Emma Grange

Kind of a tough call. On the one hand, it is useful to be able to look up someone and answer questions. And, it was a pleasant way to pass time. But a number of the entries seemed spoiler-y to me, and the costuming comments seemed odd: why would one draw a box around the observation that a companion's clothes were colorful? Do3esn't that seem like something the full-color photograph would cover? Since I'm not at all up on the first thirty years of the Doctor, it was helpful to learn about the companions and bad guys, and it was fun seeing all the Doctors in a row.

Ultimately I'm going to go with a fun thing for a newer fan to flip through, but not a book recommended for anyone desiring depth.

Library copy.… (mer)

~ borrowed from the Library

This is a DK STAR WARS practice reader that features Lego creations and Lego characters.

Despite the simple concepts in this book it is at the beginning 4th Grade Reading Level.

This surprised me because as I was going through it my brain was saying that this was for younger children. Here's some sample text from the page about Darth which shows that the vocabulary isn't all that simple, but that the phrasing is:

War in the galaxy
The man in the scary black
suit is Darth Vader.

He commands an army of
soldiers called stormtroopers.

Darth Vader's evil empire has
seized control
of the galaxy.

There are only 607 words --in a very large font-- in this book so it might be a good choice for reluctant readers. Certainly the Star Wars franchise is very kid-friendly and I've found that even bouncy children will slow down long enough to read one of these books.

The artwork isn't quite as fabulous as the non-Lego DK books --because the other books use shots from the movies -- but it is appealing, especially for Lego fans. Which brings up something you might want to consider as a parent. There are monster Lego constructions on these pages (by which I mean things like a huge Lego Death Star), and if your child is one of those who is going to trail after you for weeks requesting a Millennium Falcon kit, which is pricey, you might want to choose a non-Lego book.

4th Grade Reading level, this book sums up what happened in the first movie, so it can be good to share with very young readers so they know better what everyone is talking about. Teachers should know that there is an Accelerated Reader test for this book.… (mer)