Chronicle Books has given Star Wars fans some of the most creative, innovative, and fun gift books available.  They specialize in making distinctive books of high quality, books that will please the die hard fan, and did I already mention FUN?  If you’ve read Jeffrey Brown’s Darth Vader parenting books then you already know the caliber of books that Chronicle puts out.  But if you haven’t picked up their Star Wars diary/notebook series, you’re missing out on something every dedicated fan would love to get their hands on.  Comprised of three books currently (a fourth is coming out August 11th – Star Wars: Imperial Handbook), each one is written as a handbook of sorts about different aspects of the Star Wars universe.

The Bounty Hunter Code is a secret collection of two documents belonging to Boba Fett and is actually his copy of The Bounty Hunters Guild Handbook and a copy of a Death Watch manifesto apparently given to him by his father, Jango Fett.  In it are also notes written in the margins and throughout by such well known bounty hunters as Greedo, Bossk, and Dengar (with some additional notes by Han Solo!).  And in the Death Watch manifesto, Jango, Aurra Sing, and Honda Ohnaka share their thoughts as well.  The material is interesting – detailing the history of the Guild, the ways it functions, the equipment used, and the affiliate guilds associated with it while the Death Watch piece is about the true history of the Mandalorians – if not a bit dry in the reading.  But the FUN part is reading the margins and the interaction and thoughts from the different people who make notations.  It gives you better insight into the relationships between these characters and is great to read.  Different fonts and different “pen” colors as well as handwriting styles differentiate the people making the notes.

The other two books, Book of the Sith and The Jedi Path can be bought individually or part of a boxed set.  It’s slightly cheaper to buy them individually ($19.95 each as opposed to $45 combined), but if you’re giving them a gift, the boxed set is not only nicer looking, but includes exclusive art in a separate binder.  The Jedi Path is a beautiful manual on Jedi training tactics “found” by Luke Skywalker in the remains of the Jedi Temple sometime after the founding of the Jedi Academy.  As such, it has annotations from some very familiar names like Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano, but also notations from Dooku and Darth Sidious who apparently got his hands on it at some point (and bothered to sign it).  The pages are crisp and clean, the organization well-thought out, and the points are detailed as you would expect from the Jedi.

Although I’m a Jedi through and through, the Sith book is even more interesting and fun.  The pages are uneven.  In fact the book is more of a compilation of many different documents and so the edges are shaped differently from section to section.  Vader and Sidious both make notes, and since this is a recovered document found by Luke his notes are prevalent throughout as well.  But there are a number of surprise authors making notes in the margins including Mace Windu, Yoda, Quinlan Vos (of Dark Disciple and Clone Wars fame), and others.  Like the others, it gives lots of historical references to the Sith’s past as well as a deeper understanding of the Rule of Two and other specifically Dark Side stuff.

If you’re looking for something great for the Star Wars fan who’s read every book or can recite the original trilogy by heart, any of these would make the perfect gift.

• Read more about Jeffrey Brown’s Chronicle Books (Goodnight Darth Vader and Darth Vader and Friends) on the Disney Nerds blog
• You can read my exclusive interview with Jeffrey about his books and Star Wars career also on the blog