justthatstarwarsbookgirl's reviews
54 reviews

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 Force Awakens movie. The center subject of this book is a fan favorite character for many and a great inspiration for kids nowadays, especially young females, named Rey. We obviously find out much more of Rey’s story in the next two movies after this book was published. I think the book accurately describes and emphasizes how hard and difficult Rey’s lifestyle was living all alone from a young age and tirelessly working hard everyday in a rough environment at a difficult job just to survive in the basics and earn food to eat. I find I relate to Rey in many ways in her character’s emotions, feelings and drive to survive everyday, and I feel this book accurately represents that for people who may not understand that at the time in their lives so young. I also found out facts about Rey that even I did not know at the time; and I know a lot about Star Wars, trust me. Two of the facts I learned that I didn’t know for certain included Rey’s age and Rey’s height, which I found in a fact file blurb. I happily found out that I related directly to both in the fact that I am the same height and current age as one of my favorite fictional characters. That is extremely inspiring to me in a silly way. I believe the layout of the book with the fact files and blurbs is really cute and makes it interesting to read on. I enjoy how large the text is so that it’s easy to see and easy to read. I think that the book has a hopeful, uplifting and inspiring ending leading off to the hopeful change in Rey’s difficult life leading up to better days in her time and happiness and joy, hopefully finding belonging and family, caring people to surround her (which if we watch the movies later we know she does end up finding eventually). I also liked about the book that it included a 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 as a treasured collectible for my book collection. Overall I loved this book, all of its subjects, and I think it was a great overlay of all of Rey’s life and skills that we knew about in the Force Awakens. 

I think this book was very informative for much younger children, around ages 1-3, that you may be trying to introduce to Star Wars and the universe/world-building aspect of the seven episodes (it doesn’t include Episodes 8&9, as it was published before then). The book is simply a series of words, including character’s names, locations, vehicles, feelings, and aspects that are described that are part of the Star Wars universe. Each section of the book, which although not pointed out as being separate sections is distinctly separated per movie, includes essential and key words, ideas, vehicles and planets from each film Episodes 1-7 including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It’s a very simplistic book, the pages are hard cardboard as in a board book, and the book is shaped square like a block. I think children would enjoy the fact that some of the pages are cut around the shape of the images on them revealing the next page behind them, etc, making it fun to flip the pages and advance on in the book. It’s also very easy I’d think for parents to wipe any grime or mess from the book pages due to being hard coated cardboard. I really like the artwork in the book pages and the different artwork style of the characters, it’s a very distinct design style and I enjoy it, the characters designs are memorable. The font styles are cute and match the subjects well. Overall it’s a short book that’s super informative and a great way to introduce young children to the wider Star Wars universe. I have rated it three stars due to the fact I don’t believe I would pick it up again to reread. 

I really enjoyed this book. I really love the style of artwork on every page, and the colors of the art. I find it a quick read that I may possibly flip through again but not pick up to read fully again (reason for 3 star review). I think the ease of reading (since there are only speech blurbs), for what small one-word lines they had they were impactful, witty, fun, and inspired light joy in my heart. I think the concept is cute albeit non realistic in the Star Wars storyline, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. I think the parenting aspect of the book is also realistic for many situations depicted in the book. 

The book is a fast read, I learned a few new, unheard of by me previously, facts about the different places of the Star Wars universe that even I didn’t know before, and I know a lot about Star Wars. I liked how the book was told from Yoda’s perspective and narrative. The pages are made of a nice material and have a nice smell to them (if that’s your thing). The cover has nice art, and the pages have a nice, unique and interactive layout that you’re so excited you don’t know what to read first, as well as beautiful full color images in LEGO style. I like the particular fact files layouts including the DO’s and DONT’s of each planet and the key characters located on each planet/from each planet. I do wish that Alderaan was included when it was a planet rather than after it was blown up however. I think the table of contents was laid out nicely and clearly, especially liking how they were separated by location whether the outer, inner or mid rims. The 3 star rating is due to the fact that for me it was definitely a one time read, and I wouldn’t reread it at any point. But it was still an enjoyable book to read and I like what a unique and different release it was compared to numerous other Star Wars books.