Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

Okay, so I’ve just spend the better part of the last hour on The Raucous Royals website.  In the past couple of days I’ve reviewed The Raucous Royals, Test Your Royal Wits: Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries and Deduce Which Royal Rumors Are True by Carlyn Becci and interviewed the author Carlyn Beccia.  The Raucous Royals is a fun, new picture book that investigates whether or not rumors about famous royalty from history are true or false.  I was struck with how well Carlyn Beccia has taken her book one step further with an amazing website.  II’m not joking when I say that Caryln Beccia is one of the most creative persons I’ve ever seen.  If she’s this much fun online, I can only imagine what she’s like in person.

For example, if you find yourself in an art museum, you want to be with Carlyn Beccia.  On The Raucous Royal’s blog, Carlyn says this the History/Celebrity Look-a-Like Game is the most entertaining museum game in the history of the art world.  And I’m going to believe her.

The rules:

Players: 2+
Object: To find people in portraiture that look like celebrities.
Points:
6 points for major celebrities
5 points if their dead
2 points for B- list celebrities

Play: Once a famous person is identified in a portrait, the other player has the right to “contest” the call. Contesting a call requires enlisting the help of a “judge” in the form of a stranger, museum curator or 3rd party not involved in the game. The judge must determine if the celebrity look-a-like call is a bad match. If the match is determined a bad call then the player who made the call loses 6 points. You can only contest 3 calls in one game.  The winner is the person with the most points at the end of the museum trip.

For example:

and

As if that isn’t enough to have you rushing out to your nearest art museum, you can also play Save Mary Queen of Scots, a hangman like game where you have to guess the word and save her from the executioners axe.  All the words were a trait of hers.  I seriously couldn’t stop playing.  I was getting nervous whenever I came close to chopping off her head.  What a fun way to continue teaching history without kids actually realizing that they are learning history?

How about learning a curse or two?  Just click on Sure, I’d Like Will to Insult Me and Williams Shakespeare will call you things like a saucy, pox-marked strumpet or a bootless, fat-kidneyed bladder!

Are you a witch?  This is a real hangman game where you are dangling over water.  Take the quiz and you’ll either end up drowned or saved.  I loved the witches scream every time I answered a question in the affirmative.  The questions had me chuckling too.

Tons more.  Quizzes, paper dolls, timelines, more rumors debunked, a detective game where you follow along with the book.  The Raucous Royals website and blog is a perfect example of taking the book to the next level.

The Raucous Royals is also on tour today with Kidz Book Buzz at 01 Charger, the 160acrewoods, A Mom Speaks, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, The Friendly Book Nook, The Hidden Side of a Leaf, Homeschool Buzz, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Our Big Earth, Quiverfull Family, Reading is My Superpower, SmallWorld Reads, SMS Book Reviews

So play the game and tell me, are you a witch?

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