From one generation to the next, here are the early stories of Han Solo and Princess Leia’s children learning to use the Force at Master Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. More for younger readers, but also a good background for the characters and events in the current “Legacy of the Force” line of books.
The “Young Jedi Knights” series (written by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta) and the following “Junior Jedi Knights” series (written by Nancy Richardson and Rebecca Moestra) were books aimed at pre-teens and younger readers as they follow the Solo children and their friends during their time at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 where they begin to learn what being a Jedi really means. Although written for a younger audience the books are fairly good and provide insight to the characters who would take center stage in later Star Wars novels.
Heirs to the Force (Young Jedi Knights, Book 1)
The series begins with Jacen and Jainia Solo, the twins of Princess Leia and Han Solo, beginning their training at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. In this first adventure the twins discover the remains of a TIE-fighter which crashed years before during the Rebel’s attack on the Death Star. With the help of new friends Lowbacca (Chewbacca’s nephew) and Tenel Ka the Solos repair the ship unaware the the fighter’s former owner is still alive and well. [$4.99]
Shadow Academy (Young Jedi Knights, Book 2)
A former student of Luke Skywalker’s has turned to the Dark Side and created his own Shadow Academy to train a new generation of Dark Side Force users. Jacen, Jaina, and Lowbacca are kidnapped by this new academy in an attempt to turn one of the heirs of Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side. [$4.99]
The Lost Ones (Young Jedi Knights, Book 3)
During a trip home to Coruscant the twins reunite with their old friend Zekk. Zekk feels left-out by the changes in his friends and later meets Brakiss who discovers Zekk has force potential and offers him a spot at the Shadow Academy where Zekk trains to become a Dark Jedi. [$4.99]
Lightsabers (Young Jedi Knights, Book 4)
The young Jedi begin to grow up as each begins to create their own distinct lightsaber, but in training a horrible accident leaves Tenel Ka with only one arm. After she returns home to Harpes her friends come after her to offer their support and to stop an assassin from killing her grandmother, the Queen Mother. [$5.99]
Darkest Knight (Young Jedi Knights, Book 5)
Things come to a head on the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk where Lowbacca returns home with Jacen and Jaina to help his sister Sirrakuk prepare for a dangerous rite of passage. Zekk is also there to raid the central computer and eliminate the Solos to prove himself as the Darkest Knight to Brakiss and Tamith Ka. [$5.99]
Jedi Under Siege (Young Jedi Knights, Book 6)
In the conclusion of the Shadow Academy storyline Zekk, Brakiss and Nightsister Tamith Kai take invade Yavin 4 with stormtroopers to take on the Solos, their friends, and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. [$5.99]
Shards of Alderaan (Young Jedi Knights, Book 7)
While in the Alderaan system searching for a piece of the lost world to give their mother, the twins are followed by Ailyn Vel, the daughter of Boba Fett who plans to settle her father’s score with the Solo family. [$5.99]
Diversity Alliance (Young Jedi Knights, Book 8)
The young Jedi search for their friend Raynar Thul’s father who holds in his possession the location to an Imperial plague warehouse. Also pursuing Bornan Thul is an anti-Human activist group known as the Diversity Alliance who has their own plans for the Empire’s biological weapons which only affect humans. [$5.99]
Delusions of Grandeur (Young Jedi Knights, Book 9)
The search for Bornan Thul continues as the team of young Jedi Knights must decide whether or not to trust the newly reprogrammed bounty hunter IG-88, and Lusa, a friend of Jacen and Jaina, comes to the Academy seeking refuge from the Diversity Alliance. [$5.99]
Jedi Bounty (Young Jedi Knights, Book 10)
The young Jedi Knights travel to Ryloth, the home base of the Diversity Alliance, to learn the they are preparing to launch a war against humanity in response to the years of Emperor Palantine’s homocentric Empire. Lowbacca, who went to learn about the Alliance for himself, discovers his friends have been captured, turns on the Alliance and helps the Solos escape the mines. [$5.99]
The Emperor’s Plague (Young Jedi Knights, Book 11)
Nolaa Tarkova has discovered the location of the Imperial plague warehouse and the young Jedi Knights race to stop Tarkova and Ailyn Vel and destroy the weapons before they can be used against the galaxy. [$5.99]
Return to Ord Mantell (Young Jedi Knights, Book 12)
Han takes Jacen, Jaina, and Zekk on a trip to Ord Mantell to participate in the Blockade Runners Derby, but once there they meet the daughter of one of Han Solo’s enemies who holds not only a grudge against the Solo family but a dark secret as well. [$5.99]
Trouble on Cloud City (Young Jedi Knights, Book 13)
While vacationing with Lando on Bespin the twins take their new acquaintance Anja Gallandro along without realizing they are helping her launch a sinister plan of revenge. [$5.99]
Crisis at Crystal Reef (Young Jedi Knights, Book 14)
In the final book of the series Anja Gallandro begins to have second thoughts about her revenge and her loyalties to her new friends. Fleeing in to space she is pursued by the Solos who will finally learn the truth about the whole situation. [$5.99]
Junior Jedi Knights
The Golden Globe (Junior Jedi Knights Book 1)
Anakin Skywalker begins his training at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, he meets a new friend Tahiri, who shares with Anakin a strange dream down by the river where they will discover the secret of the Golden Globe which just might have some connection to the Dark Side of the Force. [$4.50]
Lyric’s World (Junior Jedi Knights Book 2)
On a moon of Yavin 8 Anakin and Tahiri attempt to help their friend Lyric join the elders of her race, and they discover carvings in a cave which match those on Yavin 4 and might help them break the curse of the Golden Globe, but the carvings aren’t the only thing deep in the caves of Yavin 8. [$4.50]
Promises (Junior Jedi Knights Book 3)
Tahiri’s past is revealed, before coming to the Jedi Academy she lived with Tusken Raiders in the deserts of Tatooine but remembers nothing of her parents or her life before the Sandpeople. The leader of the Sandpeople demands Tahiri’s return to prove her worth against a kayt dragon with the help of Anakin. [$4.50]
Anakin’s Quest (Junior Jedi Knights Book 4)
Anakin’s disturbing dreams of Degobah force him to travel with Tahiri, R2-D2 and Jedi Master Ikrit to the swamp planet where they find the cave and Anakin must face his own fears about turning to the Dark Side. [$4.50]
Vader’s Fortress (Junior Jedi Knights Book 5)
After learning that Darth Vader kept Obi-Wan’s lightsaber Anakin, Tahiri, Ikrit, and Tionne search for the Sith Lord’s abandoned fortress on the planet Vjun to recover the artifact. [$4.50]
Kenobi’s Blade (Junior Jedi Knights Book 6)
In the final book to the series, Anakin’s friend upset with his inability to move objects with the Force steals the Jedi Holocrom recovered from Vjun along with Obi-Wan’s lightsaber and travels to Orloc to become a Jedi; Anakin and his friends race to save him and stop him from putting the objects into Orloc’s hands. [$4.50]