LEGO Star Wars (and other LEGO books)

I’ve written four LEGO books over the past few years. All four of them are out now. The first three are LEGO STAR WARS books. 

LEGO STAR WARS: FACE OFF

Not to be confused with the Nicolas Cage/John Travolta movie FACE OFF, LEGO STAR WARS: FACE OFF takes various STAR WARS characters who never fought each other (in the STAR WARS movies or TV shows), and pits them against one another. Who would win? Who would lose? And all throughout the book, I list the weapons, tech, gear, home planets, and other details related to each character, and I make fun of all that stuff in a very LEGO STAR WARS sort of way. Tonally, this book is kind of like THE LEGO MOVIE; a steady stream of jokes, all in good fun. The book is illustrated by Dave White, who’s insanely talented. LEGO STAR WARS: FACE OFF was published by Scholastic in September 2016.

 

THE OFFICIAL STORMTROOPER TRAINING MANUAL

THE OFFICIAL STORMTROOPER TRAINING MANUAL is narrated by a stormtrooper, who thinks of himself and his fellow stormtroopers as heroes. Of course, he also thinks of the rebels and the Jedis as villains. Half of this book is a “guide” to life as a stormtrooper, as “told” by our humble white-helmet-clad narrator. The other half is an activity book, packed with word searches, secret codes, trivia quizzes, and even haiku. Why haiku? Because I thought of some awesome STAR WARS-themed haiku which I just HAD to include in the book. Also it’s a form of poetry I really like and respect. If you’ve read the CLUB PENGUIN graphic novel I wrote for Penguin Random House a few years back (it’s called SHADOW GUY AND GAMMA GAL: HEROES UNITE), you may notice that I put some haiku in THAT book too. (And yes, the plural form of “haiku” IS “haiku.” So there.) THE OFFICIAL STORMTROOPER TRAINING MANUAL was published by Scholastic in December 2016.

 

THE OFFICIAL FORCE TRAINING MANUAL 

THE OFFICIAL FORCE TRAINING MANUAL is narrated by Rey, and she’s just as optimistic and exuberant in this book as she is in the STAR WARS movies! In this book, Rey explains the ins and outs of the Force: the Light Side, the Dark Side, Force Builders, and so on. What different kinds of lightsabers are available to your typical Force user? What are lightsabers made of? Who are some of the most famous Force users? What kinds of powers do Force users have? All that stuff is covered in the book. Since this book is a sort-of-sequel to THE OFFICIAL STORMTROOPER TRAINING MANUAL, it’s also structured similarly. So half of THE OFFICIAL FORCE TRAINING MANUAL is a guide to all aspects of the Force, including a look at characters from the various STAR WARS movies and also characters from LEGO STAR WARS: THE FREEMAKER ADVENTURES. The other half of the book is (wait for it) an activity book, bursting with STAR WARS-themed jokes, word searches, secret codes, trivia quizzes, and limericks. Why limericks? Because I put haiku in the last book, and I don’t like repeating myself. Also, limericks are cool. And no, there are no dirty limericks in this book. It’s a children’s book. Get your mind out of the gutter! THE OFFICIAL FORCE TRAINING MANUAL was published by Scholastic in October 2018. 

If you want to read a few of my thoughts on what it was like writing these LEGO STAR WARS books, you can read this interview with yours truly from 2017. Or this interview with me from 2018. 

I’ve also written (well, co-written) a LEGO book that has nothing to do with STAR WARS. Imagine that! It’s called…

THE LEGO DC SUPER HEROES VISUAL DICTIONARY

I co-wrote THE LEGO DC SUPER HEROES VISUAL DICTIONARY with Elizabeth Dowsett, and it was published by DK in September 2018. A few months before that, I talked about what it was like working on the book when I was interviewed by the geek culture blog Comics Beat. And here’s some info on the book from the Penguin Random House site: 

“Celebrate the entire world of LEGO DC Super Heroes with this comprehensive visual guide to all the minifigures, vehicles and sets, including the LEGO Batman Movie sets. Explore every detail of LEGO Batman’s Batcave, look around Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet, examine Lex Luthor’s awesome mech and find out about all the LEGO DC Super Heroes minifigures’ weapons and gadgets. Find out how the awesome sets and amazing video games are created in the Beyond the Brick chapter, which features concept art and an interview with a LEGO designer. LEGO DC Super Heroes: The Visual Dictionary will tell you everything there is to know about LEGO DC Super Heroes.”

This was a seriously fun book to work on. It involved a ton of research, and I’m really proud of it. I think it came out really well, and among other things, co-authoring this book gave me a new respect for the Batman villain the Eraser. If you don’t know him, you should. The Eraser’s got one of the all-time-best supervillain costumes in comic book history. Look! There he is right there! On the bottom of this page!! His suit looks like a number two pencil! His shoes come together to make a pencil-point! If you can’t see what an awesome design choice that is, I feel sorry for you.  

Pages

Back Issues

Archives

Social