This week my son and I will give you our thoughts on Yoda in Action! This is another level 3 DK Readers book, meant for children who are reading alone – but still easily enjoyed by one such as my son who needs me to read it to him. What we’ve got is straight up adaptation of the fist episode from the series, Ambush – but to learn any more you’ll have to click on the link.

Ambush was my first experience with The Clone Wars as a visual medium, having missed the movie while it was in theaters (and having not seen it on DVD yet when this episode came out on TV). I had read Karen Traviss’ novelization of the movie, but still I didn’t know exactly how I’d feel about watching the show. It turns out I was immediately drawn to the animation style, and it didn’t hurt that this was a particularly great plot – highlighting the Yoda I remember from The Empire Strikes Back. He also has some great interaction with the Clone Troopers, feeling like an extension of many of the themes Karen Traviss had introduced in her Republic Commando series.

I say all this because these scene are well captured in Yoda in Action! For me, the best parts of the episode are also the best parts of the book. Unfortunately, in some ways things that didn’t seem like much of a weakness in the episode don’t work quite as well in this medium. This is a 48 page book, and with that many pages it has time to detail most of the episode’s plot – when at times I’d have actually preferred a more edited version. A lot of time is spent with the Toydarian/Seperatist negotiation – but the scene’s are interspersed throughout the story so it constantly feels like a back and forth from one page to the next – when in the context of the book, I’d have rather just stayed with Yoda and the Clone Troopers and just seen Ventriss at the beginning and the end.

My impression from my son’s attention to the book was that he felt the same way. He seemed initially interested in a page when Ventriss was shown, but because most of her scenes held no action but instead was a lot of “ha ha ha, here’s the evil thing I’m going to do to Yoda now” he wound up tuning out until I got to the next page with Yoda. That said, he seemed less interested in probably my favorite scene from the entire episode, where Yoda is talking to the clones in the cave – so I think it has more to do with wanting to read exciting action packed parts of the story than anything else.

Like other DK Readers I’ve reviewed, there are text boxes highlighted on some pages to give the reader more background information on a particular story element (like “Ancient Moon” which describes why Rugosa is covered with coral) and a great glossary at the back of the book. The pictures are all taken right from the episode, so everything is easily recognizable and fits well with the story on each page.

In all though, Yoda in Action! isn’t one of my favorites among the DK The Clone Wars books we’ve read, and it’s not one my son often asks me to read to him. Given the choice between this and the previous volumes I’ve reviewed (Pirates…and Worse! & Forces of Darkness) – he’ll pick either of those first. But Yoda in Action! did give me the chance to do my Yoda impersonation (which is not nearly as good as my Jar Jar) and if you’ve got a young reader who’s especially fond of this episode, it’s certainly a good book for its level.

Review Copy courtesy of  DK Publishing.