Meggin Patricia Cabot (born February 1, 1967) is an American novelist. She has written and published over 80 novels of young adult and adult fiction and is best known for her young adult series The Princess Diaries, which was later adapted by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films. Cabot has been the recipient of numerous book awards, including the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, the American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, the Tennessee Volunteer State TASL Book Award, the Book Sense Pick, the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, and the IRA/CBC Young Adult Choice. She has also had number-one New York Times bestsellers, and more than 25 million copies of her books are in print across the world.
Early life and career Meggin Patricia Cabot was born on February 1, 1967, in Bloomington, Indiana. After she graduated from Indiana University, Cabot moved to New York City, with the original aim of pursuing a career as an illustrator. However, she soon quit this job and started working as an assistant manager of the freshman dormitory at New York University.
Personal life Meg Cabot married financial writer and poet Benjamin D. Egnatz on April 1, 1993. Their wedding date, April Fool's Day, was a deliberate play on her husband's belief that only fools get married in the first place. The wedding was an elopement in Italy. Her novel Every Boy's Got One is loosely based on her elopement.
She has cats, Henrietta (a one-eyed cat; 1993–2013), and Gem, about whom she often blogs.
After living in Indiana, California, New York, and France, she now lives in Key West, Florida with her husband.
Publications
Children's novels
Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls YearTitleNotes 2008 Moving Day 2008 The New Girl 2009 Best Friends and Drama Queens 2010 Stage Fright 2011 Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out2012Blast From the Past The Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series is about 9-year-old Allie Finkle, who has to contend with moving from her suburban home to an old Victorian house, starting a new school, and making new friends.
Olivia Grace series
YearTitleNotes 2015 From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess 2016 Royal Wedding Disaster 2016 Royal Day Out Free e-short 2017 Royal Crush 2018 Royal Crown
From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess is a series for "tween" readers featuring Princess Mia's half-sister, Olivia Grace. The books are illustrated by Cabot.
Young adult
The Princess Diaries series
The Princess Diaries series is the most critically acclaimed series written by Meg Cabot and has been published in more than 40 countries.Meg Cabot Biography – Airhead Author – CosmoGIRL! . Cosmogirl.com (February 1, 1967). Retrieved on 2012-12-31. The first book in the series was published in October 2000. The series spent 48 weeks on the New York Times Children's Series Best Sellers List, and was sold to publishers in 37 foreign countries. In 2021, Time magazine named The Princess Diaries one of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time.
In 2001 and 2004, respectively, 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.
In the UK and Australia, the books are published under titles based on the volume number (e.g.: Mia Goes Fourth).
YearTitleUK, AUS, NZ titleNotes 2000 The Princess Diaries, Volume I The Princess DiariesTime's 100 Best YA Books of All Time 2001 Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight The Princess Diaries: Take Two 2002 Volume III: Princess in Love The Princess Diaries: Third Time Lucky#1 on NY Times Best Seller List 2003 Volume IV: Princess in Waiting The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth#1 on NY Times Best Seller List 2003 Volume IV and 1/2: Project Princess 2004 Volume V: Princess in Pink The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five 2005 Volume VI: Princess in Training The Princess Diaries: Sixsational 2004 Volume VI and 1/2: The Princess Present 2006 Volume VII: Party Princess The Princess Diaries: Seventh Heaven2006Volume VII and 1/2: Sweet Sixteen Princess2006Volume VII and 3/4: Valentine Princess2006Volume VIII: Princess on the BrinkThe Princess Diaries: After Eight2007Volume IX: Princess MiaThe Princess Diaries: To The Nines2009Volume X: Forever PrincessThe Princess Diaries: Ten Out Of Ten2015Volume XI: Royal WeddingThe Princess Diaries: Royal Weddling2023Volume XII: The Quarantine PrincessThe Quarantine Princess Diaries
Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren: Princess Lessons (March 2003) Perfect Princess (March 2004) Holiday Princess (November 2005)
On January 6, 2009, a companion book to Volume X: Forever Princess titled Ransom My Heart was published under the name Princess of Genovia, Mia Thermopolis by Avon Books, the adult division of HarperCollins, the Princess Diaries series publisher. All author proceeds from the novel, which was printed on 100% recycled paper, go to Greenpeace.
Cabot has published a spin-off middle grade series titled From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, taken from the point of view of Mia's long-lost sister, Olivia Grace. As listed above, there are four books in the series.
The Mediator series
YearTitleAlternate titleNotes 2000 ShadowlandLove You to DeathOriginally released under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll 2001 Ninth Key High StakesOriginally released under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll 2001 Reunion Mean SpiritsOriginally released under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll 2001 Darkest Hour Young BloodOriginally released under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll 2003 Haunted Grave Doubts 2005 Twilight Heaven Sent 2016 Proposal: A Mediator Novella 2016 Remembrance
The Mediator series is about a 16-year-old girl named Susannah "Suze" Simon. Suze is a mediator, whose role is to help ghosts finish their business on earth so they can pass on to the afterlife. To this end, she can see, touch, communicate with, hit, punch, and "kick ghost butt" when she must. The series begins just after Suze's widowed mother marries Andy Ackerman, so Suze has moved 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 de Silva, who died 150 years earlier. Suze remembers that back in New York, a fortune teller had told her that she was a mediator (which proved correct) and that she would only fall in love once, but it would last for an eternity.
The first four books were originally released under the 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. The UK titles for the series were: Shadowland – Love You to Death, Ninth Key – High Stakes, Reunion – Mean Spirits, Darkest Hour – Young Blood, Haunted – Grave Doubts, and Twilight – Heaven Sent.Transcript for chat on Saturday, January 29th, 2005. Topic: Twilight by Meg Cabot. MegCabot.com
In December 2010, HarperTeen reprinted an omnibus edition titled The Mediator: Shadowland and Ninth Key.
1-800-WHERE-R-U series
YearTitleNotes 2001 When Lightning StrikesOriginally written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll 2001 Code Name CassandraOriginally written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll 2002 Safe HouseOriginally written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll 2002 SanctuaryOriginally written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll 2006 Missing You
This series revolves around Jessica Mastriani, an ordinary 16-year-old girl given extraordinary psychic powers after being struck by lightning. Her powers allow her to know the exact location of missing children; after seeing a picture of a person, they appear in her dreams. The first four books take place over less than a year and chronicle her attempts to help missing children while trying to avoid the scrutiny of the federal government. The fifth book, published four years after the fourth book, picks up the storyline after Jess has turned 19. Over the course of the book, Jess is romantically involved with Rob Wilkins, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks.
The first four books were originally written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll. The books were re-released 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 agreed to publish one more installment. Missing You was released in December 2006 and that was the end of the series.
The 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series was the basis for the television show Missing, which aired on the Lifetime cable network for three seasons from 2003 to 2006.
The series was reprinted in the US in an omnibus edition and retitled Vanished.
All-American Girl series YearTitleNotes2002All American Girl#1 NY Times Best Seller2005Ready or Not: An All-American Girl Novel#1 NY Times Best Seller
The series revolves around Samantha Madison, a Washington, D.C. native, who, while skipping her after-school art class, saves the life of the president, and becomes a national hero. The two books are about her rise to fame and her love life with the president's son, David, who appears to want to take their relationship to the next level in the second book. There is also a short story called "Another All-American Girl" in the anthology Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, about Samantha's experience in the White House.
Avalon High series
YearTitleNotes 2005 Avalon High 2007 The Merlin ProphecyAvalon High: Coronation (three-book manga series) 2008 HomecomingAvalon High: Coronation (three-book manga series) 2009 Hunter's MoonAvalon High: Coronation (three-book manga series)
Avalon High is a contemporary retelling of the King Arthur tale set in a modern high school. Avalon High: Coronation is a sequel to the first Avalon High novel, and is part of a new partnership HarperCollins brokered with Tokyopop. It was released as a three-book manga series, called Avalon High: Coronation. The first manga, titled The Merlin Prophecy, was released on July 3, 2007, and was drawn by manga artist Jinky Coronado, creator of the Banzai Girl manga. She also illustrated the other two manga.
The Avalon High film was shown on Disney Channel on November 12, 2010. Britt Robertson played Ally (Elaine), while Gregg Sulkin played Will.
The Airhead trilogy YearTitleNotes2008Airhead2009Being Nikki2010Runaway This three-book series is about Emerson Watts, an overachieving high-school student. She wakes up after an accident and discovers that her brain has been transplanted into the body of teen supermodel Nikki Howard. Now, she is no longer judged by her grades, but by her looks, and she has to fight the worldwide corporation, Stark Enterprises, if she wants to find out what happened to her old life and protect her friends and family.
The Abandon trilogy
YearTitleNotes 2011 Abandon 2012 Underworld 2013 Awaken The Abandon trilogy follows a reimagining of the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades set in modern times.
Stand-alone young adult novels
YearTitleNotes 2002 Nicola and the Viscount 2003 Victoria and the Rogue 2004 Teen Idol#1 NY Times Best Seller 2006 How to Be Popular 2006 Pants on FireUK title: Tommy Sullivan is a Freak2007Jinx
Adult novels
Boy series
YearTitleNotes 2002 The Boy Next Door 2004 Boy Meets Girl 2005 Every Boy's Got One 2016 The Boy is Back
These books are loosely connected romantic comedies told in emails, IMs, and brief journal entries. The Boy Next Door was a Kelly Ripa Book Club Pick on LIVE! with Regis and Kelly.
Heather Wells series
YearTitleNotes 2005 Size 12 is Not Fat 2006 Size 14 is Not Fat Either 2007 Big Boned 2012 Size 12 and Ready to Rock 2013 The Bride Wore Size 12