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The End To Dear 'Diaries' Series

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By KEVIN WALKER

kwalker@tampatrib.com

Published: January 4, 2009

Meg Cabot always planned to end "The Princess Diaries" series when the princess graduated from high school.

As of Tuesday, that day has arrived.

In "Forever Princess" (HarperTeen, $16.99), the 10th and final book in the series (probably), Princess Mia of Genovia is getting ready for her 18th birthday gala, the prom and the upcoming election in which her father is running for prime minister. As readers of this series know, however, that is nowhere near enough for her to be dealing with.

So she's also trying to pick a college, decide whether her current boyfriend (J.P.) is the right one or if she might still have feelings for Michael, her ex-boyfriend who has just returned from Japan.

You know, the usual 17-year-old stuff.

"I'm really going to miss writing this character," says Cabot, who spoke from her home in Key West recently by telephone. "But I always thought I'd end it at this point. She's a little bit hard to say goodbye to."

She already has had fans tell her they'd like to continue following Mia's life as she moves into her college years.

"I was like, 'Hey, that's not a bad idea,'" Cabot says. "Maybe someday down the road."

In the meantime, the popular series - which Cabot started in 2000 and which became huge with the 2001 film and 2004 sequel starring Anne Hathaway - is getting a star-studded send-off.

A host of celebrities agreed to design tiaras that are being sold in an online auction that runs this entire month. The auction will benefit teen programs at the New York Public Library's 87 branches.

"With the current economy, many of those programs have been cut," Cabot says.

The list of people who have designed tiaras includes Julie Andrews (who starred in the movie and its sequel, "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"), Vera Wang, Tommy Hilfiger, Lauren Conrad, Julianne Moore, Bobbi Brown, Austin Scarlett, Nicole Miller, R.L. Stine, Chris Van Allsburg and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece.

You can participate in the online auction by visiting www.cmarket.com/auction/AuctionHome.action?vhost =tiaras. Each tiara will come with a tag signed by the decorator.

At the same time, Avon will also release "Ransom My Heart," a new novel by Princess of Genovia Mia Thermopolis with, ah, "help from Meg Cabot." All proceeds from the book's sale will benefit Greenpeace (Cabot's favorite charity). The plot is this: Finnula (an adventurous beauty, naturally) kidnaps a knight returning from the Crusades so she can get the ransom money. Unfortunately for her, she falls in love with her kidnap victim.

The tireless Cabot - she has written about 50 books in the past decade - says she is turning her attention to writing two new series.

"Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls" is about a 9-year-old and her adventures trying to get through the fourth grade. Think that can't be exciting? The second book of the series is about a girl named Rosemary who takes an immediate dislike to Allie and vows to beat her up. Allie must come up with a way to deal with the bully, ranging from her mother's advice to find a nonviolent way, her father's advice to learn how to fight and her uncle's advice to psyche Rosemary out.

Not exciting? What did you do today?

Cabot also is writing a series, "Airhead," about a girl - a tomboy - who has her brain put into the body of a supermodel. It's aimed at tweens.

"I know, I have a lot of ideas floating around my head," she says.

Amazingly, the 41-year-old Cabot does not have children. But she and her husband live in a neighborhood full of them. She says it helps her channel her inner kid.

For instance, she recently saw a bunch of 9-year-olds playing hide-and-seek, and the person doing the seeking found a few of the hiders by calling their cell phones.

"I just laughed," Cabot says. "It was the strangest game of hide-and-seek I had ever seen."

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