Review by Toryn Farr
Page Two
THE
ADVENTURE CONTINUES by Paul Davids and Hollace Davids 
#1 The
Glove of Darth Vader
#2 The
Lost City of the Jedi
#3 Zorba
the Hutt's Revenge
#4 Mission
from Mount Yoda
#5 Queen
of the Empire
#6 Prophets
of the Dark Side
This series has a dismal reputation among Star Wars fans, and deservedly so. It has logic and plot holes you could drive a landspeeder through, and there seems to have been no effort made on continuity. For instance, when Artoo and Threepio visit Kessel in the first book, it has forests and an outdoor stadium -- in contradiction to later descriptions of Kessel as having almost no atmosphere. The writing itself isn't terrible; the series is aimed at 9-12 year olds, but I think most kids would find the vocabulary pleasantly challenging. There are worse things your children could be reading.
The series does have a couple of things going for it. One, it gives the truly desperate fan a needed dose of adventure with our favorite heroes -- Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the droids. Two, it's a treasure trove for trivia buffs. Another plus is the inclusion of dozens of illustrations in each volume, and the cover art on the reprints ain't half bad, either.
Overall, these books will
probably only appeal kids and to hardcore Star Wars fans
with a certain tolerance for ambiguity -- such as myself!
JUNIOR NOVELIZATIONS
A
New Hope adapted by Larry Weinberg
The
Empire Strikes Back adapted by Larry Weinberg
Return
of the Jedi adapted by Elizabeth Levy
Written in a "see spot
run" style, these are just too simplistic even for
young readers. The interior full-color photo section is
poorly reproduced. Don't waste your money.
Shadows
of the Empire by Christopher Golden
In contrast to the other
novelizations, this one is refreshingly well written and
worthy of a young Star Wars fan. It follows the original
novel so faithfully I wonder why anyone would read the
longer version.
Star
Wars (chunky book)
The
Empire Strikes Back (chunky book)
Return
of the Jedi (chunky book)
These well-written
pocket-sized chunky books adapted by John Whitman for
9-12 year olds tell the story of the movies with ugly
two-color illustrations on practically every panel.
ADVENTURE JOURNALS 
Captive
to Evil (Princess Leia's Journal)
Hero
for Hire (Han Solo's Journal)
The
Fight for Justice (Luke Skywalker's Journal)
Fairly well written, these
slender journals tell the story of A New Hope from the
first-person POV of each character. I especially like
Han's Journal because it captures his irreverent voice
very well.
GOLDEN BOOKS
Adventure
in Beggar's Canyon (Little Golden Book)
I can't say a lot for the
artwork, but the story's kind of cool. Luke and his
friend Windy crash their T-16 and must face Jawas, Tusken
Raiders, and a Krayt Dragon before being rescued by Ben
Kenobi and riding home with him on a dewback. At least
they got Windy's sex right (see last entry below).
Meltdown
on Hoth (Little Golden Book)
Very silly tale behind
Threepio's line: "How we're going to dry out all her
clothes, I really don't know," from ESB. I just
couldn't warm up to this one.
A More Wretched
Hive: The Mos Eisley Cantina (scratch-n-sniff) (This
book no longer available from publisher)
Did you know Greedo smells
like rotten eggs? But Jabba has a nice, woody scent! This
is the silliest excuse for a Star Wars book I've ever
seen. I suppose kids might like it for the gross-out
factor . . . for about five minutes.
A
New Hope (with tattoos
The
Empire Strikes Back (with tattoos)
Return
of the Jedi (with tattoos)
These books each come with 20
cool rub-on tattoos and are loaded with photos from the
movies. Fun for you and your kid! Buy two of each!
Journey
to Mos Eisley
The Hoth Adventure
Escape from Jabba's Palace
These three volumes are full
of photos from the movies tracing the stories indicated
by the titles, but unlike the books listed above they are
printed on uncoated paper, so the photos look like crap.
The
Greatest Battles (Screamin' 3-D)
The 3-D glasses inside let you
see the bad artwork in multiple dimensions.
Pilots
and Spacecraft (glow in the dark)
I'm not sure the Escape Pod
would have been on my top ten list of spacecraft to be
reproduced here, but the glow-in-the-dark Boba Fett is
worth the price of the book.
Princess
Leia's Escape from the Death Star (Spelling
Workbook)
Luke
Skywalker's Battle with Darth Vader (Reading
Workbook)
Han
Solo's Rescue from Jabba the Hutt (Math Workbook)
- ISBN 0-307 21306-4
These workbooks for grades 2-6
are full color throughout and are jammed with lots of fun
activities and puzzles to work on reading and spelling
and comprehension. If only they'd been around in the
1960's!
Chewbacca
the Wookiee (Super Shape Book)
Han
Solo: Rebel Hero (Super Shape Book)
Luke
Skywalker: Jedi Knight (Super Shape Book)
R2-D2
& C-3PO: Droid Duo (Super Shape Book)
Princess
Leia: Rebel Leader (Super Shape Book)
Pathetic illustrations and
stories that simply rehash scenes from the movies almost
word-for-word -- yawn. Even my two-year-old grew tired of
these quickly and cried for the ones with real
photos.