The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Winter 2016 Group Read The Prince and the Pauper Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

It was nice to read something by Mark Twain that wasn't the typical stuff that I have read in the past by him. It was also a rather nice short read. A great option for the task this season!

I'm almost a little ashamed to admit it, but I'd never read this as a youngster, and it's been at least 12 years since I read anything by Mark Twain, but I'm definitely glad I chose this option for the task. I really enjoyed the plot, the historical detail and the descriptive language used to bring Tudor London alive - although to be honest, I found the character of Prince Edward a bit lacking in backbone! At least Tom Canty figured out he had a role to play!

I am glad this book was selected as a group read. I haven't read anything by Mark Twain since high school in the '70s. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and gave it 4 stars. I especially liked the early scenes where Tom was first learning the ways of the Court - e.g. the rosewater finger bowl incident and the process of being dressing by ~10 attendants/man servants. One aspect of the story that struck me was the severity of punishment for seemingly minor crimes. It was shocking to both boys, also. It seems that a child ruler had more common sense and compassion than previous English Kings!

i'm trying to listen to this one (about 3hrs in of a 7hr audio) and I just don't really care for it...just feels very rambly and disjointed - i'm DNF'ing it and trying one of the other GR

Mark Twain takes on historical fiction and conventional wisdom of the time - judgements based on appearances, great divide between the rich and poor. Delivers a nice message about empathy, understanding others' experience and everybody lives happily ever after.

I almost never re-read books, but I re-read this one for the challenge and I am glad that I did. I liked it the first time around, so it was a pleasant revisit.

I enjoyed Mark Twain's style of writing, his descriptive language and the historical detail and information. I think he dealt really well with the huge differences between poor and wealthy. I felt that he went on a bit with the "real" prince's trials and tribulations, although I enjoyed Tom's learning experiences in the palace.

I had never read this book before -- in high school we stuck to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. What were the Connecticut Blue Code Laws to which MT referred in his General Note?

Cindie wrote: "I had never read this book before -- in high school we stuck to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. What were the Connecticut Blue Code Laws to which MT referred in his General Note?"

An apocryphal set of very harsh morality laws supposedly instated by the Puritans in Connecticut during the colonial era.

I just got through this book on Serial Reader. I'd never read it before, but thanks to cultural osmosis I knew the story. I was not really taken with the book, partly because it's so clearly meant for children and lacks a certain nuance, partly because the language comes across as artificial. He wrote several masterpieces, including what may be the Great American Novel, but this isn't one of them. Not bad, but just not as good.

I had never read this before, though I have seen a couple of different movie versions.

What I really appreciated was the lessons learned by Prince/King Edward as he experienced the life of a poor peasant. He was shocked, being completely ignorant of the realities of life for most of his subjects. He felt humbled and humiliated when forced to beg or steal. He learned whom to trust and what personal values were most important, and ultimately, he learned compassion.

I'm glad I read it ... but I find Twain's contemporary books much more to my liking - Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in particular.

This is one of Twain's that has eluded me all these years. It's very different from his other books, but I enjoyed it.

Twain clearly shows the divide between the haves and the have-nots. Edward definitely grows as a person while he is living as one of the have-nots, and he uses his experiences to be a more compassionate sovereign. Unfortunately, his reign was very short.

Overall, it was a good choice for one of the Group Reads.

Brooke TX

The Wishbone version of this (The Prince and the Pooch!) will forever hold a special place in my heart, and it was nice to go back and re-read the original, if only to remember how funny Twain can be. While I understand why some people might struggle with it (long paragraphs describing customs of the era combined with middle grade plot complexity), I enjoyed it and am now itching for a A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court re-read.

It’s a wonderful lesson in “walking in the other person’s shoes.”

LINK to my review

Mark Twain's novel about the role reversal of Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales, and Tom Canty, a beggar, who were born on the same day is a humorous, fun introduction for middle school age children to Tudor England. Although the historical facts have been well researched, the plot is simple and rather redundant. It dragged a bit for an adult audience accustomed to more complex plot structures.
It was encouraging that Edward learned to be merciful because of his adventures as "Tom, the beggar." (view spoiler)[Being in prison certainly would change a person. (hide spoiler)]
Miles Hendon is an interesting character. (view spoiler)[When Edward said, of course, he believed Miles's identity, but asks if Miles believes if Edward is really the king? Miles hesitates. (hide spoiler)]
It is also interesting that both camps thing the boys are acting strangely because they are mad.
The best part of the book for me is the satire.

I'm not a huge fan of classics, but this one was enjoyable enough. I have always been interested in the Tudor period. It was a little unbelievable (the whole premise) but interesting to read about anyway. I might try to give some of Mark Twain's books a try.

Jukka wrote: " I was not really taken with the book, partly because it's so clearly meant for children and lacks a certain nuance, partly because the language comes across as artificial."

Connie (Ava Catherine) wrote: “Although the historical facts have been well researched, the plot is simple and rather redundant. It dragged a bit for an adult audience accustomed to more complex plot structures.”

It certainly feels like its written for younger readers than Huckleberry Finn, for example, although looking at the US AR classifications, I was interested to see that both books are actually in as MG+ (although the UK has PatP at MY while HF is UY).

Having read both in short succession, I found Prince and the Pauper a lot more readable than HF. I suspect it’s a combination of the plot staying more on track, with fewer diversions, coupled with the fact that I know more about, and am more comfortable with, 1547 England than the US Deep South in 1884 (I actually got embarrassed reading a book which kept using ‘nigger’ in public, even though I knew it was in keeping for the period).

Prior to this, while I knew the story of PatP, my main knowledge of it came from a very old BBC adaption of it starring Nicholas Lyndhurst wayyy back in 1976 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424363/?...).

Having now actually read it, I was actually quite impressed at how well Twain managed to evoke the time period, and I thought the main characters – Tom, Edwards and Miles – were all pretty well written. That said, I liked Tom a lot more than Edward, as I got rather tired of the latter repeating “I’m the King of England” whenever things went wrong, with the obvious reaction, although I guess that would have been his mind-set. I would have liked to have seen more of Tom trying to grips with the Royal Court (I agree with Pam about the early scenes in the palace), rather than Edward’s somewhat repetitive trials and tribulations. My favourite character was Miles, though, who actually seemed like a decent human being, and was about the only one who wasn’t using the boys for his own ends.

All in all, I enjoyed the book more than I expected, and I’m glad I’ve read it.

This one took me a little bit to get into. I could not keep up with the character's way of speaking, so as I listened to the audiobook my mind wandered until it got to the main action of the story. I had never read this book and recognized it from similar stories that have been based on it since its writing. I liked the meeting of different characters by both the Prince and Tom throughout. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland or Gulliver's Travels with less fantasy about the characters. Definitely a must read for kids.

As a child I read an adapted version and my recollection was of an agreement between the two characters to trade places for a day, so I was surprised at how it actually happened in this book. (I'll probably never know whether that was a change in the adaptation or just bad memory.)

It took a little while to get into because of the descriptive part in the first chapter, but once the switch occurred it picked up and I found it compelling.

I read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn during the last challenge, so I was glad to see this as one of the Group Reads during this challenge. While it's not one of his best, I enjoyed this one and gave it 3 stars. I enjoyed Tom Canty's compassion while playing the role of the "King". I also really appreciated that Edwards experiences lead to a more compassionate rule, even though it was short.

Entertaining book, though I have severe doubts about the historical accuracy!
The idea that Tom, through pretend games, has enough high-born skills to pass himself off as even vaguely in touch with courtly behaviour is risible, but as a method to allow for the switcheroo of places, I'll let it pass.
And, like others have said, Edward's "I'm the King!" approach got very old very quickly!

I listened to the audiobook edition. It was good, but I think I would have enjoyed reading this book better. Something about the English it was written in.

I knew this story in theory. However, I do not remember reading it before. I liked Tom's trying to figure out how to act in the palace, but the King's character and coping with the ordinary life that Tom had led was the best part. I could just see that child yelling..."I am the KING!" I think he benefited more from the experience than Tom and that it was more challenging...and shocking for him than for Tom.

I really enjoyed the process of reading this book. I hadn't read anything by Mark Twain except for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, neither of which I remember liking very much when assigned them in school.

I thought this book was much funnier than I anticipated it being, and more like a romp from some type of folk story than some other classics I've read in my life. Some of the repetitiveness got old pretty quickly, and the book went on a bit longer than I personally would've liked, but overall, I did enjoy this more than I expected.

I settled on a 3.5 rating, but rounded it up to a 4, just because I actually laughed out loud a few times.

Queen Bee Darlene

I chose this particular book because I have never read Mark Twain and thought it was about time. I'm sorry to say I really didn't enjoy it. It felt like a punishment to continue reading it. I struggle with putting down books because I am not enjoying it, so I slogged on.

I think it is an amazing idea, there are a lot of good lessons in how we treat people based on social standing, what people wear, and how the ruling party can be unaware of how those they are ruling are being treated.

I wish I enjoyed it more, but alas I didn't.

I think I might've been more comfortable with this book if Twain had made it about Prince Charming of Wherevia and his pauper twin, instead of an actual prince/king of England. I realize the English court was badly in need of skewering at the time, but this felt less pointed and more like a blunt instrument.

Still, I do love a good bodyswap/life-swap story, and this is a classic for good reason. Twain is very good at painting realistic conditions in both P's milieux.

I really enjoyed this novel in the beginning. I listened to the audiobook, which might have been a mistake. I reached a point at 4.5 hours out of 7.5 where I felt like the story was running out of steam. I enjoyed the plot and characters, but for some reason it felt like it was dragging. Maybe I should have read the physical copy?

I liked the story, the characters, the picture sketched of the historical period in which the story takes place and the themes touched upon.
Sometimes the story seemed a bit slow, but in the end all came together. I especially liked the 'character building' in the young real king.