Return of the Jedi: How the Ewoks Saved the Trees: An Old Ewok Legend

How the Ewoks Saved the Trees: An Old Ewok Legend

Author: James Howe

Illustrator: Walter Velez

Medium: Picture book

Publication Date: March 1984

Timeline Placement: 1 BBY

 

Finally we've arrived! It's time for the E-E-E-E-Eeeeewoks. Everyone knows that the giant trees of Endor are sacred to the furry little Ewoks, but few know that the trees on the Forest Moon are the only trees in the galaxy that can talk. They speak in a voice that only the Ewok children can hear, however; it's one of those things you forget when you grow up. 

 

One day, two young Ewoks, Wicket W. Warrick and Princess Kneesaa, are out in the forest picking berries when they discover two Phlogs, 60-feet-tall giant humanoids, trying to hack down one of the sacred trees with an ax. The Ewoks realize that the trees are calling to them for help. The trees tell them that the Phlogs come from Simoom, a deforested region on the other side of the Endor moon. 

Wicket and Kneesaa relay what they've seen and were told to the elders of the Ewok tribe. Chief Chirpa, Kneesaa's father, believes that young Ewoks should be seen and not heard, but he agrees to take a scouting party in the morning and investigate, even though he thinks that Wicket is telling tall tales. Finding the adults intransigent, the children seek out Logray, the oldest Ewok in the village and the only grownup who can still hear the language of the trees.

Logray keeps to himself in his hut at the edge of the village and only receives visitors when the other Ewoks are in need of his knowledge of herbal remedies. Logray believes the children's tale and tells them another, passed down to him by his own grandfather from a time before any living Ewok was born. The Ewoks themselves were originally from Simoom, protected from the predatory Phlogs by the shelter of a small forested area surrounded by desert. When the Phlogs decided to build a castle for their king, they chopped down all the trees for lumber, forcing the Ewoks to flee to the other side of the moon in search of a new home.

Logray gives the children a special powder that they are to put into the Phlogs' food. It will make them forget about the new trees they have discovered and send them back to their people bearing a warning of superstitious dread. Wicket and Kneesa sneak out of the village early in the morning and return to the Phlogs' camp, but they are caught by the Phlogs and about to be eaten. Wicket tells the princess to throw her bag of powder into her Phlog's face. He does the same with the Phlog holding him, and both giants collapse in a stupor.

Just then, Chief Chirpa and his warriors arrive to see that the young Ewoks were telling the truth. They try to Gulliver the Phlogs with some vines but the Phlogs immediately break free, only to run off in terror, Logray's LSD having done its trick. Chief Chirpa makes Logray the official Medicine Man of Bright Tree Village, and Wicket and Kneesaa are made honorary members of the Council of Elders. Chief Chirpa declares that every summer the Ewoks will return to this part of the forest and celebrate their victory. The trees sing out in gratitude, and on this day every Ewok can hear them.

To be honest I never liked the Ewoks cartoon as much as Droids, but this book is amazing! It easily blows all the Droids tie-ins out of the water, as well as pretty much every Star Wars children's book we've read thus far. Newbery Award-winner Anakin's Pit Droid, what a classic!

 

The art and story are both completely charming, child-friendly without being low-effort or overly simplistic. How the Ewoks Saved the Trees is like the kind of book you'd read to your kids as a bedtime story even if it didn't say Star Wars on the cover. It's written by the author of Bunnicula, and there isn't a much higher stamp of quality than that. Wholeheartedly recommended to EU fans of any age.