I think Star Wars fandom is a perfect illustration of the "nature vs nurture debate". I am convinced that I passed down my love of Star Wars into my children's DNA. But it also took some cultivating.
For us, the gateway drug to becoming a Star Wars fanatic was definitely books... and 1 very specific toy. My son was quite precocious when he was little. he developed the ability to speak in full sentences before he could walk. I'm convinced this is due to how much my wife read to him... and I "read" to him. When he was born, my friends showered us with Star Wars themed gifts. We were the first couple in our friend group to have a baby so we got to get all the cool stuff they all wanted to buy for themselves. One very influential gift were the books of the original Star Wars Trilogy.
And I don't mean the new Little Golden Book versions with cute little cartoons. These books were simply still shots from the actual movie with a ton of text. This is where the "reading" comes in. My son would always crawl over to his bookshelf and grab one of these for me to "read" while he sat on my lap in his rocking chair. He would look at the picture and almost immediately turn to the next one. This is where my Star Wars expertise came in handy. I could very easily see the picture and tell him a quick version of exactly what was happening in the movie. I was basically just telling him the stories of the movie from memory almost every day. We both loved it!
If that wasn't enough, my buddy gave Timmy a stuffed talking Darth Vader. The fact that it was one piece with no choking hazards made it perfect for a baby. For the first 6 months of his life, Timmy slept with a little blue monkey that rattled. After that it was the Dark Lord of the Sith... Darth Vader!
What could be more appropriate and loving for a tiny baby?
Once Timmy was old enough to figure out that I was just making stuff up when I was "reading" the Star Wars books, we switched to an amazing series of kids book by fellow geek and Star Wars fan Jeffrey Brown. [I was actually able to meet Jefferey at this years' C2E2 so I could thank him in person for all oft eh great memories he helped create for me and my son and daughter.] Back in my day, we only had 4 Jefferey Brown Star Wars Books...and we liked it! (No we didn't I'm jealous parents today have so many more to read to their future Jedis... or Sith).
We had:
- Darth Vader and Son (2012)
- Vader's Little Princess (2013)
- Goodnight Darth Vader (2014)
- Darth Vader and Friends (2015)
Since my kids aged out of these, he has released:
- Rey and Pals (2019)
- Jedi Academy Series 1-7 (2019)
- Vader Family Sithmas (2021)
- The Mandalorean and Child (2023)
If you are a geek and you haven't checked out Jeffrey Brown's work, I highly recommend it. He makes hilarious books about all the geeky things I love like Marvel, Star Wars, DC, Space Travel, Neanderthals... and just how weird kids are. These are some of the best books that adults will enjoy as much as their kids.
I hope he continues to write amazing books and that I am lucky enough to have a grandchild or two... but not for a long time.
Have you read any of these to your kids? Any other geeky favorites?