Hello, friends! Today’s book is Star Wars: The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, written by Tony DiTerlizzi and featuring the art of Ralph McQuarrie, the celebrated concept artist of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Using McQuarrie’s jaw-dropping original concept art, the reader is introduced to Luke Skywalker, a farmboy with a great destiny. When he finds two droids who have an urgent message for a Jedi Knight in hiding, Luke decides to help them and finds himself drawn into an adventure that will take him across the galaxy.

Oooh, as much as I hate to say it, this one has a limited audience. Firstly, of course McQuarrie’s art is gorgeous, and fans of his will likely love following original trilogy against the backdrop of his incredible work. However, these are concept sketches, and do not always match the finished movies; therefore, young fans might not understand why familiar characters like Chewbacca or Yoda look nothing like their movie counterparts. Also, the material that the sketches cover limit the ability to tell the story in its entirety: Obi-Wan features heavily in the early part of the book, then goes off to disable the tractor beam on the Death Star and sort of just… disappears (there is no McQuarrie art of the duel with Darth Vader, so this important plot point gets skipped over). The length is also WAY to much for baby bookworms – JJ barely made it to the end of the first third. However, the author does a commendable job of stringing together the art, which is undeniably the star of the show, with the story. And JJ did love the art, which is as colorful, beautiful and affecting as anyone who has seen it knows. So, while this might be a really cool one for McQuarrie fans, definitely give it a flip-through beforehand and decide if it’s right for your little Padawan. Otherwise, it’s still Baby Bookworm approved!