A review by justthatstarwarsbookgirl
Star Wars: Rebel Heroes by Shari Last

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book wasn’t as fast a read through as your average children’s book due to being a DK reader. I read the end pages describing accurate and really wonderful ways parents can interact to help their children to learn to read, sound out and learn the different and new words, and use the different fact files as well as supportive commentary and compliments to help boost their child’s confidence. That entire section is definitely research tested and from the point of view of a girl who was a large reader from early on due to great encouragement from my parents, I think some if not all of those key strategies would work great on todays kids, and we definitely need more parents willing to do those things to actually help their children rather than ignore them. Some of the strategies may be overkill to me or would’ve been when I was a kid but that’s just me personally and does not reflect every other kid out there, especially kids nowadays. I like the gloss of the pages and I think they smell great. The pages have beautiful full color designs with pictures and images directly from the various Star Wars movies and shows including the animated series Star Wars: Rebels Seasons 1-4, the Original Trilogy Episodes 4-6, Rogue One: A Star Ware Story and the Sequel Trilogy’s Episode 7: The Force Awakens. The book included a great variety of the many different eras of the Star Wars Rebellion and later the Resistance, traveling in timeline order, each section/era having a major mission as a part of their section. beginning with the Rebels 2014 Animated Show Era (taking place after Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith and before Episode 4: A New Hope), introducing each member of the Ghost Crew, from Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren to Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Zeb and Ahsoka Tano, smaller fact files for lesser-known allies, including Clone Captain Rex, and introducing their more well-known and significant mission, such as the Sith Temple on Malachor. The next stop in the timeline for the different eras of the Rebellion is the team for the Scarif Mission of stealing the Death Star Plans, led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, flanked by Bohdi Rook, Chirrut and Baze Malbus in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The next era is the Original Trilogy Era, Episodes 4-6, where Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca and Han Solo are introduced, as well as the Battle of Hoth at Echo Base being mentioned, and the second mission being mentioned as the Destruction of the Death Star. Luke’s two Jedi Mentors, Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi and Yoda each have their own fact files. Rebel Leaders Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar are also briefly mentioned. The Millennium Falcon has its own 2-page layout of interior blueprints, there is also a layout of all of the different Rebel Starships, including A-, B-, U-, X- and Y-Wings, and the lineup of Rebel Pilots has its own 2-page spread. A layout of all of the previously known Rebel and Resistance Bases is also spread across 2 pages, and all Rebel/Resistance Droids, such as K-2SO, C-3PO, BB-8, Chopper (C1-10P), R2-D2 are on a layout as well with little fact blurbs. The last portion of the book is dedicated to the Sequel Trilogy’s new Resistance, and highlights the characters of pilot Poe Dameron, Finn “FN-2187”, and Rey of Jakku, as well as the mission of Starkiller Base. The book was produced before the last 2 movies of the Sequel Trilogy, and so does not contain any information from the last two movies (Episode 8: The Last Jedi and Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker), only including information about events from Episode 7: The Force Awakens. I also liked about the book that it included an informative index, glossary and question section, the questions were easy enough for me to answer off the top of my head and were worded wide and broad enough that any general combination of words related to the direct answer is a good and correct answer. I also like how the answers to these questions were not simply on the next page so that you may accidentally see them and flip to them before finishing all the questions in your head rather they were placed many pages after and in a small, unnoticeable box at the bottom of the page. The answers were general enough as well so that with any combination of related words you had come up with in your head as your answer was correct and made you feel accomplished for answering them correctly off the top of your head. I also like how DK books are separated by level, I think that makes them great for sorting into categories on a bookshelf or collection, especially with the colored spine versions of them. The rows of the same levels look nice and organized in a straight line. I think accomplishing all the levels of Star Wars books would be a great goal for anybody, including me. I have rated this book 3 stars only due to the fact that I would not like to pick it up again for a full reread. I think it’s a one time read for me, however I will be keeping it in the collection for certain.