Read, You Must: The Rise of Skywalker: A Junior Novel

Once again author Michael Kogge adapts the latest Star Wars film from screen to page! 

Out now from Disney-Lucasfilm Press is the official young reader novel of the conclusion of the sequel trilogy: The Rise of Skywalker: A Junior Novel

Like his previous adaptations for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, the movie is retold for confident middle-grade readers in chapter book format. Kogge captures the excitement, humour and tragedy of the end of the Skywalker saga here

At 216 pages The Rise of Skywalker: A Junior Novel faithfully presents all the key moments, but doesn't stop there. Many scenes are expanded upon and actually help clarify some of the events of the film. An early example of one of these advertised "Exclusive Scenes" is how Kylo Ren gets ahold of the Sith wayfinder in the opening scenes. Its much clearer what's going here on in the book than the movie, and much cooler where he finds it. (We won't spoil that here though!)

Throughout the book there are little extra bits to scenes that for whatever reason didn't make it into the final film. For young fans who want to know EVERYTHING, this is a real bonus! Rey's conversations with Leia, Lando talking about his long-lost daughter, Ewoks discussing their take on galactic events are just some of the extra moments here.

Also included are 6 pages of colour photographs from the movie.

Since Michael Kogge has adapted all three sequel trilogy movies (and written Poe Dameron's Flight Log), it's hard to imagine anyone better versed in these characters to write some in-between stories for young readers. There have been a select few (Spark of the Resistence, Cobalt Squadron) but there is definitely room for more adventures between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

If you have not seen the movie, this is a very faithful retelling of it. Of course if you have already seen it, The Rise of Skywalker: A Junior Novel is an excellent way to relive the adventure!

Publisher's Recommendation: Ages  8-12

Read, You Must: The Last Jedi A Junior Novel

With October being Star Wars Reads month, we're going to try to get caught up on reading and reviewing as many Star Wars books as possible. Let's face it, with The Last Jedi and Solo coming out so close together, there have been ALMOST too many new books to handle in the past year. Almost, because really is there such a thing as "too much Star Wars"? Nope.

Released earlier this year, months after the movie release, The Last Jedi A Junior Novel is a great way for middle-grade readers to look at the film from a different perspective.

With 202 pages, author Michael Kogge (The Force Awakens Junior Novel, Poe Dameron: Flight Log) offers a surprisingly serious and powerful take on the Rian Johnson screenplay. "Surprisingly serious" only because his take on The Force Awakens was so much fun to read. This time the adventure is there, but the story feels much more complex and at times somber, which is appropriate for the tone of this particular Star Wars movie.

Kogge doesn't try to gloss over or lighten up the story for young readers. Instead the author treats the story very seriously, sticking very closely to the screenplay, and respects that kids can handle the situations as presented. Nothing jumped out as missing from the movie-to-book translation, so if any key moments were omitted, they must not have been very crucial after all.

Readers will notice a few moments sprinkled throughout that are not from seen in the film, but are in most cases seen in the blu-ray Deleted Scenes. These are the "Exclusive Scenes" advertised on the cover.

The Last Jedi A Junior Novel also contains 8 pages of colour photos from the movie, which is always a fun bonus!

Basically if you loved The Last Jedi but don't get to watch it very often, here's a way to relive the movie whenever you like!

Read, You Must: Poe Dameron Flight Log

Poe Dameron: Flight Log is a new “replica journal” from Studio Fun, the publishers of previous Star Wars middle grade books like Ezra’s Rebel Journal and Sabine’s My Rebel Sketchbook. This means the book is set "In-Universe" and meant to be a replica of Poe’s actual writings and data files. 

The story of The Force Awakens, or at least Poe’s part in the adventure, is told by “the best pilot in the Resistance” himself through a series of transcribed conversations and notes. The back cover warns that these are “highly classified” documents inside this 96 page hardcover!

Similar to the earlier Rey’s Survival Guide, Poe Dameron: Flight Log includes photos, diagrams of ships, and insights specifically from Poe’s perspective. There are fold-out pages and hologram images cleverly revealed through lift-the-flaps.

The book goes beyond simply re-telling the story of the movie. There are events that happen before Poe meets Lor San Tekka on Jakku. Such events may be familiar to readers of the Poe Dameron comic series, but might be new to others.  

Poe Dameron: Flight Log also has a few other bits and pieces of Poe’s family history included, pulled from comics and other novels. There’s even a bit of insight of what happened to Poe after he and Finn crashed on Jakku, who rescued him and how Poe made it off-world.

Poe Dameron: Flight Log is written by Michael Kogge who has previously written several Star Wars Rebels novels and the terrific The Force Awakens Junior Novel. Kogge captures the same confident attitude that hotshot pilot Poe displays throughout the film. Poe shows disdain for reports and protocol: he just wants to fly!

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The book ends with an overview of Poe’s fellow pilots that participated in the final destruction of Starkiller Base and a promise of more adventures to come!     

         

Perhaps due to the marketing of The Force Awakens, or that the toys stand side-by-side on the shelves, it’s easy to forget how little Poe crosses paths with Rey in the movie. Reading books like Rey’s Story and this one really point out that those two key characters, though they make mutual friends in Finn, really have no contact. Perhaps in The Last Jedi they'll get to have a conversation?

If you want to expand on what you know of Poe, or just revisit The Force Awakens from a new perspective, this book is for you.

Publisher’s recommendation Ages 6-12

Also available now for Poe Dameron fans from Lucasfilm/Disney Press: