Wyatt, Melissa. Raising The Griffin. 2004. 279p. Wendy Lamb Books.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Ages: 13 – Adult

            Ever wonder what Prince Harry’s and Prince William’s life is really like?  What’s it like to have your family honor questioned because your most recent romance is plastered all over the tabloids? To worry about assassination attempts?

Meet sixteen-year-old Alex Varenhoff, son of the exiled King of (fictional) Rovenia.  Alex’s uneventful life of exiled royalty in Britain is changed overnight when Rovenia overthrows their communist government and reinstates the king as the ceremonial leader over parliament, making Alex the prince of Rovenia. Now Alex lives in an ancient castle where he needs to make an appointment to see his own parents. He’s tutored by an uptight soldier, not that much older than himself, and his new life is full of rules for everything he does from getting dressed to leaving the castle. Alex just wants to go back to the way things were but the country’s fledgling democracy depends on his family’s performance as royalty. Alex must be the prince the people of Rovenia want—something Alex could care less about – until he starts meeting the Rovenian people and Alex isn’t sure what he wants.

Raising the Griffin offers a life-like behind-the-scenes tour of the fascinating details of modern royalty – from the cumbersome protocol of public engagements, to dating while the tabloids watch, to the very real pressures and dangers of pleasing the masses of a hopeful new country. This is not a male version of the Princess Diaries but a far more serious look at what royalty means in the real world. Good read that kept me thinking about it long after I finished.

Parent Info: There is a brief non-graphic sex scene.