UPDATE! Brand New Characters To Feature In Upcoming Star Wars Children’s Book Series! First Book is Number 1 in the UK!
Egmont Publishing, now the biggest publisher of Star Wars™, securing 40% of all Star Wars™ book sales in 2015, is launching a brand new series of children’s books with all new characters, never before seen in the Star Wars universe. Hit the jump for more on this series and a glimpse at the covers and characters of the first three books.
February 23, 2016
The series is titled Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space, and the first three books in the series will go on sale March 3rd in the UK and are available on Amazon for pre-order with a US release date of February 25th. The first book in the series – Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Escape – will be released as part of the World Book Day £1 book initiative in London.
The books and the new characters have been created in conjunction with the teams at Disney and Lucasfilm, and the series takes place in the period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The World Book Day book (The Escape) , by Cavan Scott, will launch the first in the brand new series and publish simultaneously with two others – Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Snare, also by Scott, and Star Wars: Adventures Wild Space: The Nest by Tom Huddleston.
The new series stars Milo and Lina Graf who set off on a perilous journey across the unknown reaches of Wild Space to rescue their parents who have been abducted by agents of the evil Empire. We meet a whole new cast of characters, including a new droid, CR-8R, and a new villain, Captain Korda, all illustrated below.
It’s always refreshing to see something new brought into the Star Wars universe, and this series looks to deliver a rich Star Wars experience to children while instilling in them a passion for reading. Check out this statement from Cally Poplack, M.D at Egmont Publishing:
‘I am passionate about turning all children into proud readers, and film brands are hugely influential when it comes to inspiring all children to believe that reading and books are for them. We know this from our extensive research into what inspires people to buy children’s books and from our work with teachers and literacy experts. A brand like Star Wars, with its rich and absorbing story world, can ignite a life-long reading habit and open up books to a broader range of parents and children – and that’s why we are so delighted to have Adventures in Wild Space series, The Escape in this year’s World Book Day campaign.’
Are you interested in checking out this series for your child (or the child in you)? Share your comments below, and stay tuned to Star Wars News Net, your Force for news on Star Wars books and more.
UPDATE!
We’ve just received word from Egmont Publishing that Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Escape (the World Book Day title) is not only number one in the children’s UK book chart but it has knocked off Marry Berry in the overall UK Nielsen book chart (adults, children, fiction, non- fiction- everything!). That’s really great news!
Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.
Definitely looks like some wonderfully imaginative new Star Wars material!
If I had any say in Lucasfilm/Disney, I`d order adult comic book/novel run of young Ben Solo, his journey, his life under the wing of Luke, his transition to Kylo and then all of Kylo Ren`s battles/adventures.
We have Rebels, we have comics and new we have YA books – it`s all too fluffy.
I`m not asking for Deadpool-tier material but something darker, serious – where characters are in real danger, lifes are at stake and it feels intense.
Except for TFA, we have had nothing of that sort so far since Disney bought Star Wars (Lost Stars, Lords of the Sith come close to that treshold but that`s it).
I wander if Disney would have allowed the Bane trilogy…But, I agree. I would like some mature SW again in some of the books!
I’d like that as well, just as long as it were released AFTER the new trilogy ends.
You think the Vader comic is fluffy?
I suspect there will be eventually a young Ben Solo animated TV series.
Hopefully not. I fear it could be as kiddy as rebels.
For me, new characters are always welcome.
There’s a lot of material in that period between Episodes III and IV…
I guess because that is afterall the empire’s golden age
Most of it is legends now, though. I’m all for new canon content in the Dark Times era.
I was talking about Rebels tv show, Dark Disciple, A New Beginning, Rogue One, etc…
*A New Dawn*
I agree with comments on too much kiddie stuff. And that half probot / half whatever it is, is most unoriginal.
I agree, this franchise originally intended for a younger audience has way too much child-centric material surrounding it. It should be mostly bloody, violent and sexual because you and I are adults and we like a thing that was supposed to be mainly for kids.
(^That’s sarcasm if you can’t tell.)
Sounds a lot like the old Galaxy of Fear YA books, which featured mostly original characters but usually included at least one OT character. They were actually pretty good, kind of a serial-version of Goosebumps set in the GFFA with a young brother and sister, and their mysterious uncle. I hope this series takes the same place in the new canon as those did in the old: epic stories in their own right, with just enough canon to draw in young readers but not enough to bother veteran fans.
Loved those books as a kid. I think the Uncle was named Hoole or something similar.
So this is a trilogy of Edward Patterson knockoff books set in the GFFA?
Cool.
Haha, CR-8R ! What is it, Crater? CRATERRR!!!!
I might check into it…anyone know why we haven’t had a Star Wars comic since December?
There’s actually been one about every week. Star Wars, Vader, Kanan, & Obi-Wan and Anakin have all had issues come out in January and February.
I have a subscription to the Main SW one and I haven’t had an issue since 15 which was Dec. Can’t seem to find it on their page either.
As a Dad of a 6 year old Star Wars-mad boy, I’m excited about this on his behalf. Especially for £1!
Don’t really get the negativity that this is too ‘kiddie’ – it’s a book series aimed at children! If you’re not a child, just move along, it’s not going to impact your enjoyment of the adult /general stuff, is it?
Exactly. Georgie himself said that he meant Star Wars to be for kids in the first place. Hell, the cast and crew criticised it like mad because of how strange, surreal and “kiddish” it was.
Star Wars is for the kid in all of us.
Now: The burning question – Will CR-8R meet TR-8R?!?
“Georgie” himself also once said that it was originally more aimed at teens 12 – 16. Lucas is known to have said many contradicting things over the years…
Anyone recognize all of Cr8R parts…arm of. C3P0 ONE ARM OF? TORSO R2 unit…legs probe droid…
“(…) this series looks to deliver a rich experience to children while instilling in them a passion for reading. ”
So did Harry Potter, until that became one of the biggest film franchises in cinema history. ;P
So far the YA books in the Disney canon have beeen waaaaayyyyyyy better than any of the adult ones and the Scholastic books under the old canon were all pretty quality too so I’m willing to give these a shot.
Lords of the Sith.
That is all.
Probably the best of the new canon but it’s just one book and they still yet to have a true blockbuster like The Thrawn trilogy.
Lost Stars.
lol
I haven’t seen the numbers for it but it seems to be in stock everywhere I go. I don’t think any of the new books have made the best seller list like the old one other than the TFA novelization.
Lucasfilm hasn’t really been promoting them that well, but most have been well-received.
I agree about the lack of promotion but Aftermath and Heir To The Jedi were not.
Yes, but the others were.
A New Dawn was pretty mixed and I read some medicore reviews from others but Lost Stars is probably the one with the most unamious good reviews in the new canon.
Yep. From what I’ve seen Lost Stars & Lords of the Sith are the best, Aftermath and Heir to the Jedi are the worst, and the others are all very good.
I have no faith in Wendig’s next one but hopefully Gray’s will be as good as her first.
Bloodline?
Correct. Very rarely do I dislike an author’s later work if I like their early stuff.
When people start cosplaying as the characters from it then I’ll believe it,
It’s barely a year old. Maybe it takes time to gather a fan base?
Possibly but the Thrawn trilogy was pretty big from day one too.
True.
They should do merchandise for the new EU too.
I agree.
Probably after the trilogy
Lost Stars.
That is also all.
Lol TARKIN, NEW DAWN! come One there are a lot of pretty good new canon books out there xD
I liked Tarkin’s backstory for the most part but the A story was pretty dull. I didn’t care for A New Dawn either which was mainly about space mining. Should have shown how they met Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb instead.
Battlefront: Twilight Company, anyone? That book is fantastic. Especially the audiobook. Side note, if you haven’t listened to any of the audiobooks, you should. The production value is excellent with music and sound effects. And the narration is top-notch. Except Lost Stars. That narrator is just…not good.
I’d like to get the audio books of everything one time but my seller doesn’t seem to carry some of the older ones. It was the closest thing to spinoff films till they started making official ones.
CONFIRMED MILO AND LINA ARE ACTUALLY KYLO AND REY!!
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that Star Wars is motivating children to read.
I had all 3 of the original Star Wars storybooks when I was younger. Great stuff!
I agree. Some of my favorite books from 1st and 2nd grade were those DK Young Readers Books like Beware the Dark Side and The Story of Darth Vader.
A droid named Crater (CR-8R) I bet hes dumb as a rock.
I ordered these awhile back from Amazon to read with my son. Shipping is taking forever for some reason. Amazon doesn’t even sell them directly. I had to buyj them from a third party. Real strange deal.
It brings warmth to my heart to see that they are still making Star Wars books like this for younger kids. I remember reading the Galaxy of Fear series back in the day, good times.
I hope to get a little bit of the old Young Jedi Knights nostalgia. They may have been poorly written in some aspects but damn if they weren’t the most fun thing I’d ever read when I was the age for it. A lot of the prequel Jedi children’s novels featuring Obi-Wan’s tutelage under Qui-Gon and then Anakin’s under Obi-Wan were pretty good too.
I was hoping we’d get the kind of quality characterizations we got in those onscreen in TFA, Alas it was not to be but hopefully Johnson can fix Abram’s mistakes there.
You mean like how Jacen was a Jedi hippie who liked animals and tried to be an actual, genuine pacifist….and then the Del Rey books tried to do a Cliff’s Notes version of his personality….and then Abrams did a Cliff’s Notes of the Del Rey version, and his his entire personality and motivations got stripped down to “Vader’s grandson very Vadery but like in a less mature way”….
Nailed it! I loved the gradual corruption of his character which was done better than Anakin in the PT wheras in TFA it felt more like a kid who found some Sith merchandise on the Holonet to cosplay with.
Wow….
Did you even pay attention during the movie?
I was riveted, glued to the screen, desperately hoping for some kind of explanation for Ben Solo’s fall beyond “too much Vader in him”. None was given. Kylo Ren was an interesting villain as far as villains go, but I expect more from my Star Wars and got much more from Jacen Solo than “too much Vader in him” as an explanation for who he was before he fell and why he did so.
That’s fair enough. but as far as his turn goes, we do have mor movies for that. if you remember, Vader was a rather under-developed character in Episode 4. He didn’t really became interesting until TESB and RotJ. Kylo is already an interesting and complex character. Two more movies are gonna give him a lot of time to blossom further.
Haha! This is exactly what I mean about the YA novels having more momentum and being better recieved than the “adult” ones. I don’t know if it will actually be any good or not but the SW young adult novels tend to be more consistent in quality.