Discover Use the Force!

What does it take to be a Jedi? Do you have what it takes? A brand-new book from DK poses those questions for young readers in a fun, entertaining way.

Use the Force! Discover What It Takes to Be a...Jedi is a 128-page guide book of sorts, but more of a light-hearted look at Jedi culture and famous Jedi in the Star Wars movies and TV shows. Not quite an In-Universe book, but still kind of is, this book explores the world of the Jedi in its own cheeky style.

Covering similar ground as more serious books like The Secrets of the Jedi and The Jedi Path, Use the Force! is a middle-grade "hybrid" book, meaning it's not really a graphic novel like the Jedi Academy series but still illustrated throughout with black and white photos and sketchy drawings. The design of this book is unique: LOTS of different fonts and plenty of yellow.

Fans of the Jedi Academy series and Tom Angleberger's Origami Yoda books will appreciate author Christian Blauvelt's humorous approach to the usually very serious topics of Jedi training, lifestyle, philosophy and more.

It's wonderful to see the continued practice of including TV characters and storylines in these books and not just focusing on the movies. Also Use the Force! is very current as it mentions a few things only revealed in the recent The Rise of Skywalker movie.

The overall look of the book may not appeal to some. DK is known for their amazing Visual Dictionary and other stunning Star Wars guide books but here the images are all black and white, or intentionally-amateurish line drawings.

One small complaint: the author makes it seem that Luke Skywalker himself trained Rey in the Jedi ways, but it was Leia who did that. Luke famously REFUSED to train her in their short time together in The Last Jedi. As seen in The Rise of Skywalker, Leia is the one training Rey. Here Leia is not mentioned as having been trained or teaching Rey as a Jedi, only that Leia "helps" Rey redeem Kylo Ren.

Use the Force! covers some pretty familiar territory as other books, but in very light-hearted way many younglings will enjoy.

(Publisher's Recommendation: Ages 7-10)

Also by Christian Blauvelt: