Short Book Review: Jeffrey Brown's Star Wars books

Jeffrey Brown, Darth Vader and Son. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2012. ISBN: 9781452106557.

Jeffrey Brown, Vader's Little Princess. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2013. ISBN: 9781452118697.

 Genre: Humor, children's lit (though really for all ages)


I recently read these delightful books. If you are a Star Wars fan, you need to be reading these, and you probably want to add them to your collection. Though I borrowed them from my local public library, I know I will be buying them the first chance I get. In the books, Brown imagines what would happen if Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith and leader of the imperial forces, first had to take care of his children, Luke and Leia. Who knew that, in spite of being a Dark Lord of the Sith, he'd be a pretty good single father? The books are absolutely adorable.

In the first book, Darth Vader and Son, Vader is raising his four-year-old-son Luke. For those keeping track, it takes place during "Episode Three and a Half." Vader and Luke take trips to the zoo; Vader makes his son breakfast in the morning, and he even gets the question from his son many parents dread: "where do babies come from?" In the second book, Vader's Little Princess, we are now in "Episode Three and Three-Quarters." Leia is now, well, daddy's little princess. Time moves a bit faster here as Vader's little girl grows up into a rebellious teenager learning to drive (a TIE fighter in this case), and, adding to dad's chagrin and confusion, starting to date boys. Leia also becomes a thoughtful teen as she tries to convince dad to finally take that pile of garbage on the Death Star and  separate things into recyclables and compost.

I think parents everywhere will appreciate these books, and I think older kids will like them and appreciate much of the humor, especially if they already like Star Wars. The books use many of the lines from the films, sometimes in new amusing ways, adding to the fun. Overall, these are books I highly recommend. Public libraries definitely want to add them to their collections.