Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Beware the Power of the Dark Side!

by Tom Angleberger

Overview

It's the Star Wars story with EVERYTHING: Jabba, Boba, Wicket, Rebo, Salacious Crumb, Nien Nunb, "It's a trap," Luke doing a flip and catching his lightsaber, speeder bikes, Yoda, Ghost Yoda, the Rancor, the Falcon, Wedge, Lando, Luke, Leia, han, Chewie, C-3PO, R2... but there's also a second Death Star, the Emperor's hideous evil smile, and Luke's final confrontation with Darth Vader! It's a lot, but is it too much? Of course not!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368027526
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/19/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Tom Angleberger, author of the New York Times best-selling Origami Yoda series, the Rocket and Groot series, and Star Wars: The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear!, and has been a Star Wars fan and collector since 1977. Growing up before the dawn of the VCR, Tom listened to Star Wars again and again on cassette tape. His first action figure was C-3PO and his most recent (very recent) was a sandtrooper. He lives in Virginia with his wife, author and illustrator Cece Bell.

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2015
Gr 4–8—Middle grade "Star Wars" fanatics as well as those new to the franchise will find plenty to enjoy in Angleberger's take on Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. As in the film, readers are quickly brought up to speed with three brief paragraphs of exposition. Angleberger sticks closely to the source material, moving through the film scene by scene and including much of the original dialogue. At the same time, he adds plenty of background, drawing on his familiarity with the canon to incorporate character thoughts and motivations, insight into the intergalactic politics at play, and the essentials of the various planets and moons that serve as setting. Occasional footnotes provide quick, often humorous asides on a wide range of trivia and facts, from the importance of the Death Star's elevators to the difference between bowcasters and blaster rifles. Angleberger's enthusiasm for and deep knowledge of the "Star Wars" universe is evident, but he exercises restraint, balancing obscure details that will only interest hard-core fans with more general context needed by those new to the story. Spot illustrations and cinematic descriptions make it easy for readers to visualize the action. VERDICT Those familiar with the classic movie will find this to be a faithful adaptation with the bonus of Angleberger's distinctive and amusing narrative voice. New fans will be inspired to seek out the original, and won't be spoiled by having enjoyed this version.—Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Hennepin County Library, MN

School Library Journal

RETURN OF THE JEDI takes on new life in an audio version aimed at younger listeners. The audiobook mixes sound effects and a musical score to add to the listening experience, but the real experience-enhancer is narrator Marc Thompson. As the heir apparent to the Star Wars audiobook narration empire, Thompson balances an exciting and lively narrative tone with strong character voices (which are occasionally augmented with special filters) to make the audio productions almost as exciting as the movies. With this production geared to youth, Thompson proves a bit more enthusiastic and dramatic than he does in other Star Wars productions, but that works well for the intended audience. L.E. 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2016 - AudioFile

2015-09-05
Angleberger, of Origami Yoda fame, follows Alexandra Bracken (The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farmboy, 2015) and Adam Gidwitz (So You Want to Be a Jedi, 2015) to close out the trilogy of novels retelling the three original Star Wars films. In the longest of this trilogy, Angleberger appears to relish packing in as many details as he possibly can. In fact, in places where the extra information he wants to insert doesn't fit in the narration, he uses footnotes. The book opens with a classic "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…" scroll-style introductory recap before launching readers into the complicated scheme to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Once all players are safe, they must deal with a bigger problem—the Empire is building "a new and improved" Death Star. If the Rebellion can't stop Emperor Palpatine now, then future resistance may be impossible. Luke also grapples with the revelation that Darth Vader is his father, and he's desperate to find goodness buried somewhere in the emperor's right-hand man. The emperor, for his part, sees Luke's potential and wants him as a Sith apprentice. The final showdown, both on the ship between Luke and Vader and between everyone else on Endor, is action-packed. Early in the book the footnotes sometimes come too frequently and with content that doesn't add much, but as the book goes on the notes are better spaced and frequently hilarious. While the novel doesn't add much to expand on the film, it is far better than the average movie novelization; Angleberger's intrusive narrator adds pleasant texture to the story proper as well as footnotes. As intended, a great way to prepare for Disney's new Star Wars film. (Science fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews