Read, You Must: Adventures in Wild Space: The Snare

“Two Kids Take On the Empire”

Adventures in Wild Space is an exciting new series of middle-grade chapter books from Lucasfilm-Disney Press. First published in early 2016 by Egmont UK, this series is now becoming available for North American readers.

Set between the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Rebellion (basically between Episodes 3 and 4), these exciting stories focus on brother and sister Milo and Lina Graf. The kids are searching deep in space for their missing parents - explorers who were captured by the Empire!

The first book, The Snare by Cavan Scott introduces the young siblings and their life on the run from Imperials. They live aboard their own spaceship, The Whisper Bird, with a droid companion CR-8R (aka. Crater) and Morq, a Kowikian Monkey-Lizard pet just like Jabba the Hutt had.

Original Egmont UK cover

As the series title suggests, these stories take place in “Wild Space”, areas of space far beyond the well-known Star Wars galaxy, so there will not be so many familiar characters or planets as readers may be used to. However there is plenty of humour and adventure here (and one very well-known character near the end!) as the kids outwit and outrun the evil Imperial Captain Korda. 

The brother-sister relationship and constant scrapes with danger makes this book feel a bit like the fun Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear books from the 1990’s, but with less spooky stuff. Although there is a fair amount of creepy grossness in The Snare. Be prepared to encounter the horrible “wart-hornets”!

It's a SNARE!

It might’ve been funny to call this book “It’s a trap!” since that means the same thing as snare, but it’s probably good they didn’t.

One confusing thing about the two books currently available here (released on the same day) is nowhere on the covers does it say which is book one or two! The only way to know which book to read first is on the last page in The Snare it says “To be continued in Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space Book Two: The Nest”. I admit I only discovered this after looking it up online to know where to start.

Potentially adding to the confusion of where to start, there is also a shorter “Prelude” book called The Escape that sets up the events of The Snare. The Escape is currently only available in eBook format in North America but is a paperback in the UK.

Minor confusions aside, author Cavan Scott has started off the Adventures in Wild Space series with fun, fast-paced adventure in The Snare and the series looks like it will be an exciting ride for young readers.

(Publisher’s Recommendation: Ages 8 – 11)

Book two is also now available: The Nest by Tom Huddleston:

Coming in April: Book Three: The Heist (aka The Steal)

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!

Check this out too!

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:

MORE Star Wars Stars on Sesame Street!

A while ago we did a feature post looking back some memorable moments when stars from Star Wars movies have appeared on the iconic children's TV show Sesame Street. Click here to read it! Since it is still one of the most viewed items we've ever posted it's overdue for a follow-up. Here's MORE Sesame Street visits by Star Wars stars!

Before we knew him as Saw Gerrara in Rogue One, in 2014 Forest Whitaker had some fun with The Count discussing imagination, and all the things that a simple stick could become, with a little creativity. No "Lies, Deceptions!", just imagination:

Another Rogue One star, Diego Luna (Cassian Andor), visited the Spanish-language Sesame Street counterpart Sesame Amigos two times to meet Elmo. Both clips are in Spanish so for those who don't speak the language here's a quick synopsis: In the first scene, Diego asks Elmo for his help to see if he’s expressing his emotions correctly for a movie he's about to film. He plays a sad, happy and angry scene.

 

In the second clip Diego and Elmo joke about his last name "Luna" ("moon" in Spanish) Then they play a game in which Diego tries imitating an animal without speaking and Elmo has to guess what animal it is. Elmo finally realizes Diego is trying to imitate a duck. Then Elmo imitates a Lion and Diego gets it right away because Elmo is a great imitator.

Special thanks to friend and actor Javier Lacroix for translation help! 

Fans of comedian/actor/singer Donald Glover are already looking forward to him playing young Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Han Solo movie (due in 2018). Here he is on Sesame Street in 2013 as the "famous" singer LMNOP, parodying the look and name of "Party Rock Anthem" dance music duo LMFAO.

Fun fact: Did you know Donald Glover had a brief appearance in the movie The Muppets? 

Poor Kermit!

Before he was famous for creating the Broadway smash hit musical Hamilton or writing & performing the songs "Jabba Flow" & "Dobra Doompa" (the songs the band plays in Maz's castle in The Force Awakens), in 2009 Lin Manuel Miranda played a shifty and manipulative real estate agent trying to convince Big Bird to move to a new habitat. Through rapping he explains the idea of "habitat" and the various options for birds. 

Fun fact: Lin Manuel Miranda has made other appearances on Sesame Street as a lamb, and wrote songs for other episodes.

This isn't a clip from Sesame Street itself, but it is a fun short video of actor Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa to Star Wars fans!) with Elmo promoting an upcoming Fourth of July ("Happy Birthday, America!") special on PBS...

 
Do you remember another Star Wars star on Sesame Street that we haven't discussed here or in the previous article? Comment below!

Plenty of Rogue One Reading to Do!

Available in paperback March 28

Rogue One may be out of most theatres now but will be available on home video on April 4^th (possibly earlier in digital format). Until then here’s a quick look at some of the Rogue One books to enjoy now, and a few coming soon:

Rogue One DK Readers Secret Mission (Level 4) – facts & details about the rebellion, the Empire and more fill this levelled reader for confident, independent readers, along with plenty of great photos from the movie. Almost like a mini version of the fantastic Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide. (DK Books)

Rogue One Ultimate Sticker Encyclopedia – loaded with images from the movie, this hefty sticker book features more than 1000 stickers and loads of information for detail-loving young fans. Some of the aliens and droids barely seen in the film are much clearer here. 96 pages of Rogue One fun! (DK Books)

Art of Coloring: Rogue One – part of the popular trend of more “grown-up” style coloring books, this has 128 pages of black and white line art images depicting many characters, ships and designs from the movie. The simplified images may also be helpful to young artists learning to draw the new Rogue One aliens and droids. (Disney/Lucasfilm Press)

Rebel Dossier – follow the story of Rogue One through the characters’ correspondence and data files. See our review here. (Disney/Lucasfilm Press)

Coming Soon:

Rogue One Junior Novel – the entire story of Rogue One in junior novel format will be available in paperback March 28! Written by novelist and game designer Matt Forbeck. Includes 8 pages of colour photos.(Disney/Lucasfilm Press)

Guardians of the Whills – this middle grade novel takes place before Rogue One and focuses on Chirrut and Baze before they meet Jyn Erso. Written by Greg Rucka (Before the Awakening, Smuggler’s Run). Available May 2. (Disney/Lucasfilm Press)

Rebel Rising – a new Young Adult novel focusing on Jyn Erso’s younger days and her time with Saw Gerrera. Written by Beth Revis. Available May 2. (Disney/Lucasfilm Press)