When I was a wee whippersnapper, I had two sci-fi obsessed uncles who introduced me to the world of Star Wars (and other cool spacey stuff beyond the stratosphere). One year my uncle Chris gave me a huge black 'folder' labelled "Ralph McQuarrie Paintings" which contained a whole stack of work by the late legendary concept artist, for the movie "The Empire Strikes Back"

These huge paintings adorned my walls between the ages of 9 to...well into my late 20s. I just couldn't get enough of Ralph McQuarrie's amazing work.

So with anticipation building for Star Wars Episode VII next year - and paying due homage to the late genius himself, Egmont have put together a fantastic adventurous book for younger Star Wars fanatics based around one of the pivotal characters of the original trilogy (and if the rumours are true, quite a pivotal character in the next few movies too!)

Luke Skywalker. Most boys either wanted to be Han or Luke (must admit I always thought Luke was a bit of a whiny brat in the original movie but changed as the movies evolved into one kick-butt Jedi master!) and here we have a rather neatly written history of Luke from his earliest years on the desert planet of Tatooine to his eventual emergence as a powerful Jedi.

The book neatly uses a stack of McQuarrie's finished paintings from each of the original trilogy movies plus a whole ton of concept art. Kids who are currently enjoying "Star Wars: Rebels" on TV will probably recognise those early depictions of Chewbacca, and big grown up kids (like me) will be utterly dazzled by the fine work McQuarrie was capable of.

It's a fantastic idea to take the (sometimes stale) art and concept books and make them more kid-friendly like this. It's genuinely good to see kids growing up still loving Star Wars just as much as I did when I was younger (and yep, still do today!)

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte loves anything with Princess Leia in it so she loved seeing the princess looking out for her brother in this.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Gorgeous paintings, an adventurous story, what better way to get your young Jedis (or, er, Sith) up and running with some Star Wars action!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Egmont Publishing)

Even if you don't know Mary Howitt's original dark poem warning of the dangers of falling for a silver tongued devil, you must have heard it paraphrased so many times in popular culture. This book takes the text of the original poem and laces it with some of the silkiest monochrome illustrations I've ever seen in a children's book. Tony DiTerlizzi has called on various artistic references and sources, but his work mostly seems to riff on 1920s and 30s Hollywood movies. 

The spider is your typical brylcreem-haired moustachioed movie baddie, the fly a dainty and beautiful flapper. We follow their tale as Spider uses his charm and wit to tempt the fly to join him for dinner. Her last dinner. 

Does he succeed? Does Fly come to her senses at the last moment? You know what I'm going to say - you'll have to read the book and if you do, you're in for a feast for the eyes. This week I let Charlotte choose 7 books from the library and in all but one case she opted for something slightly macabre or sinister (this book, 3 about dragons, 2 about monsters and one lonely book about a girl who wants to be herself - stay tuned for more reviews soon...!)

Charlotte's best bit - The Ghost Flies

Daddy's favourite bit - The artwork - so good you'd love it on your wall.