I am reading the fourth book of the "A Royal Match" series called "Dumping Princes" written by Tyne O'Connell. This series is about a fourteen year old girl who was formerly an outcast in her elite boarding school, St. Augustine's. Being the only girl in her school who was American, and one of the only students who was on a scholarship and not incredibly wealthy, Calypso was completely ostracized by the popular, wealthy crowd at her school. However, after she became best friends with Georgina Castle Orpington (one of the most popular girls in her school who was constantly one the pages of socialite magazines) and dated Prince Freddie, the Prince of England and heir to the throne, Calypso made many more friends and was able to fit in with the popular crowd of her school! While all is going well for Calypso, her childish and loving mother came to stay in London when she and Calypso's father decide to split. This dissapoints Calypso because (although she knows it is a phase in her parents' relationship) she knows her parents cannot be happy without each other, and they are now both interfering in Calypso's life way too much. In the second part of this book, Calypso's perfect relationship with her Prince of a boyfriend comes to an end. Being the first girl at St. Augustine's to ever get dumped, she and her friends try and do a counter-dump where Calypso would get back together with Freddie, just to dump him.
I noticed that there are several themes in this book, such as humbleness, parent interference and peer-pressure.
I think that humbleness is a theme in this book, because although Calypso has been welcomed into a very elite group of friends, she still remains grounded and not snobby. For example, she says "Although I may be in the In-crowd at my school, I still stay true to my Hello Kitty obsession" says Calypso when talking about how she still keeps her childish Hello Kitty pajamas and accessories. I think this line really means that although Calypso is very popular now, she still remains true to herself and her old style and opinion.
I think that parent-interference is a theme in this book. After Calypso's parents decide to split, they interfering in Calypso's life way too much and talk to Calypso about their problems as though she's their therapist! Of course, parents are supposed to know what is happening in their child's life, but Calypso's parents are not considering that she needs her space and cannot always be there for her parents when they are constantly venting about their problems.
Peer-pressure is definitely a theme in this book. For example, while Calypso is dating Freddie, her friends think Freddie is boring and their relationship has been going on for too long. Calypso is perfectly happy with her relationship and doesn't feel the need to break up with him. Another example of peer-pressure is when Calypso's friends make her do the whole "counter dump" thing. Calypso finds this an immature and unnecessary thing to do. However, she does it because her friends make her.
In conclusion, humbleness, parent-interference, and peer-pressure are themes in this book.
Good post. I liked how you found the themes in the book, and gave examples from the book for each theme. I especially liked how you pointed out that humbleness was a theme, and related that to a deeper theme in the book, about Calypso staying true to herself. These definitely sound like fun books to read.
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