On the way home from The Dollar Tree where I purchased Little Classics: Tom Sawyer, I stopped at a Little Free Library, even though, at this point, I really don't need more books. Piles of books I thought would be a "quick, fun read" from over a year ago lay stacked up on the tables and shelves around me. But, of course, while dismissing the more serious books, I found this book: a Little Golden Book featuring Star Wars characters. Having already set my mind to see how Tom Sawyer could be reimagined into a children's book, I saw the obvious parallel and picked this up as well.

This book was written by Anna Schaefer, who is the senior editor of Star Wars books. It was illustrated by Alan Batson, who seems to have some experience in the field.

The main point of this book is it describes what "The Resistance", which is what The Rebellion is called in the sequel trilogy. "The Resistance" was also what the opposition to the presidential administration of the United States was called at the time, A cursory glance at Anna Schaefer's twitter feed makes me think she was aware of this connection. Each page of this book focuses on a Star Wars character, and how they follow a virtue of The Resistance: they are kind, brave and loyal, they stand up to bullies, and they never give up. And while they sometimes fight with weapons, they also demonstrate values. And, of course:

The Resistance welcomes everyone, no matter where they are from or what they look like.
Below a picture of our two Droids, a Mon Calamari, a Sullustan and Maz Kanata, and yes I had to do some research to learn those things.

Anyway, so this book recapitulates the basic ethical universe of Star Wars, for kindergartners, and plants some very obvious sociopolitical seeds. But also, it made me feel a little bit weird because as a child, I remember Little Golden Books being full of poems about boats or Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, having a book featuring licensed characters brandishing weapons made me feel a little weird. Having licensed characters brandishing weapons to advocate inclusive politics made me feel even more weird. For the second time today, I saw part of America's mythology be compressed into a place it really wasn't meant to go.