Jedi Academy: Attack of the Furball is a light-hearted interstellar romp. It features unique characters with a myriad of personalities, exciting adventures, and the Star Wars setting that fans love. The characters face a wide range of problems that they must solve, from personal crisis to situations that affect whole planets. The main character, Christina Starspeeder, faces these problems with creativity and compassion, but also with flawed judgment in some instances. The way that she falls a bit short of perfection makes her a perfect hero for a children’s book, since children fall down sometimes, and Christina’s ability to pick herself up and set the consequences of her actions right is an encouragement for young readers who may find themselves facing similar, if hopefully less dangerous, occasional bad choices.

This book is the latest in the Jedi Academy series, but it does not require that a reader have any familiarity with the rest of the set. A superficial knowledge of the Star Wars universe is helpful, but certainly not required, to read and enjoy this book. I’d recommend it to young readers looking for a quick, adventuresome read with some laughs along the way.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore: Report of a fight; report of an animal swallowing someone whole; a verbal threat; a few fights with lightsabers, force abilities, and melee attacks; a creature grabs a character; a few instances of minor property damage; an animal is tranquilized.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

The ethics of keeping wild animals in captivity is a major theme; gambling; animals forced to fight for sport; brief mention of smuggling and rigged elections. 

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None