{Synopsis} – Victor Starspeeder is psyched to be starting school at the Jedi Academy. His sister, Christina does not share an enthusiasm for Victor’s newfound educational path. She’s horrified that her annoying baby brother will be there to cramp her style.
While Victor means well, his excess energy leads him to spend a lot of time in detention with the little, green sage, Yoda. Yoda wants to channel Victor’s talents, so he makes the young Padawan join the drama club. Victor is not pleased. “Learn to control your anger, you must! Successfully manage their emotions, a good Jedi can. Box step and jazz hands … hee hee … young Padawan will!”
Victor will have to make new friends, get on his sister’s good side, learn to use the force, and hope the year’s drama club performance (“Wookie Side Story”? “Annie Get Your Lightsaber”?) goes off without a hitch!
{My thoughts} – Victor is a part of the New Class at the Jedi Academy. I must say it made me kind of sad to see the old class replaced. I’m assuming since it’s a new writer and illustrator that they kind of wanted to start the series out fresh. I’m not sure. It seemed strange to be reading about new characters in a series when I was use to the older ones. It was also odd with the illustrations being different. You can also tell the differences in writing in comparison to the author that wrote the previous three books. I’m not sure why they chose to go with a different author and illustrator but for all intents and purposes it seemed to have worked out alright.
Victor goes through all the normal issues you’d think would happen at a new school. He struggles to find his place, to fit in and to keep his grades up. He makes friends with the wrong sorts and then with the right sorts. In the end things seem to work out alright for him and his classmates. He learns to use the force in a better manner and he learns that just because somebody is able to pretend to be your friend, it doesn’t make them your friend. That is usually the hardest lesson for any child to learn. Sometimes, it has a good turn out and sometimes it doesn’t.
I think that any child that loves Star Wars will enjoy reading this book. I love the illustrations within the pages. They give you a lot to look at and explore. I enjoy reading books like this because they are fun reads. I think that any child would be lucky to have this book added to their home or school library.
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
