Books

Four New 'Star Wars' Books in the Works

by Tori Telfer

A brand-new Star Wars film is coming out in December of 2015, but do today's young Hunger Games addicts and Divergent-reading whippersnappers care? After all, it's been almost ten years since the last Star Wars film came out, and there have been plenty of tiny new consumers created since then — consumers who've grown up around Bella Swan and not Boba Fet, consumers more obsessed with Peeta Mellark than Padmé Amidala. To guarantee that there are no empty seats on opening night, the Star Wars franchise has harnessed the greatest Force of all — literature (insert groans from the peanut gallery) — to peacefully usher a new generation into the Galactic Empire.

Disney Publishing Worldwide has asked four bestselling children's authors to "reinterpret" the original Star Wars trilogy in book form, according to Publisher's Weekly, so that today's kids, who didn't grow up with the series, can become duly obsessed with Jedis and Skywalkers and creepy humanoid aliens just in time for the next Star Wars film: episode VII.

The first book is The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, a picture book that covers the scope of the original trilogy. It's written Tony DiTerlizzi, the man behind the extremely popular Spiderwick Chronicles, and will be released in October. The illustrations are by the late Ralph McQuarrie, who designed the original Star Wars trilogy, including the characters of Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO — and, most famously, Darth Vader and his terrifying breathing machine. The Adventures of Luke Skywalker will use the concept art created by McQuarrie for the original Star Wars films, a pretty cool and authentic detail that has understandably caused DiTerlizzi to have a full-blown geek-out.

Next, R.J. Palacio of the book Wonder will be reinterpreting Star Wars: A New Hope by April 2015; Adam Gidwitz (A Tale Dark & Grimm) is taking on The Empire Strikes Back in July 2015; and Tom Angleberger (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda) will write his version of The Return of the Jedi in October 2015, finishing up just in time for Episode VII to hit theaters. All three of these books will be illustrated by Iain McCaig, who was the concept artist for the three Star Wars prequels and designed both the Padmé Amidala character as well as Darth Maul's terrifying look.

Get ready to hide your replica double-bladed lightsaber from your younger brother before Episode VII premieres, because Disney Publishing Worldwide is making sure a whole new generation of young Jedis will be there in full Force on opening night.