Vader's Little Princess

Our copy of Vader's Little Princess surrounded by Origami Yodas that the girls made for my top secret project.  Little Lion even made those red blasters!  Thumbprint pic above is of LL with one of her besties. Both pictures posted with permission.

Vader’s Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown (published April 2013)
Good Night, Darth Vader by Jeffrey Brown (published 2014)
Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown (published 2012)
Darth Vader and Friends by Jeffrey Brown (published 2015)

In my opinion, this series of books by Jeffrey Brown is a must-have for any Star Wars fan.  In honor of the release of Rogue One this week, I’m reviewing Vader’s Little Princess because it’s my favorite of this series.

Why is this one my favorite?  What’s funnier than a fumbling Darth Vader dealing with a teen Leia who tries to go out in a cut-off shirt? (Not to mention his reaction about the infamous bikini….) Maybe it’s just because I have sassafras girls, I fully understood the humor in this book.  Yes, sassafras is used correctly—at least the way we use it in the Bookworm household.  

I admit I didn’t ‘get’ all of these scenes until Mr. Bookworm and the Bookworm girls made me watch the original trilogy a million times this year.  Including the prequels that still have several scenes that make me cringe.  Moreso with Anakin’s awkwardness than with Jar Jar’s ridiculousness.  And that’s saying a lot.  

I’m growing a geekdom in my house.  Or a fandom.  However which way you want to look at it.  It warms Mr. Bookworm’s heart and the little kid in him who always wanted the Millennium Falcon Lego set and didn’t get it until he was in his 40s.  (Yes, I bought it for him because I knew he wouldn’t buy it for himself.  One of my besties from med school did the same for her husband.)

Back to Vader’s Little Princess, for this particular book I don’t think you have to be a Star Wars super fan to appreciate it—any dad of girls might just appreciate the humor.  Like Darth Vader and Son, Vader’s Little Princess doesn’t follow a specific story line.  Rather it has more of a comic strip feel with one-offs or 2-3 scenes completing a joke or mini-story.  

My favorite part of the book is that the stories do interconnect and not just because Brown interweaves scenes from the original trilogy.  He maintains Leia’s strong personality as she would be as a teen—she’s sassy, she speaks her mind, and, yes, she rolls her eyes at her dad.  She’s rebellious, like she would seem in Darth Vader's eyes in the original trilogy.  Plus, she dates a teen Han with no apologies.  (Never mind that in real life there was a 13 year difference in age between Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford.)

Rating: Bottom bookshelf.  We held on to the library versions of these books for a long time until I finally bought them.  

Ages: I’d say age 4-5 on up.

Rogue One is out in theaters on December 16, 2016.

PS You’ll notice if you read through my Novel Playlist (posting next week) that one of the main characters is named Han/Hanry.  Yes, he’s named after that Han.  No I’m not that big of a super fan, but his parents are and I wrote that whole section back before the resurgence of the popularity of Star Wars.  So, in other words, before Episode VII was released.  Can’t change it now.

If you squint, doesn't it look like Mini Me and Little Lion AKA Leia are looking out into space? (instead of small comb jellies) Posted with permission.