adult romance anthology A Season in the Highlands, which was published in November 2000.
  • "Girl’s Guide to New York through the Movies," included in Metropolis Found: New York Is Book Country 25th Anniversary Collection, published in August 2003.
  • "Kate the Great," included in Thirteen: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen, published October 2003.
  • "Party Planner," included in the adult short story collection Girls' Night In, published September 2004.
  • "Connie Hunter Williams, Psychic Teacher," included in the teen short story collection Friends: Stories About New Friends, Old Friends, and Unexpectedly True Friends, published August 2005.
  • "Allie Finklestine's Rules for Boys," included in the CosmoGIRL! short story collection Shining On, published April 2006.
  • "Reunion," included in the adult short story collection Girls' Night Out, published June 2006.
  • "Cry, Linda, cry: Judy Blume’s Blubber and The Cruelest Thing in the World," included in Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, published Spring 2007.
  • "Ask Annie" included in Midnight Feast, published July 2007.

Screenplays

  • Early versions of the screenplay for Disney's Ice Princess, released in 2005, were written by Meg Cabot. In her version, the heroine was a hockey player turned figure skater, not a physics whiz.

Meg Cabot Book Club

Established on May 28, 2004, the Meg Cabot Book Club is an online community dedicated to the discussion of books. Cabot received the idea for the book club, with many of its features, from one of her readers, Allison Mishkin.[citation needed]

Administered by webmistress Janey Lee of Hanee Designs, Cabot's book club has pages where readers can find free downloads (and the occasional book give-away), contests, polls, and message boards dedicated to all things Meg Cabot.

Once a month, Cabot joins her fans in a monthly chat to discuss that month's chosen YA novel and learn information about her own novels. Of November 2006, more than 17,000 members are registered on the book club's message forum.

As of the New Year, the message board was removed from the Meg Cabot Book Club and moved to Meg's official site. Along with this, it was given a new makeover, a la Princess Diaries, and is very different from the original. Many original members are divided as to whether the drastic change is good or not; most agree that the change was sudden and unnecessary. However, it was Meg's choice to change it, so the users cannot complain (however, many have in discussion), although Meg is open for feedback and improvements, along with the staff.

Awards

  • Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best British Isles Historical Romance, 1999, for An Improper Proposal
  • Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection, Best Book selection, American Library Association, and New York Public Library Teen Book for the New Millennium citation, all 2001, all for The Princess Diaries
  • Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best young adult category, Mystery Writers of America, 2003, for Safe House
  • The Princess Diaries was voted "one of the nation's 100 best-loved novels" by the British public as part of the "The Big Read," British Broadcasting Corporation, 2003.

References

  • "Meg Cabot." Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 50. Gale Group, 2003. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006.
  • Cabot, Meggin. Meg Cabot Book Club. 11 Mar. 2006. 14 Mar. 2006. <MegCabotBookClub.com>.

Official sites:

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