Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince will choose his bride from among the village girls.

The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. Soon Miri finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires. Winning the contest could give her everything she ever wanted--but it would mean leaving her home and family behind…

Book description from https://shannonhale.com/books/paseries

Snacks

• Honey roasted peanuts (Page 122: “Let’s think about it later. I’m dying for some honeyed nuts.”)

• Chocolate gold coins (Page 138-139: “In the capital, a block of linder is worth one gold coin.”)

• Rabbit crackers (Page 105: “Frid’s pa makes salted rabbit so thin it melts on your tongue.”)

Activities

• Soap carving -- I gave the girls a bar of soap, two design worksheets, and a bag of tools (plastic knife, toothpick, wooden cuticle stick, popsicle stick, etc.). Then they chose a design they wanted to do or drew their own, and we followed an instructional video on how to soap carve. (We did this activity because Peder carves linder and made a hawk for Miri.) The links for the design worksheets are in the description of the YouTube videos. One video is here https://youtu.be/mlonSS210Qs and the other is here https://youtu.be/Nwoq5pST6kA

• Drawing a miri flower --We watched another instructional video and drew miri flowers. https://youtu.be/z6U7kwCUQSU