Page 23 - Star Wars Insider #182

STORIES FOR YOUNGLINGS

05 Random House editor Eleanor Ehrhardt
penned the 1979 children’s books The
Mystery of the Rebellious Robot and The
Maverick Moon.

05

later continuity.
Written by Random House
editor Eleanor Ehrhardt, the 30-
page book sees Luke Skywalker
enroll at the Academy for Space
Pilots. He becomes so focused
on becoming a “Planetary Pilot”
that, before long, he has “almost
forgotten” about Ben Kenobi
and the Force! His memories are co-pilot is also the focus of The
only stirred when a rogue moon Wookiee Storybook, again written
threatens to destroy the Academy. by Ehrhardt and illustrated by FIRST
He jumps into his “fi ghter plane” Patricia J. Wynne. Published in READERS
and saves the day, before being 1979 and drawing on elements of
Since 2005, the Star Wars DK
rewarded with a medal from the previous year’s now-infamous
Readers series, along with the
Princess Leia, one of the youngest Star Wars Holiday Special, it sees Disney Lucasfi lm Press series that
members of the “Intergalactic Chewie’s wife, Malla, throwing began in 2014, have helped many
Government.” a surprise bicentennial birthday thousands of children learn to read.
The slim volumes, with their simple
Ehrhardt also penned The bash for her errant husband.
vocabulary and short sentences,
Mystery of the Rebellious Robot, Desperate to prove himself as a are deceptively diffi cult to write.
a Han Solo and Chewbacca brave Wookiee in his own right, “If you’re writing for a level one
reader for Disney Lucasfi lm Press,
adventure which featured almost their son, Lumpy, ventures into
you shouldn’t include three-syllable
psychedelic illustrations by Mark Kashyyyk’s dangerous “Nother words,” says Michael Siglain, who
Corcoran. In this tale, Luke World” to seek out wasaka berries, has written a number of the books
seems to have dropped out of the missing ingredient for his himself. “That means not saying
Skywalker, or Dagobah. It becomes
the Academy altogether, and is father’s favorite dessert.
a lot more challenging than it fi rst
working at a vaporator project to “The Wookiee Storybook is appears.”
bring new life to the deserts of one of my top three Star Wars With a limit of 36 characters
per line, and six lines per page, the
Tatooine. When pesky Jawas use books of all time,” admits Michael
Early Reader teams also ensure the
tainted oil to sabotage the project’s Kogge, author of The Last Jedi content is refl ected in the art, so
machinery, their fiendish plot is Junior Novelization. “The images anyone struggling with words can

look for visual clues.
foiled by a particularly wild-haired of Lumpy climbing through
“If we’ve done our job
Chewbacca. Fortunately, Princess the Nother World are indelibly properly, kids will get a real sense
Leia is on hand to present Chewie stamped on my memory. I can of accomplishment when they
with—you guessed it—a medal of see the pictures even now!” fi nish the book and will want
more,” Siglain says.
bravery (at last!) The book also contains an
The Millennium Falcon’s early origin story for Han and
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SWI182_020-027_FEAT_ChildrensBooks_LFLapproved.indd 23 13/06/2018 15:09