If your child is a Star War fan there are a number of resources you can utilise to encourage them in their reading when they are in the early years of school. Apart from the regular Star Wars books aimed at younger readers, of which there are dozens, you can also try these audio book options to build your child's interest in words and reading through their own interest in Star Wars.

An audio book is a sound recording of someone reading a book out loud. While this has the potential to sound rather dry, the Star Wars audio books take this one step further by adding music and sound effects straight from the films.

While there are dozens of Star Wars audio books available most are aimed at adults and may be too long or may contain concepts that may bore kids. There a few other options, namely in the form of the Jedi Quest series by Jude Watson and the adaptations of the films.

Read by Jonathan Davis who is arguably the best reader of Star Wars books, the first three of the Jedi Quest series are available on CD or via download on Audible.com. As mentioned earlier the recordings include dramatic sound effects which make them feel more like a movie inside your head. The other option is adaptations of the movies.

While the first three aren't available as strict novel adaptations they are available as radio plays. What that means is that a group of actors get together and read a specially written script and re-perform the movie, complete with sound effects. The first two radio plays (A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) have major actors from the films which is a bonus. Purchasing these from Audible is recommended as they are cheaper there.

The prequel trilogy films are also available as audio books, as is The Clone Wars movie. These are audio recordings of the film novelizations rather than a performance and can be quite long and drawn out for younger listeners. If you do decide to purchase one of these books make sure you go for the abridged readings.

Audio books engage kids in stories so their interest in books and reading will grow.