Read These, You Will: Star Wars Books for Every Kind of Kid
by Tom Burns
Whether or not you’re fan of the movies, it’s hard not to recognize that Star Wars has played a HUGE role in modern mythology, representing a vast storytelling universe, which, for decades, has expanded itself through picture books, early readers, novels, comic books — almost every literary format available. (There are WAY more Star Wars books than movies.)
So, if you want to find your kid the perfect book to celebrate a Star Wars moment — May the Fourth, Star Wars Reads Day, the latest Star Wars movie — or parlay your kid’s fandom into more reading, there is a staggering variety of titles to choose from. Here are some suggestions for Star Wars books that speak to all different kinds of kids with all different kinds of interests.
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For Those Too Young to Actually Watch the Movies...
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The Star Wars Little Golden Book Library
Available from:Star Wars has become such a cultural juggernaut that it often gets on kids’ radar way before they’re actually old enough to see the films. So what are you supposed to do when your preschooler wants to know everything about the Jedis returning and the Sith revenging, but you know that the movies will give them nightmares about severed arms and trash-compactor monsters?
Fortunately, the Star Wars Little Golden Book Library offers a six-book retelling of the entire movie series — told in the classic “Little Golden Book” format — acting as an ideal, bedtime-friendly introduction to the SW universe for even the littlest Padawans.
Also available from:
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For the DIY Kid Who Feels at Home at the Local Maker Faire…
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Star Wars Epic Yarns
If your child is better at appreciating DIY than doing it themselves, they might adore the Star Wars Epic Yarns book — an achingly cute retelling of the original trilogy using needle-felt figures.
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For the Super-Fan Who Can’t Get Enough of “The Force Awakens”…
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Aftermath
Available from:If your child still hasn't stopped talking about the latest Star Wars movie (or the inherent design flaws in Kylo Ren’s lightsaber) — and if they’re a well-read tween or teen — you might want to direct them towards Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath, the officially sanctioned Star Wars novel that offers the definitive answer to “What happened after Return of the Jedi” and may give some good backstory for storylines featured in the new trilogy.
Also available from:
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For the Theater Kid…
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William Shakespeare’s Star Wars
If your child is interested in Star Wars, but they self-identify as a “drama geek” — the kind that’s more into jazz hands than robotic hands — they will probably get a kick out of William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, a hilarious genre mash-up (from the publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) that gleefully translates George Lucas’s dialogue into Shakespearean English and full-on iambic pentameter.
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For the Kid Who Needs to Know Everything…
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Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
Kids often make the best kind of fans because of their unbridled enthusiasm. There are children out there who can’t tell time on a non-digital clock, but they can recite the design specs of the Death Star from memory. If your child LOVES minutiae, blueprints, encyclopedias, anything with a ton of information they can absorb, they will love poring over Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, an exhaustive, beautifully designed compendium of all things Empire or Rebellion.
What other Star Wars books would you recommend to young Jedis?