What Makes a Monster? is the third title in DK publishing’s new line of young reader books called DK Adventures after Jedi Battles and Sith Wars (reviewed here). It focuses on the many, many animals, creatures and wild beasts within the six current Star Wars films. Some are “monsters” and some are not monstrous at all. Some are massively huge and some are tiny and cute (almost).
Each of these digest-sized books are 128 pages - a little smaller and much thicker than the popular DK Readers books - and intended for “confident readers”. They are all FULL of gorgeous movie images spanning the Star Wars saga, and occasionally borrow art and diagrams from other DK books like the Incredible Cross-Sections titles. Often there’s a close-up on something only quickly glimpsed in the movies giving even long-time fans something new to see.
Author Adam Bray continues the tradition of many DK titles by writing “in-universe”. There’s no mention that these are about movies at all. Each section has a new heading and then the text focuses on that element for a few pages such as Creatures of the Deep, Monsters as Pets, Creepy Crawlies and Space Monsters.
Sadly there’s no creatures from Star Wars: The Clone Wars in here or from the Expanded Universe. The Zillo Beast is just too big to fit in this book, I imagine!
The book serves as an excellent introduction to the many non-human, non-sentient lifeforms in the Star Wars movies. Think of it as a sort of a young readers’ The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide.
Recommended for any detail-oriented reader who’s enthusiastic to learn more about the furry, scaly, slimy or slithery beasts in the Star Wars saga.
Stay tuned for an interview with What Makes a Monster? author Adam Bray coming soon to Star Wars Kidscast podcast!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Got a comment? Something you'd like Star Wars Kidscast to discuss? What's your favourite part about Star Wars? Comments welcome, but scum & villainy is not appreciated.