Saturday, July 27, 2013

"The False Prince" {by Jennifer Nielsen} Book Club Ideas

 FIRST THOUGHTS UPON READING:

"What a fun, surprising, engaging and entertaining read!
The main character Sage reminds me of a mix between Han Solo and Robin Hood...yes, you need to read this book.

I'm thrilled that Jennifer is going to be making this series into a trilogy because I wanted to read MORE as soon as I was done with The False Prince!

Jenny did a FANTASTIC job moderating this book!
From the moment I walked into the meeting, I felt as if I were about to run into a Prince or King at any moment! 
This letter and sword from the book was set up on the main table in the living room for all to read.
NOTICE THE GOLD ROCK IN THE PHOTO ABOVE!
Jenny thought of everything, no detail was left out!
*It might be a fun  idea to give each book club member their own gold rock to take home with a copy of this letter. 

CHECK OUT OUR MEDIEVAL INSPIRED MENU! 
The False Prince Menu

The False Prince Menu

The False Prince Menu

The False Prince Menu


Shalease and I are making a toast because with goblets like these, YOU HAVE TO RIGHT?
The False Prince Menu





The False Prince Menu
And the answer is YES, it did taste as good as it looks
The False Prince Menu
See those scrumptious Cherry Tart Blossoms in the bottom right photo?
Well, its your lucky day because you can download the recipe right HERE

Click HERE to download the recipe Rachelle used for the creamy and tasty Hasselback potatoes.
The False Prince Menu
I brought some heavenly olive rosemary bread along with some Carrabba's inspired bread dipping spice and let me tell you...
This stuff is ADDICTIVE!! 

If you'd like to make this scrumptious bread dip for yourself (which I highly recommend) then go HERE for copycat recipe!



Alright, alright, I'll stop posting photos of  all the gorgeous and delicious food!

Let's move onto our discussion shall we?



A little about Jennifer

The False Prince Quiz

Kitch creamed all of us in the book quiz and won the big prize!
She won the second book in the series, "The Runaway King," along with a beautiful green necklace that matched the book to help make her feel like the Queen that she is when she wears it!
She was also rewarded with several handfuls of gold and silver chocolate coins to nibble on while she reads.

After the quiz, we dove right into our discussion and talked for hours! We had a lot to say about this seemingly "light YA read" and had a wonderful time talking about each character, different themes through out the book and we even made predictions of our for books 2 and 3! 
To see all the questions we discussed, download our powerpoint.



You can also download some great discussion questions by Scholastic HERE

After Jenny's delightful presentation, she surprised us with a fun and truly unique activity.
Since this book was appeared to be based in Medieval times, Jenny was inspired to teach us about brass rubbings and allow us to make our own to take home.

DID YOU KNOW...
"Memorial brasses are tombstones that were engraved in brass plates and laid into stone. Dating from the 12th Century, they are found in many English cathedrals and churches, and a few on the European mainland. The brasses commemorate the lives of many people, including royalty, the military, the clergy, merchants, and knights. The brasses are a kind of living history that enable us today to accurately depict how people lived, dressed and fought in the Middle Ages. Many of the approximately 4,000 brasses that remain have been severely damaged through the centuries, and thus only a very small number are suitable for rubbing. In order to preserve the priceless originals, brass rubbings are today done on replicas."

I can't help but think of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade when we talk about rubbings, it always reminds me of the scene below. 
This was Indie's rubbing from that scene. 
The photo on the left shows a rubbing that was done...............
 And lastly, no Delicious Reads Book Club would be complete without some hair, makeup or dress up tips to correlate with our theme right? 
This month I HAD to spotlight Bethany's beautifully styled maiden braid!
Ga-ga-gorgeous right? 

The False Prince Hair Design

The False Prince Hair Braid
Check out Emily's maiden braid tutorial on her site,
where she will show you step by step how you can create this unique look and impress everyone around you!



See our Delicious Reads official star rating and book review HERE

Friday, July 26, 2013

"The False Prince" {by Jennifer Nielsen} Book Review




 TITLE OF THE BOOK: The False Prince                               
AUTHOR: Jennifer A. Nielsen  
NUMBER OF PAGES: 342
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2012

PUBLISHER: Scholastic
READING LEVEL: Young Adult
GENRE: Adventure, Fantasy                                                       



BOOK SUMMARY:  Sage is a young 14 year old orphan who is used to starving and stealing to survive. Sage's real adventure begins though when he meets Conner, a nobleman of the court. In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner comes up with a plan to find a young boy to impersonate the Prince of Carthya, who was lost at sea and presumed dead. Sage and two other boys are bought by Conner to go through a two week training course where they learn what it takes to be a prince, but only one of them can be chosen. Layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed in the end that may be more dangerous than all the other lies. 
Our group rating for The False Prince was 3.8 out of 5 Stars

Watch the book trailer below to learn a little of what this book is about.


OUR GROUP REVIEW: Jenny did a fantastic job Moderating for The False Prince. She had a wonderful power point that you can download for your own book club by clicking here.
·         Some themes we found in the book:
One of the things we discussed was what some of the most powerful motivators for human behavior are, and what motivates different characters in the book. There are so many things that motivate human behavior and the ones we came up with that drive human behavior the most are; Fear, love, survival, greed, power pride, and loyalty. The main character Sage seemed to be driven mostly by survival, pride, and compassion.

Another theme in the book we discussed was “the end justifies the means” and did we agree with that statement. King Eckbert and Conner both do this. It’s hard to agree with some of the decisions that they make and it might not seem right, but to them the end result was so important that they justified their actions. Especially with Conner he justifies murder and treason because he believes what he is doing is for the greater good. We definitely could not agree with the statement “the end justifies the means” in this situation, but we could with King Eckbert’s and how he dealt with his son Jaron.

·         What were some of our favorite things about the book? (SPOILER FREE)
We really enjoyed the plot twist! Most of us didn’t see it coming and it was a fun surprise. Many of our readers read the book twice and said they enjoyed it more the second time knowing the twist and seeing the little hints the author leaves beforehand.
We really liked the characters, and thought the book was a fun and enjoyable read.

·         What characters did we like the most?
We really liked Sage’s character, and how the book was written in first person from his point of view, but we still didn’t know what the twist was. The author did a great job of not revealing anything, which would be hard from first person. Mott was also a favorite. He was smart and loyal to the right people. Mott’s character was very likable in general. At first most people didn’t love King Eckbert, but ones we found out his motives and why he did what he did with Jaron, we liked him a lot more. Prince Darius and Queen Erin seemed to be true, honest, and genuine characters.

·         Some of our Favorite Quotes:
Jenny posted some great quotes from the book on the PowerPoint that we all enjoyed.
-          “My father said a person can be educated and still be stupid, and a wise man can have no education at all.” – Sage
-          “…a strong heart will always overcome a strong body.”  - Mott
-          “If you can’t give anyone pain, you can’t give them joy either.” - Roden
·         Overall what did we think of this book, and did it make a good book club book?
This book was a great book for book club. We had so much fun playing up the royalty theme with our food and decorations. Not only was it fun to have a royal feast, but the book provided some great discussion when we talked about it.
In general everyone seemed to really enjoy this book. This is the first book of a trilogy so it’s hard to rate it on its own, but it was a definitely a fun entertaining read and we can’t wait to see what happens in the next books to come!

Amazon Exclusive: Q&A with Jennifer A. Nielsen
I liked the "action shot" of Jennifer better than her dust jacket photo lol!

Question: What inspired you to write The False Prince?
Nielsen: I’d had the general idea for The False Prince for some time, but could never find the right protagonist to carry the weight of the story I wanted to tell. The central character, Sage, was found in the words of a song called Guaranteed, by the great Eddie Vedder. It said, “I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me, guaranteed.” From that line, I had the instant image of a defiant but charismatic boy who always stays a step ahead of the game, and where other players have no clue that all the rules are very quietly being rewritten.

Q: Where did Sage’s voice come from?
Nielsen: Sage came to me as a complete character, as fully developed as if he had been a real person. So writing The False Prince wasn’t really about creating him, but instead, it was the experience of discovering him as the story unfolded. There were several moments when I knew what was waiting for Sage if he didn’t back down, and yet, he never would. So I gritted my teeth and let things unfold the only way they could with him. As I work on the sequels, he continues to surprise, amuse, and shock me. He’s the most complex character I’ve ever written, and I’m always thrilled to get feedback from readers who are as fascinated by him as I am.

Q: Was the setting or any of the other characters inspired by real people or places?

Nielsen: Sage is very much his own person, and as a whole, is completely unique. However, there is one trait of his that I borrowed from a student I had when I was a high school debate teacher years ago. He was popular, brilliant, charming, and an amazingly talented thief. At the start of every ride to a tournament, he would steal the watch off of the bus driver’s wrist, then keep it for the entire trip. As he left the bus at the end, he would hand the watch back to the driver, explaining it must have fallen to the floor. Then the driver always thanked him for being such a great and honest kid. I should’ve been angry, but I never was – he just pulled off his scams that well

Q: Where do you like to go to write?
Nielsen: I’ll write anywhere. I work out scenes in my head while driving or in the shower, and pick up inspiration from events I notice each day. I try to always keep a pen and extra paper handy so that if something occurs to me I can write it down and not risk losing it (I hate it when I know there was something I thought of earlier that I had loved, but now can’t remember it!). My favorite places for actual writing aren’t very exciting. I love to write curled up on a love seat beneath a sunny window. And nearly every night I’ll print out pages I’ve worked on in the day and edit them in bed before I fall asleep.

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer? When did you first know this is what you wanted to do?
Nielsen: I’ve written for as long as I can remember, but the idea that I could turn that into a career never seemed real to me. I never knew any authors growing up, and as far as I could tell, they were mythical people who lived like the Great Gatsby on the other side of the country, or who had lived a hundred years ago. So I wrote as a hobby, then planned on other careers that real people had, such as being a detective, or working somewhere in the theater, or being a teacher.
That all changed after my oldest child was born and I stayed home to care for him. Suddenly, I had a lot more time on my hands, which I filled with reading. But it wasn’t long before the stories in my head became more interesting than the books in my hand, and I realized that I wanted to hold a book of my own. That was when I decided to seriously pursue writing as a career. It’s the perfect place for me to be now, and I can’t imagine being happier anywhere else.

CONTENT:
SEXUALITY: NONE
LANGUAGE/PROFANITY: NONE
DRUG/ALCOHOL USE: NONE
INTENSE/SCARY SCENES: NONE
VIOLENCE: MILD



 Check out book club ideas and our photo recap of this book HERE