A review by justthatstarwarsbookgirl
DK Readers L2: Star Wars: R2-D2 and Friends by Simon Beecroft

adventurous informative lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I thought that this book was extremely simplistic and basic and a perfect kid’s book. I definitely would recommend it for little kids, but definitely wouldn’t recommend it for adult fans. I didn’t like how the DK Reading Tips for Adults were in the front of the book, but I thought both the tips for checking out the contents and especially letting your child hold the book and flip the pages themselves were great tips and tricks. As a kid I’d definitely want to be able to touch and feel and hold the book myself. It’s the little things like that that are so important and could change things about your child loving reading or not. As a parent, asking your child questions about the text they JUST read might annoy them however and not be a good idea, but that’s just my opinion. Also the section on praising your child for their attempts and hard work, reading together every day and the amount of time you should read together, as well as the fact that you should read a variety of different types of books, is all very accurate and helpful. I like how large the words are on the pages, the beautiful full-color gloss images from the movies (especially the ones involuntarily showing R2’s color, battle scars and details in depth), and the introduction and beginning pages of the book which really hook you in to the short storyline. I didn’t like how brief some of the entries were on the different droids out there, I had been expecting some more elaboration on them because of the advertisements on the book’s covers, but I thought overall the book was a nice, concise entry on droids themselves and their functions and abilities as well as different types such as Battle Droids, Bounty Hunters, Spy Droids, Medical Droids, and more, even down to their different categories and smaller types. The book puts a lot of emphasis on R2 himself and his abilities, which I suppose is appropriate considering the title of the book itself. I didn’t like how the questions at the end of the book’s last page were checkmark boxes for “Good” or “Bad”, on the actual gloss of the pages, I absolutely don’t think it should’ve been implied to write or mark in the book’s pages itself. The book ends with R2 saying goodbye in his own droid language to the reader which is super sweet and cute and touched my heart and made me super happy even as an adult so I’m certain the child reader would be thrilled and super pleased to have R2 say bye to them!! Again, would definitely recommend this book for any child fan of Star Wars, or even one that would like or whose parents would like to introduce them to it by showing them the droids such as R2, even if this book wasn’t exactly deemed for adults as the audience. A very clever and bright/joyous Star Wars universe read for kids!