Star Wars Reads Day

This past Saturday marked the fourth annual Star Wars Reads Day, a global celebration that promotes literacy while uniting fans of the franchise. Thousands of events were held all over the globe.

I’m going to be honest, I never knew that Star Wars Reads Day was even a thing until my editor at Forces of Geek asked me to write an article about it. It resonated with me once I looked into what this event was because Star Wars taught me how to read. 

In Kindergarten, during recess, while my classmates vied for toys and coloring books, I made a mad dash to the cassette player and listened to a read-along version of Return of the Jedi. The cassette player went missing one day, but the book was still there. I decided to read it myself instead of going along with the narration.

My teacher walked by and was astonished to hear me reading passages aloud about Stormtroopers and Ewoks. She knelt down, looked me in the eye, and said joyfully, “Atlee, you can read!”

At the time, I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

She handed me a Clifford book and asked me to read it so she could see if I truly knew how to read or if what I was reciting with the Star Wars book was due to memorization. When I began to read passages about the big red dog and his friend Emily, my teacher acted as if she had won the lottery.

I still didn’t think this was a big deal, but everyone else did, especially my parents. I was even asked to read the entire Return of the Jedi book in front of the whole class. I don’t ever remember having difficulty reading, but my mother told me otherwise.

Over the years, Star Wars has produced thousands of literary tales. Through books, comics, audio renditions, and magazines, these iconic characters and remarkable adventures have touched our lives.

Let’s examine three different versions of a story set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.