Star Wars: Mysteries of the Jedi by Elizabeth Dowsett and Shari Last

Star Wars: Mysteries of the Jedi features the secrets to becoming a Jedi. It answers such questions as "How does Yoda fight someone so much bigger than him?", "What does it take to defeat a Sith?", "How can you destroy a death star?" and many more!

Enjoyed this book a lot, I did! :) That's a good start, but sorry, I can't talk like Yoda throughout this whole review. It would be fun, but since it doesn't really come naturally to me, it would take me too much time. Besides, there's only one Yoda.

The book is filled with bright, colourful photographs and easy to understand text. It is written for 7-12 year-olds, but despite this, I found the level of information and amount of information perfect for me. I learned a lot about the Jedi as a whole, the Force, and lots of interesting facts about some of the well-known Jedi: Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Luke Skywalker, Qu-Gon Jinn and others. Each Jedi two-page spread includes the following: species, home world, birth date, height, rank, trained by, weapon, preferred combat style, trademark, plus lots of other information and plenty of photographs.

In addition, the book outlines the Jedi code, steps for Jedi training (youngling, Padawan, Jedi Knight, Jedi Master, and Grand Master), Jedi trials, Jedi high council and tools of the trade (from the A99 Aquata Breather to the holoprojector.)

I loved all of the information presented about the lightsaber, including how to build one. (Note: That is, if you could find a blade emitter, pommel cap, a crystal and many other things.) This part showed all of the various parts of the saber and explains what each one does. It's awesome!! The other lightsaber section I particularly liked was part that explained the seven main forms of lightsaber combat. It was very informative and essential for every Jedi.

The whole book is wonderfully presented, but there were two sections that stood out for me:
page 10-11 - The Force has Two Sides - features Yoda and Sidious and their characteristics. It's visually stunning.
page 76-77 - The Path to the Dark Side - features the many faces of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and describes his decent from potential Jedi to evil Sith. It well explained and visually appealing.

The book contained a very detailed table of contents, which I loved, as well as a pretty good glossary and index. I also really liked the cover featuring Grand Master Yoda. Intense, he is.

Recommend this book highly, I do.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

Star Wars: Mysteries of the Jedi by Elizabeth Dowsett and Shari Last, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2011. ISBN 9780756671976(Hardcover), 96p.

For things you can do to celebrate Star Wars Day, see my post here.

For other participating websites, visit the May the 4th Be With You page on DK's website. Scroll down to the bottom.