PROM & PREJUDICE

Author (last name first):
Eulburg, Elizabeth
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Point /2011
Grade Level/ or Age Level: 
6th grade and Up
Classification: 
Fiction  

Prom & Prejudice is a modern day Pride & Prejudice which uses all the names of the original characters from the movie. The story is told from Elizabeth Bennet’s point of view who like the character in Jane Austin’s novel is very brave and sometimes judgmental even though she doesn’t realize it, Lizzie is an only child who is sent to a very prestigious school full of rich kids who measure their class by the designer clothes they wear, who their parents are and being asked to the  most important event during the school year, the prom. Lizzie’s parents are far from rich so she gets into the high society school on a music scholarship and she works in a local coffee shop to help pay for her tuition. She is treated very badly her first semester, so when she comes back the second semester she is very apprehensive and hopeful that things will change for her. Her best friend and roommate Jane convinces her to go to a party one night to see Jane’s true love Charles Bingley. Every time Lizzie goes to a party or school gathering it ends up badly for her and this night was no exception. She meets Caroline, Charles’s snobby sister and Will Darcy, who she instantly takes a disliking to. One of the popular girls in the room purposely spills coffee on her borrowed dress which makes Lizzie feel even more frustrated. When Darcy tries to help she tells him no and attempts to wipe the coffee stain away. Later that night Darcy finds out that Lizzie is a “scholarship kid” and snubs her. He watches her at all the parties she is invited to which conveniently Charles Bingley holds, only to be tortured by his growing feelings towards her. He frequently comes to her work place and walks her home. When she meets Darcy’s worst enemy she feels a kinship with him because he also was a “scholarship kid” and his easy going personality. Jane Austin’s novel Lizzie is judgmental and naïve and she realizes her mistakes but will it be too late to right the wrong she has done to Darcy or will she ever find a love like his again?

The author thanks Jane Austin for her book and states that her book is a tribute to her and not a remake of Austin’s novel. Elizabeth Eulberg did a great job of telling a story that has been a masterpiece for many generations. She put her own spin on the characters and yet stuck to the true nature of the tale. I enjoyed the book very much and couldn’t put it down being the hopeless romantic that I am. This would be a very good book to teach junior high students difference in writing style. There is a AR test available for this book as well.

Reviewed By: Lila Davis (Night Manager/ Display Consultant at Midwestern State University's Moffett Library)