A family review of new Star Wars children’s book The Great Jedi Rescue

Star Wars has started off 2021 right by introducing fans to a brand new age of Star Wars called The High Republic. Included within the January book releases is a beautifully illustrated children’s book called The Great Jedi Rescue. This small story was written by Cavan Scott and brought to life by Petur Antonsson.

My family is made up of three people, my husband, our daughter, and of course me. My husband and I are both 25, and our little girl is nearly 5, her name is Athena. From the moment a package arrived at our home, Athena was beyond captivated. When the box was finally opened and the Star Wars logo was revealed you could legitimately feel her excitement. She touched the covers and let out a cheer, “Yay! Star Wars books!”

While initially, A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland caught her eye, she quickly snatched The Great Jedi Rescue and tried to run into another room with it. It’s extremely important to note that Athena has a speech delay. She isn’t quite on the same level as her peers with communication skills or maturity, but she makes her opinion known, and she is incredibly bright. Of course, though, there will be some things in this book she can’t quite grasp.

Burryaga is one of those things she doesn’t quite understand. No amount of explaining will make her understand that he isn’t “BurrChewy,” as she has affectionally nicknamed him. She also doesn’t understand hyperspace. However, the rest of the book she fell in love with!

Every day I read her a book at bedtime, and she is full of excitement when she gets to dive into something new. This time, being that the topic was Star Wars, she was all ears with a huge grin on her face. She prepped by making sure she used her Star Wars pillow, blanket, and cuddle companion, baby Yoda.

She shrieked when she learned Captain Heda Cassat was about to experience a wreck and she was sad when she learned the Legacy Run has been torn apart. She touched the pages as the characters were introduced trying to learn their names. She listened as they worked together to help save people and she was overjoyed to see them succeed.

She saw the last page and said, “Mommy, the friends did a good job!” The final verdict, from both parents, two thumbs up! From Athena, her final verdict was, “WOW it’s AWESOME! Can I have stickers now?” She would give a higher rating than 10/10 for including stickers.

Upon asking who her favorite character was, I learned she really liked them all. She loved Mikkel because she likes fish. She thought Heda Cassat was strong. Most of all, she loved Avar Criss. When she told me this, I will admit I was confused. Avar Criss wasn’t exactly heavily featured. When I asked Athena why it was Avar, she said it was because she was strong, and she looked like her. So she wanted to be like Avar. As a cute bonus to picture in your mind, she included a “gun show” in this conversation showing off her muscles.

This made me reflect on life. Kids are so impressionable, and they want to belong, and look and see that people like them can succeed. As I sat on the edge of my daughter’s bed I had to agree, with her long blonde hair and hazel eyes she did look like Avar Criss.

Athena also loves cosplay, in the following days she has begged me to make her robes like Avar Criss wore in the book, something I will definitely try to do! This book will certainly be recommended to all of my friends who have kids as well as all my fellow Star Wars fans. Nobody is too old for the story in The Great Jedi Rescue, or for cool stickers in my opinion.

Have you dived into the new arc of Star Wars yet? What is your favorite character to come out of The High Republic? Tweet me your thoughts @Mamadeadhead on Twitter!