MORE Indoor Activities, the Star Wars Way!

See below for details!

Whether it's an Imperial takeover, First Order occupation, a Blue Shadow virus going around, or just a Kamino-style rainy day, staying indoors will not stop young Star Wars fans from loving their favourite galaxy far, far away! 

Here's another list of activity books to keep young padawans engaged and inspired while indoors! See the previous batch of books here. Some of these books may be out of print or tricky to find new, but online sources should be able to help.

For Young Students:

Star Wars Workbooks (Workman Publishing) is a line of educational workbooks to help teach younglings. There are titles for each age/grade level (Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade etc.) focusing on topics of reading, writing and mathematics.


Star Wars Phonics (Scholastic) "Learn how to read with all your favorite Star Wars characters! Perfect for reluctant readers, each book is illustrated with fullcolor images from the blockbuster Star Wars movies."

For Young Coders & Engineers:

Star Wars Coding Projects (DK) "A Step-by-Step Visual Guide to Coding Your Own Animations, Games, Simulations and more! Star Wars Coding Projects is a step-by-step visual guide to designing and coding in Scratch. The setting is as big as your imagination." (pictured above)

For Young Creative Writers: 

Star Wars Mad-Libs: The books that are word games. Loads of fun playing around and twisting up the familiar Star Wars story with your own creativity and sense of humour!

For Young Artists:

Learn to Draw Star Wars: Volume 2 (Walter Foster Jr. Creative Team) "With just a little practice, you’ll be drawing Rey, BB-8, Kylo Ren, and more. This 64-page, spiral-bound manual comes with grid-drawing exercises, tracing paper, and basic shapes projects."

LEGO Star Wars Doodle Activity Book "A brand new format for LEGO Star Wars, part activity book, part coloring/doodle book"

For Young Builders:

LEGO Star Wars Ideas Book (DK) "More than 200 Games, Activities, and Building Ideas. Features imaginative play and building ideas using your own LEGO brick collection. There are LEGO projects that take just a few minutes, it builds to keep you occupied for hours." 

Do you have a favourite Star Wars activity book? Let us know in the comments. Don't forget to check out part one of this list too!

Indoor Activities, the Star Wars Way!

Whether it's an Imperial takeover, First Order occupation, a Blue Shadow virus going around, or just a Kamino-style rainy day, staying indoors will not stop young Star Wars fans from loving their favourite galaxy far, far away!  

Yes of course you could read Star Wars books, play with Star Wars toys and games, dress up in costumes (be careful with those indoor lightsaber battles!) but there are also plenty of Star Wars activity books out there to help kids get creative and enjoy their indoor time!

For Young Artists:

Star Wars Doodles (Disney)  By artist Zack Giallongo!
"Younglings can draw, color, and create with all their favorite characters from the Star Wars films."

 
Star Wars Thumb Doodles (Klutz Press) "With ink art and a few quick lines, you can recreate favorite moments from the movies or from scenes never seen before...Even in a galaxy far, far away."

Draw Star Wars Rebels (Klutz Press) "A complete how-to guide packed with expert tips and easy step-by-step instructions that let kids bring these exciting new Star Wars characters to life."
 
ART2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling (An Origami Yoda Activity Book) (Abrams)
One of our favourite authors Tom Angleberger—with the help of the kids from McQuarrie Middle School—presents young Padawans with 75+ activities from the Star Wars universe. This is a tie-in book to the popular Origami Yoda book series.

For Young Scientists & Engineers:

Star Wars Maker Lab (DK) "With 20 amazing projects, Star Wars Maker Lab teaches your budding Padawan how to become a Master of science, in both the real world and the Star Wars galaxy."

Star Wars Science Fair Book (Scholastic) "Gear up for Science Fair season with exciting Star Wars-themed science experiments!"

Star Wars Folded Flyers (Klutz Press) "For the first time ever, you can fold Star Wars flyers that fly with the force. Star Wars Folded Flyers will speed through the living room as well as they do in outer space."

For Young Crafters & Cooks:

Star Wars Mania "Part craft book, part activity book, with over 40 projects to make in each book, the Mania series offers hours of creative fun for boys and girls of all ages!"



The Star Wars Craft Book (Del Rey) "Fans of all ages and skill levels can bring the best of the galaxy far, far away right into their own homes." 

Star Wars Make & Do (Egmont Books Ltd UK) "Plenty for young Star Wars fans to do: things to make, including a Chewbacca hand puppet, a stormtrooper helmet, and the Yoda decoder."
 
The Star Wars Cook Book: BB-ATE (Chronicle) There have been several books in the series. This one is the most recent and focuses on breakfast and brunch items. And as always, a lot of food puns. 
 
Do you have a favourite Star Wars activity book? Let us know in the comments. There's probably enough we missed to make a part 2 to this. Maybe 3!

Read, You Must: Alien Archive

New from Disney - Lucasfilm Press is Star Wars: Alien Archive (A Guide to the Species of the Galaxy), an in-universe guide to nearly every alien species, from gigantic creatures like Rancors and Krayt Dragons to Jawas, Porgs, Tookas and well, whatever Yoda is!

Page after page of colourful illustrations, facts, and notable examples of each alien species fill this oversized 157 page hardcover. Basically anything that isn't a human and isn't a droid is probably covered in here somewhere.

The book is written in-universe, meaning the "author" is Xoddam Lothipp, Deputy Director of something called the "Graf Archive". The contents are presented as though this journal archive was discovered within the Star Wars galaxy.

Alien Archive has a very similar feel to 2016's Star Wars: Galactic Maps and works well as a companion to that book. Like in Galactic Maps, the all-new illustrations have an old-fashioned "wood cut" feel, once again by Tim McDonagh. It also covers some of the same ground as 2016's Aliens of the Galaxy, but it goes into far more depth and is about four times as long!

Galactic Maps (2016)

 
If you don't know an Ewok from an Ugnaught, is the book for you. Alien Archive is impressively comprehensive, including creatures and aliens from of course the Star Wars movies (as recent as Solo) as well as those only seen in The Clone Wars and Rebels. 

A treat for the die-hard fans is also discovering creatures only seen in novels, comics, games or even from the Ewok adventure TV specials. 

For most of the species presented there are notable examples given, hints as to where the reader may have seen this creature before. It would be nice to have some sort of footnotes to help readers find some of the more obscure species on screen or wherever they're from. However, since this book is in-universe, it doesn't really acknowledge that Star Wars IS a bunch of movies, TV shows and more. As far as the author is concerned, this is all real!

Longtime fans and brand-new fans of any age will find plenty to discover and enjoy in this archive. Highly recommended!

(Publisher's recommendation Ages 8-12)

Read, You Must: Star Wars Galactic Maps

New from Disney/Lucasfilm Press comes one of the last Star Wars books released in 2016, and one of the best surprises of the year!

Galactic Maps: An Illustrated Atlas of the Star Wars Universe is a delight for fans of the whole Star Wars saga. Illustrator Tim McDonagh shines on every large-sized 2-page map spread as writer Emil Fortune (writing as archivist “Amel Fortoon”) tells the story of these newly-discovered “ancient” maps that “seem to be centred on the saga of the legendary Skywalker family”.

These aren’t ordinary maps though - each map is filled with character moments and action scenes based in that location. The illustration style harkens back to antique maps of the high seas (of Earth) and woodcut printmaking, giving the whole book a cool, old-fashioned look. Star Wars is, after all, set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”.

The sprawl of Coruscant captured in a few key moments

Obvious important planets like Tatooine, Coruscant, Geonosis, Naboo, Jakku and Hoth are all here but over 80 pages, Galactic Maps also details locations seen only in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels TV series as well.

Events on Jakku from The Force Awakens

As an added bonus there’s even some info and a map of Jedha from Rogue One. The various planetary systems are organized into groups and then categorized together by proximity. The book is admittedly more an artistic representation of each place rather than a collection of reliable topographical maps for navigation. Amel Fortoon warns at the beginning “these maps are not strictly accurate…the artist was more interested in the feel of these strange worlds and the galaxy-shaking events that took place on them.”

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon could've used a map on Naboo!

Each map spread is full of detail and in some cases sharp eyes are rewarded with tiny details to discover. With self-referential humour and surprise appearances of all sorts of lesser-known characters from Meebur Gascon to Dr. Vindi to the Gorax, Galactic Maps has a lot of fun with what could’ve been a pretty dry book.  

Galactic Maps is part of a new trend in Star Wars merchandise that gives equal weight to all areas of the saga (not just the movies). Seeing Lothal or the mysterious The Clone Wars world of Mortis (is it a planet…or another dimension??) right alongside Mustafar and Endor is particularly satisfying.

Dathomir has many mysteries

Star Wars Galactic Maps is full of surprises, from its large 11 x 15” size to its cleverly illustrated 2-page spreads to its representation of all eras of Star Wars. 

Jedha, before the events of Rogue One!

It’s simply a wonderful book and unfortunate that it came out so late in the year. It has been added to our “Best of 2016” list now. Highly recommended!

Publisher’s Recommendation: Ages 8 – 12

The Force Awakens Retold Many Ways

With young readers in mind, several recent books have retold the entire story of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

Tailored to various ages and reading levels, each has a slightly different perspective on events seen in the film. Many fans will want to read them all!

For the youngest readers, Little Golden Books has just released its The Force Awakens book to go along with the many other recent Little Golden Books Star Wars titles (Reviews here and here). The story is brisk and the art is kid-friendly, cartoony and very retro-cool! This is a fun addition to any collection. It is adapted by Christopher Nicholas and illustrated by Caleb Meurer and Micky Rose.

Speaking of retro-cool, read-along books have been around since they came with little vinyl records, then cassettes and eventually CDs. You can enjoy The Force Awakens Read-Along Storybook and CD just fine without the CD: Elizabeth Schaefer condenses the events into a quick read and Brian Rood's illustrations capture the key scenes of the story. However, the CD really expands the experience with music, sound effects, and dialogue right from the movie.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens storybook - also written by Elizabeth Schaefer - really lets the artwork shine as it's almost a coffee-table book of Brian Rood's amazing art. Some same images from the Read-Along book and several other Early Readers appear here along with many, many more pictures - some not seen elsewhere. Schaefer has more room to tell the story in detail here too. Together they make this book a real treasure!

The most in-depth version for young readers is the middle-grade chapter book Star Wars: The Force Awakens A Junior Novel. Author Michael Kogge retells the movie and even adds a few new moments and scenes that help connect the tale with the book Before the Awakening. It is a very entertaining and enjoyable version of the story. The drama, excitement and humour are all here!

However or wherever you are - May the Force Awakens Be With You! 

Update: Scholastic Books' LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens is also available now, and a lot of fun!
 

Read, You Must: Star Wars Original Trilogy Graphic Novel!

Most Star Wars books are great so it’s hard to review so many of them without being repetitive. I love books and I love Star Wars, so putting them together usually results in something special. Sometimes the books are even fantastic. Occasionally though, a book comes out that really should be on EVERY Star Wars fans’ wish-list. A “must-have”.

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel is a must-have book! It is wonderful.

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel from Disney-Lucasfilm Press is a faithful adaptation of Episodes 4, 5 & 6 (aka The Original Trilogy) into comic form bound in one amazing 208 pg. hardcover collection. It is as suitable for younger Star Wars fans as the movies themselves but offers plenty to enjoy at any age. There have been many books that retell the story of the films “for a new generation” but this one really stands out.

Past comic and novel adaptations of the films have usually been released around the same time as their corresponding movie, so to get them out on time they have been created based on early versions of the scripts. This usually results in scenes not in the movie, key moments missing and overall minor differences in the dialogue throughout. This kind of thing really bothered me as kid; “That’s not what Luke said!” “That’s not in the movie!” I’d say.

In this case thankfully the creators felt no need to change the script as we know it from the classic movies. I could easily hear the characters and famous lines in my mind as I read along. A few minor scenes were left out of these books but what is here is Star Wars greatness!

The new treat here the amazing artwork. This graphic novel is very modern in its style, presenting Star Wars in a way that would be very appealing to kids who read the popular Bone or Amulet series’ or enjoy shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Some of the panels look like they’re from a Star Wars 2-D animated show or movie, which would be amazing to see! There hasn’t been much Star Wars 2-D animation since the original Star Wars: Clone Wars “micro-series” from 2003-2005. This book makes me wish there was much more!

Words like beautiful, exciting, and absolutely cool are the words that best describe the artwork, created by a very talented team. If you know the story (if you’re reading this you likely do) then you already know how awesome THAT is!

Still not convinced? At a very reasonable price of $19.99 or less, this retelling of Episodes 4 - 6 belongs in EVERY Star Wars fan collection

Even better – the final page promises more of these graphic novels coming for Episodes 1 – 3, The Force Awakens and beyond. Yes, please!

(Publisher's Recommendation: Ages 8+ )