I picked it up, flipped through a few pages, and decided I had to have it. I guess no one is immune to the marketing machine known as Star Wars. I've had a terrible weakness for all things Star Wars since 1977, when I first saw the original movie. To be fair, though, the Character Encyclopedia is pretty cool. Definitely geared towards kids with all the color photos and short paragraphs, but hey, that's part of what makes reading it enjoyable. It seems to cover every single character that appeared in any of the six movies, including some really obscure ones like those weird alien "girls" dancing in Jabba's court and all those Jedi masters seen sitting around doing nothing in the prequels films (I had no idea how many female Jedi masters there were). The only thing I don't quite like is that the book doesn't mention any of the characters from the Clone Wars cartoon or the books, like Ashoka Tano or Ventress. That's a shame, because a lot of those characters are cool and I'd like to know more about them. Guess there's always Wikipedia.
Speaking of Star Wars, here's something worth checking out if you haven't seen it yet:
You could always buy the real Star Wars encyclopedia. It is 3 volumes and worth every penny.
ReplyDeleteReal words. Tons of them. Lots of pictures.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Star-Wars-Encyclopedia/dp/0345477634/ref=pd_sim_b_2
Come on, it's STAR WARS -- ya gotta love it! I have a bit of an issue with some of the expanded universe outside of the films, although I think the fandom has been completely unfair when it comes to GL. His movies, his creation, and he's entitled to do it anyway he wants. But yeah, totally agree it would be cool to learn more in-depth information about some of the EU characters.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah... I'm totally agreeing with you on all levels! Sorry if it came across differently. :)
DeleteI love the book fairs at my kids' school (mostly because of how excited my kids get trying to decided what books to get). We've got that same Character Encyclopedia, a Star Wars Visual Dictionary, two Star Wars Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy books (one of those is mine, it's really cool), two of the Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedias and two of the Lego Star Wars Visual Dictionaries. My 9 year old has sort of outgrown the Lego versions (though still plays with Legos), but the 5 year old just pours over those books for hours...dreaming of the creations he can build.
ReplyDeletePassing on a love for books (and Star Wars) is one of my proudest accomplishments as a father. As a husband, I still haven't been able to pass on the Star Wars bug, though.