Canadians in Star Wars!

Star Wars began as an American movie, filmed mostly in the UK, with mostly American & British cast, crew and everything else. 

Mostly, but not all. A few of us Canadians sneak in there now and then too!

If you follow our Twitter @SWKidscast or facebook @StarWarsKidscast accounts (please do if you don't already!) you may already know this. Over the past week or so we've been celebrating one Canadian contribution to Star Wars each day as we count down to Canada Day (July 1).

There are far more notable Canadian contributors than we realized and should've started this much earlier! However, there's always next year. And please let us know if we missed somebody! And use the hashtag #StarWarsEh

Here's a recap of week one of our celebration...
 

Anakin/Vader actor Hayden Christensen!

E.K. Johnston, author of Ahsoka!

Biggs Darklighter was Canadian!

Catherine Winder was vital in shaping The Clone Wars

Gone too early, but not forgotten. Artist Gene Day.

This includes a LOT of hardworking, talented people!

Lucasfilm's (and Winnipeg's) Pablo Hidalgo

Read, You Must: Solo The Official Guide

With each new Star Wars movie, DK publishes a wonderful reference book full of photos of characters, weapons, ships, and environments. 

While the movie is still only available to see in a theatre, these books are the next best thing to being able to pause the movie and scrutinize the fascinating little details that go by too quickly. 

Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo (The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary, Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide) takes readers on a 128 page tour of the brand-new locations and locals from the movie while noting links to the Star Wars we already know and love.

For fans young and old, Solo: A Star Wars Story is a movie bursting with connections to other movies, TV shows, comics and books. As Han travels from planet to planet across the galaxy, his adventures link up to all sorts of trivia for fans. Some of the connections are to places and things in books published over 30 years ago, while others refer to details mentioned in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.

Like previous "Visual Guide" and "Visual Dictionary" books, Solo: The Official Guide is page after page of colourful photos from the movie along with descriptions and context for each droid, alien, and just about everything else.

At the back there is also a cool section of behind-the-scenes artwork, photos and info for fans interested in the movie-making process.

Solo: A Star Wars Story The Official Guide is a wonderful companion to the film. It does share an unfortunate trait though with similar Star Wars reference books from the past. As these books are released simultaneously with the film, but published and distributed beforehand, there are always major moments of the film that for secrecy's sake don't end up in the book. For Solo, these come in the form of character reveals that, once you've seen the film, pose a lot more questions than are answered on-screen.

For example, it would've been wonderful to have an image of the Cloud-Riders with their helmets off, as they eventually are seen in the movie, along with more detailed info about them.

There's another example late in the movie that certainly begs for elaboration but we'll leave that one for another time...

Like with previous guide books, it's a small price to pay to have such a photo-rich, detail-filled book to pour through between viewings of the movie, and gives readers new things to look for each time.

Highly recommended. 

(Publisher's Recommendation: Ages 10 & up)

Also available from DK:

DK Reader Level 2

Read, You Must: Rogue One The Ultimate Visual Guide

DK Publishing creates another must-own book for Star Wars fans! 

Thanks to 200 pages of detailed photos and insightful text by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, Rogue One:The Ultimate Visual Guide offers an expanded experience that goes deeper than the film itself can cover in just two hours.

Rogue One fits perfectly with everything we already know about the Rebellion and the Empire, but also introduces plenty that has never been seen before in Star Wars. Hidalgo’s text gives names to so much of what is new in the film and a context to help readers understand where and how each new puzzle piece fits into the saga.

Who are all those people in the city on Jedha? What kind of alien is that in Saw Gerrara’s group? All of these nuggets of information are here. Readers can explore the various worlds of the movie and learn new character names, alien species, weaponry and more. There’s even a 2-page spread detailing the many different toys in young Jyn Erso’s bedroom!

Books like Rogue One The Ultimate Visual Guide allow readers to “pause” the action of the movie and really get a good look at background characters, droids, props, costumes and more. What is onscreen for only fractions of a second is here in rich detail to pour over and devour.

The only minor shortcoming, and this is also true of last year’s terrific The Force Awakens The Visual Dictionary (also by Hidalgo), is that there are a few characters or items of interest that did not make it into the book. This happens either because they were added to the film after the book was already set for printing, or because some things were meant to be kept a secret until the movie’s release. 

To give an example though would be to spoil one of Rogue One’s many surprises, but now that the movie is out it seems odd those key moments are not included here, as it is odd to not see Luke Skywalker in the first few The Force Awakens-related books.

It’s a small criticism though because what IS here is wonderful and DK’s visual guide books are dense with great stuff for Star Wars fans to enjoy. 

Unfortunately this came out too late to make our “Best Books of 2016” list, but it certainly deserves a place on that list! Highly recommended.

Publisher's Recommendation: Ages 9 - 12

Also by Pablo Hidalgo: Star Wars Rebels Head to Head 

 

Read, You Must: Star Wars Year By Year (Updated and Expanded Edition)

Kylo Ren slashes across the slip cover

Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History (Updated and Expanded Edition) is an in-depth look at the origins and development of George Lucas’ movies and how they exploded in popularity. While an equally fantastic book like Ultimate Star Wars details the fictional events within the Star Wars saga, Year By Year looks at the real-world story of Star Wars as it was created, celebrated and loved by humans on Earth

Every spread in DK's Year By Year is full of visuals, from behind-the-scenes photos to international posters to comic and book covers, video game screenshots and plenty of other Star Wars memorabilia. The evolution of Star Wars toys, games, books, clothing, comics, collecting and more are all chronicled here.

Star Wars has very timeless feel to it so sometimes it can be easy to forget that when Lucas was starting to write down his first ideas the availability of home video or video game consoles were still years away and the internet was unimaginable to most of us! Things have changed a LOT and Year By Year highlights all these advancements and how Star Wars evolved with them.

The actual cover of the book

Each year is separated into a different section and important events related to Star Wars are noted. Along the way, landmark achievements for Lucasfilm, ILM and other related organizations are also mentioned. Historical events that were happening around the world are highlighted along the way as well. 

           

This is an amazing gift book for anyone wanting to learn about how Star Wars got to be the giant it is today. Year By Year is also a great teaching tool to springboard conversations about history, politics and more. Younger readers can still get plenty out of this book as it is as full of images, headlines and short blurbs as it is details and history.

If you are wondering what’s new in this "Updated and Expanded Edition" from the original version from 2010, the answer is…PLENTY!

From the Walt Disney Company purchase of Lucasfilm to the release of The Force Awakens, the launch of Star Wars Rebels and more, a lot has happened in the past few years. While celebrating this new era of Star Wars excitement Year By Year doesn’t shy away from some of the less popular events of recent years like the sudden cancellation of the acclaimed The Clone Wars TV series or the closing of LucasArts (Lucasfilm’s video game division).

For a casual fan, flipping through this book just taking in the pictures may open up a whole new level of appreciation and excitement for Star Wars. Serious fans will find hours of info to enjoy!

As if that weren’t enough, this hefty 360-page large-size book comes in a very spiffy slip-case and includes two prints of early artwork from The Force Awakens!

With Rogue One and more on the horizon, we may see more Star Wars in the next few years than ever before, which hopefully means more books like this one chronicling each step, year by year.