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Star Wars Books. Good Recommendations?

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Hello all. Since the trailers for Episode VII started coming out, my son who is 8 has recently been getting into Star Wars. We’ve watched all the movies and today went to see episode VII. He has been asking me a lot of how certain characters came about. Some of these questions I can answer, but some I have no idea. I grew up watching Star Wars but never really got into the books and the whole story line. Now that he is old enough, and asking questions, I’d like to try to answer them for him. Are there any books out there that I can read up on and try to answer his questions? Seems when I google stuff, there are lots of series that goes down different paths. I’d like to try to stay with what the movies are based off of or related to for now, then maybe go down those roads. Also, are there some age appropriate books for him? He is 8 (3rd Grade) but reads a bit higher in the 4th to 5th grade level.

Thanks all for the help!!

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Your son might like the Galaxy of Fear and Jedi Apprentice books. Just don’t touch the Jedi Prince books; those are atrocious.

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Ohhh, I definitely recommend Galaxy of Fear books too! I read a couple of them when I was younger, and they were fun to read.

For the purposes you’re seeking though, they aren’t canon, meaning, they don’t tie directtly into the films or Disney’s new Star Wars canon. However, for as young as your son is, I don’t think it will matter to him. So long as he’s getting some Star Wars adventure stories within some cameos of characters like Darth Vader, he should be satisfied.

For your interest though, if seek new canon related stuff, there’s this Reddit post breaking down what Disney has put out so far.

The Rise of Failures

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AngryGinger said:

Hello all. Since the trailers for Episode VII started coming out, my son who is 8 has recently been getting into Star Wars. We’ve watched all the movies and today went to see episode VII. He has been asking me a lot of how certain characters came about. Some of these questions I can answer, but some I have no idea. I grew up watching Star Wars but never really got into the books and the whole story line. Now that he is old enough, and asking questions, I’d like to try to answer them for him. Are there any books out there that I can read up on and try to answer his questions? Seems when I google stuff, there are lots of series that goes down different paths. I’d like to try to stay with what the movies are based off of or related to for now, then maybe go down those roads. Also, are there some age appropriate books for him? He is 8 (3rd Grade) but reads a bit higher in the 4th to 5th grade level.

Thanks all for the help!!

If he’s looking for a novel, I recommend ‘Lost Stars’. It’s a ‘Young Adult’ Star Wars novel set before, during and after the Original Trilogy which adds extra detail to some of the events and characters featured in the films.

If he’s looking for more of a ‘guide book’ to the characters and universe, this is a good fit:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-David-West-Reynolds/dp/0751370819

War does not make one great.

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Oh man, I remember those Visual Dictionaries. As far as guides go, I believe there’s one called Ultimate Star Wars that was released this year and is therefore canonical.

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I would say you can buy books like The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and Jedi Knight for your kid. These books are really great and gives a nice insight into the star wars journey.

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I too whole heartily recommend the Galaxy of Fear books. My second recommendation would be the Han Solo trilogy by Brian Daley.

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I can’t really recommend any of the new Disney-canon books since I’ve haven’t read any of them, but The Han Solo Adventures are some pretty fun and neutral SW books that should fit into the new canon without any problems. They are essentially about Han Solo’s “adventures” with Chewbacca prior to the events of the movies.
There’s also The Lando Calrissian Adventures books in the same style, I haven’t actually ready any of them, but they seem to be in the same over-all style, pre-movie Lando stories; depicting his adventures as captain of the Millennium Falcon before he lost it to Han.

Shadows of the Empire (which tells the story of what happened to Luke and the rest of the ‘gang’ between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) is also a book that shouldn’t contradict the new movies in any way. However, I’m not too sure if I’d recommend that to someone as young as 8. There’s nothing shocking in it, but the story might be a bit too complex, and one of the villains can definitely be a bit of a creep some times (I haven’t read it in a while so I can’t remember how specific the book gets. It’s probably not much though being a SW book). However, I’d definitely recommend that it to anyone that’s roughly 11-12 or older.

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Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
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Yes, it was. Dark Horse even made a comic adaptation of it.

Making that book canon within the post-TESB SW Universe was probably the first warning sign that something was rotten in the EU (Well, after the Jedi Academy Trilogy, at any rate).

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Hmm, a lot of posters here seem to be forgetting that AngryGinger requested books that would be appropriate for his/her eight-year-old son to read. Me thinks Splinter of the Mind’s Eye/Thrawn Trilogy/etc. might be a little too advanced for his age.

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Lost Stars is incredible, amazing storyline, and gives a nice overview of that murky transition from republic to empire, and, most importantly, Empire to first order, with some large hints about Ep7.
It’s pretty much the best written Star Wars novel and beat standalone book going by reviews.
Overall it’s a great book and I think it’s classed as a young adult novel so it’s quite easy to read. It is technically a romance tho so I’m not sure if you’d be happy etc. I think there’s only one saucy scene in there, and it’s fairly ambiguous.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

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Haven’t read a Star Wars book for a while - this ‘Last Shot’ seems intriguing - given the new Solo film etc…


 

An interview with the author (who also wrote for a ‘Certain Point Of view’):-

https://www.starwars.com/news/last-shot-author-daniel-jose-older-on-han-solo-the-dad-and-why-lando-needs-l3-37

 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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Last Shot was delivered to my kindle this morning, I plan to start it on my lunch break. Looking forward to it.

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It’s not really for kids, but I do recommend everyone Bloodline from the nuEU. Not very Star Warsy, it’s more of a political/detective story, but it worked for me. The other nuEU stories I have read has left me with a bad taste in my mouth, whereas Bloodline was very enjoyable. It’s also a better take on gray morality than the prequels.

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And it actually provides context for the state of the galaxy in the ST that isn’t really given in the movies.

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That too, but the biggest reasons why I liked it so much were:

a) it’s a love letter for Leia, and it addressed many problems I have with the character in the OT, including the metal bikini crap. Princess of Alderaan (from Gray too) was also a Leia story, but it’s more of an origin/transition into adulthood/backstory, it tries to explain how kid Leia became OT Leia, and I find it uneccessary, while Bloodline takes OT Leia, makes her older, and develops her (still unecessary, honestly, but if the ST exists then Bloodline acts as a painless bridge).
b) it has a relatively quiet, calm story. Because the comics and books are free of technical limitation, they can do action scenes way too over-the-top for my tastes (the PT and ST are also too intense for me, but I can kinda understand a stronger push on spectacular visuals and scenes in the movies); Bloodline is quite free from this problem.
c) it does not attempt to make an OT-like movie in book form (second biggest complain I have with Shadows of the Empire, after the boring plot and villain). Rather, it’s a story set in the Star Wars universe with its own style and themes.
d) it doesn’t really add forgetable side/secondary characters to justify its own existene, using said charactes to add “depth” or “morality” or themes or whatever. There are some shades of this in Bloodline but it’s a very minor problem (and the non-Leia/Castefo scenes could have been cut and the book would still work), specially compared with many other EU stories.

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For a kid his age, there are NU Canon books like

The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear (upcoming)
Guardians of the Whills
Smuggler’s Run
Weapon of a Jedi
Moving Target
Before the Awakening (Background for Poe, Finn and Rey)
Cobalt Squadron
The Legends of Luke Skywalker.

They would be more his reading level than some of the other suggestions, great as they are.

It seems like people are really embracing the new characters. In fact, the big question people ask me now about Star Wars is, “Are Finn and Poe gay lovers?” And really how the f*ck would I know? My second husband left me for a man, so my gaydar isn’t exactly what you’d call Death Star level quality. ----Carrie Fisher

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The Dark Horse comics are a good intro to the old EU. I would also second the recommendations of Lost Stars and Galaxy of Fear.

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lovelikewinter said:

Smuggler’s Run
Weapon of a Jedi
Moving Target

Of these three, Smuggler’s Run is the best and can be easily enjoyed by a kid. I’m not sure if OP would like to give the kid Weapon of a Jedi since there are some few sexual tones in the book.

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Since these are for an eight year old, I might stop short of a full-on read of Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye. There are some scary and\or harsh passages. One in particular that comes to mind is the scene in Grammel’s office where he takes a computer readout stick and uses it to gouge out someone’s eye while Luke & Leia watch. It’s fairly descriptive. Just a thought.

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His kid is now at least 10 so many SW books are just fine. But he hasn’t been here since he posted.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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A bit odd someone would create an account here just to ask about books then leave after one day, never to return.