A New Dawn Book Review

Earlier this month we had the release of John Jackson Miller's novel, A New Dawn. It was an historic moment in that this was the first novel released under the approval of the Lucasfilm Story Group. In the past there was much uncertainty as to how all of the works outside of the films, called the Expanded Universe (EU), officially fit in the timeline. George Lucas himself said he considered the films were officially canon whereas all the supplemental books, graphic novels, video games, and so forth were their own separate thing. After the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, it was announced that all material would be reviewed and approved by the Story Group. This means that everything from this point onward is all part of one official canon. A New Dawn is the first novel in this new canon.

Considering all this, I was a little surprised how much this book was like the previous EU books. I suppose I should not have been though. I imagine the Story Group is more focused on the characters and locations while giving some free reign to the authors to flesh out the details and pacing of the story. Yes, there is even a mention of "caf"!

I really enjoy John Jackson Miller's writing style. I particularly liked the very short chapter lengths. Most of them are only a few pages long. It is an up-tempo storytelling approach and very helpful for me since the times I have available to read are erratic and short. This book tells the story of how two of the main protagonists of the Star Wars Rebels animated series, Kanan and Hera, meet.

We get a pretty good view of Kanan's back story while Hera's character is left slightly more mysterious. The principal villain, Count Vidian, is a strong character - think Darth Vader mixed with Gordon Gecko. I won't rehash the story since you can find that kind of thing elsewhere. What I will say is if this is worth your time.

I have read many EU books over the years but I am not a big EU fan. There are some books that are excellent, but also many that are "eye-rollingly" bad. If you are new to reading Star Wars books, this is a great one to get started with. Miller's writing does not expect you to have much Star Wars knowledge heading into this book. I would also recommend this book to EU readers as well. It is a great opening salvo for the new Star Wars canon.

Now we wait for Tarkin by James Luceno!

- - - 9/18/2015 UPDATE- - -

Now that is has been almost six months since the first New Canon book was released, and with so much new content about to this market, I thought it would be good to have some formal structure to my reviews of these new Story Board-approved works. I am going to try to keep up with all this expanded universe stuff as best I can, so I hope this will be a good reference to you:

PREREQUISITES?
None. It is a good gateway novel.

WHO SHOULD READ IT?
Those who are interested in the rise of the Rebellion and particularly Star Wars Rebels.

WHEN DOES THIS TAKE PLACE?
Aside from a short look during the time of Episode II / The Clone Wars, the story takes place between Episode III and IV and is a prelude to the Star Wars Rebels television show.

GFFA IMPACT?
Minimal, so far as I know at this point. The novel is pretty self-contained and provides more of a character development and background of Kanan and, to a lesser extent, Hera.

Disney Princess Party Ideas

So here is the connection for this blog - Disney owns Lucasfilm and they also own (created) the Disney Princesses. Plus Leia is a princess too right?

Anyway, I was planning a birthday party for my little girl and she *loves* the Disney Princesses. So with some creativity and a few Pinterest searches, I came up with a lot of activities and I thought I'd share these with you. 

These are all very budget friendly - nothing you can't get at your local dollar store or Walmart...or even around your house!

Here they are, arranged by princess:

Rapunzel Race

This one was a lot of fun. It recreates the scene from Tangled where Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are being chased by the palace guards. You wrap up each princess in yellow streamers and give them a small saucepan (we used a couple from my daughter's toy kitchen). They run a short course and come back to the start. We ran two girls at a time. Even some of the older boys joined in on it!

Snow White's Wishing Well

This is a simple idea but a surprising hit with all the kids. Just decorate a plastic bucket and get some pennies. The girl stands a given distance and tosses each of the pennies to see how many she can get into the bucket. 

Make Your Own Enchanted Mirror (Belle)

Here is a crafting activity for Beauty and the Beast fans. Buy some hand mirrors from a dollar store and jeweled stickers from a hobby shop. The jeweled stickers can be a little pricey so we supplemented with small, regular flower stickers. Each girl decorates her mirror however she would like and gets to take it home with her. 

Anna's Snowball Practice

Remember when Anna and company met Marshmallow the snow monster? She threw a snowball and had pretty good aim, albeit ineffective. Well here is a game for the girls to practice. 

All you need are small, clear plastic cups and a soft ball. You could use a wiffle ball though I found a spongey baseball-style ball at the dollar store. Then you find a picture of the Frozen snow monster, shrink them down so you can fit nine to a page on landscape-oriented paper, print it out and cut them out. Now just tape one to the inside of each cup and you are set. 

To play the game, just stack up the cups into a pyramid shape and have the girl try to knock down as many as she can with the ball. 

It's also nice and compact for storage!

Ariel's Collection

This is one I haven't done myself but thought it was a good idea. You know how Ariel likes to collect things? Well it is the job of each girls to help Ariel with her collection.

Gather three to five of several types of objects. You need one type of object for each girl playing the game. One obvious type of object you can use is plastic forks for dinglehoppers. You could also use sea shells, spoons, hairbows, or other things that fairly small. Assign each girl one object, by giving each girl one of the that type. Now take all the remaining objects, mix them together and spread them out in a pile. The girls now have to hunt through the pile to find all of her objects. 

I used the word "object" quite a bit there...

Cinderella Shoe Race

Here is a Cinderella-themed activity that is easy to do. We all know that she had a hard time keeping her shoes on, right? When she was carrying breakfast up to Lady Tremaine and her step-sisters, she had to recover a shoe on the staircase. Then, of course, we have the famous loss of a glass slipper as she was running to her coach at midnight. All you need for this activity is several pairs of your wife's shoes (probably a good idea to check with her first though!). The game is have each girl put on this overly-large footwear and run a short course. If a girl loses a shoe, she has to stop and put it back on.

- - - 

Well that's it! I hope these ideas are helpful to you. 

Make Your Own Creeper Soap

This was my first real attempt at soap making and I dare say that it turned out better than I hoped! Of course I it helps when you get lots of advice from an experienced soap maker. It actually is not that hard. 

Here is what you need (you can get this stuff at Michaels or another local hobby/craft shop):

• 1.5 pounds glycerin melt-and-pour soap

• Green soap dye (or food coloring)

• Black soap dye (or food coloring)

• Orange essential oil (or other scent)

• One 16 oz silicone loaf mold

• A soap slicer or sharp knife

• A 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup (you could use something smaller but will have to do two batches of green soap)

1. Melt 8 oz of glycerin soap in the microwave. Do it like you would nacho cheese. Meaning heat for 30 seconds, stir, repeat. This should only take about 2 minutes. When it is fully melted, add in a few drops of black food coloring until it looks like how you want it. Stir slowly to avoid air bubbles. 

2. Pour into mold. It should be 1/3 to 1/2 full. Freeze for about 10 minutes or until hard. 

3. When hard, pop the black soap out. Use a knife or soap slicer to cut into strips. You will need two thin strips for the edges of the mouth and three shorter but square pieces for the eyes and center part of the mouth. Put these pieces into freezer. 

4. Clean out your Pyrex dish. Melt 16 oz of soap and color it green an add in your desired essential oil(s) for fragrence (I used orange). Pour the soap into the loaf mold until it is about 1/4 inch deep. Put the mold in the freezer for about 5 minutes or until hard. 

5. Pull out the mold and the two long thin black pieces from the freezer. Reheat the green soap as needed. Position the black  thin pieces (vertically) and pour the green soap around them. Pour until the level is about halfway up the black pieces. Hold then in place for a minute until they are held in place by the cooling green soap. 

6. Let the mold site for a few minutes and the. Put back into the freezer for 5 minutes or until hard. 

7. Now pull out the mold and one of the square black strips. Heat the green soap again as needed. Place the blackstrap in the center, between the two thin strips. Pour the green soap around it until the level just covers the square black strip. 

8. Freeze the mold again for 5 minutes. Then pull it out and the last two remaining square black strips. 

9. Place these black strips on either side of the awaited strip you placed last time. Reheat the green soap and pour the rest out until you reach the top of the mold. 

10. Let it sit and cure for about two weeks. Then slice it like you would a loaf of bread. You now have several bars of Creeper soap you can share with your kids, family, and friends!

Oh, and if you are wondering what the soap slicer or loaf molds look like, here is a picture of mine (right after the soap was finished). This one is actually a four loaf version: