I Wish I Had A Wookiee Activity Guide

I Wish I Had
a Wookiee
And Other Poems
for Our Galaxy
Poems by
Ian Doescher
Illustrations by
Tim Budgen
Educati
ona l
activitie
s from
a ga la xy
far,
far awa
y!
For more information, please visit www.quirkbooks.com. Star Wars © and TM Lucasfilm Ltd.
Art by Tim Budgen. Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Quirk Books. All rights reserved.
May The Activities Be With You
We’ve created these activities based on the poems found in I Wish I Had
a Wookiee: And Other Poems for Our Galaxy. This out-of-this-world poetry
collection is inspired by the beloved world of Star Wars and is a celebration of
childhood, creativity, imagination, and the early years of an iconic fandom.
The activities in this guide are designed to be used alongside I Wish I Had a Wookiee. They
help students apply important English language arts skills in fun and engaging ways.
I Wish I Had a Wookiee or a . . . them to write a poem about how they would like to be
In the poem “I Wish I Had a Wookie” (p. 13), the speak- like their person. Finally, have them draw an illustra-
er of the poem explains why he wishes he could have a tion to go with their poem.
wookiee of his own. Ask your kids to think of something
that they really want and write an eight-line poem in The Light Side Vs. The Dark Side
the following format: lines 1–2 explaining what it is, Star Wars is one of the greatest movie franchises of all
lines 3–4 telling why they want it, lines 5 and 6 showing time. It’s full of wonderful characters, both good and
how it would make their life easier, and lines 7–8 about evil. Divide kids into two groups, one heroes and one
what makes it special. Encourage them to proofread villains. Then have them skim through I Wish I Had a
their poems before sharing them. Wookiee and choose a poem that features a character
from their assigned group. Have them memorize the
Academy-Approved Bookmarks poem (or a section of it) and then act it out. Encour-
Have kids choose their favorite poem from I Wish I Had age them to use their imaginations and props such as
a Wookiee. Then, have them create bookmarks inspired repurposed household items, costumes, and action
by it. Encourage them to write their favorite lines from figures to bring their characters to life.
the poem on the bookmark and decorate it with pic-
tures of their favorite Star Wars characters. They can An ABC From Me
use it to save their place in their favorite book . . . or as a Read the poem “Star Wars A to Z” (p. 22) to your class.
makeshift lightsaber. Then explain to them that it’s an ABC poem, with each
line of the poem beginning with a letter in the alphabet,
To Be Like ________ starting with A and moving in order through Z. Using
Read the poem “To Be Like Anakin” (p. 18), ask your the form of “Star Wars A to Z” as an example, instruct
kids to think about it, and have them choose one person them to create their own ABC poem highlighting
they admire. Hold a brainstorming session and ask things about themselves and things they enjoy. Hang
them to write down ten things they like about the their finished poems around the classroom for others
person they chose. Then, using “To Be Like Anakin” to enjoy.
as inspiration and their brainstorming notes, instruct
Jedi Adjectives Rhyme Race
Read aloud a few of your favorite poems from I Wish I Discuss the importance of rhymes in poetry. Then read
Had a Wookiee and have students listen for adjectives. some rhyming poems from I Wish I Had a Wookiee,
Ask students to write down all the adjectives they hear. such as “Ingrid Is Chewbacca” (p. 16), “Feelings” (p.
Then challenge them to write a short story about Star 49), “Messy Lightsaber Battle” (p. 64), “Under the
Wars using ten of the adjectives they wrote down. Have Bed” (p. 72), “Star Wars Day” (p. 93), or “Role Model”
students read their finished stories to the class. (p. 114). Then divide the class into teams of 3–5 stu-
dents. Assign each team a common word that has many
The Shape of Words rhymes (like “bat,” “day,” “most,” “fan,” or “spot”) and
Shape poetry, also known as concrete poetry, is a po- challenge the teams to list as many rhyming words as
etic form in which the words in the poem form a shape possible in 5 minutes. The team with the most rhyming
that visually matches its topic. “BB-8’s Looking Great” words wins the race.
(p. 71) is a great example of one. Read it with your class,
and then have them create a shape poem of their own
about another Star Wars character.
Texts From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

A rhyming couplet is two lines of the same length that
rhyme and make a complete thought. Ask students to
choose two Star Wars characters and have them create
a text message exchange between the two in the form of
rhyming couplets. Encourage them to make it sound like a
realistic conversation between the characters.
Metaphor Mania
The author of I Wish I Had a Wookiee, Ian Doescher,
uses a lot of metaphors in his poems. For example, in
the poem “The Jawas Took My Homework” (p. 20) he
writes, “I ejected just as the ship burst with a shriek.”
Talk to your class about metaphors. Then have your
students look through the book for more metaphors. Ask
them to create their own metaphors to share with—and
entertain—the class.
Droid-Approved Acrostics students design a shoebox diorama that depicts a
An acrostic is a poetic form in which the first letter of three-dimensional miniature scene of what their dream
each line spells out a word or phrase. Ask your students galaxy would be like. Encourage them to paint the inside
to write their own acrostics by choosing a topic word and outside of the shoebox and use figures, small toys,
from I Wish I Had a Wookiee. Instruct them to write stickers, and small household items to make their galax-
their topic word in capital letters vertically down the ies as detailed as possible.
left side of a piece of paper. Then have them write a
poem by starting one line of the poem with each capital Found in the Galaxy Poetry
letter. Remind them that each line should connect to Gather old magazines, newspapers, circulars, and fliers.
their topic in some way. Collect these poems into a class Ask students to go through them and cut out pictures
anthology. and words and phrases that remind them of Star Wars.
Once they’ve found at least ten words or phrases and
Character Voices three images, instruct students to glue them in any or-
A big part of poetry is about a reader’s and a listener’s der to construct their “found” poem masterpiece.
experience. Experiment with this by having kids read
the poems from I Wish I Had a Wookiee out loud in the Star Wars Poetry Slam
voices of different Star Wars characters. Some favorites Have your students choose a poem that they wrote that
to choose from are: Chewbacca, Yoda, Jar Jar Binks, was inspired by I Wish I Had a Wookiee (or they can
R2-D2, C-3PO, BB-8, Jabba the Hutt, Obi-Wan Kenobi, write a new one if they wish) and hold a classroom poet-
Kylo Ren, and Darth Vader. ry slam! A poetry slam allows students to show off their
ability to write and speak poetry and develop presenta-
Shoebox Galaxy tion skills in an encouraging and enthusiastic environ-
One of the poems in the book, “Star Peace” (p. 117), ment. Poetry slams are best held in person but be sure to
is about how the speaker loves the Star Wars galaxy record or stream it so anyone can easily attend!
but dreams about a galaxy that’s at peace. Have your
Wookiee WORDPLAY
Now that you’ve read the poems in I Wish I Had a Wookiee, it’s time to
put your own poetry writing skills to the test! Write your own version
of “Snow Day on Hoth” (p. 33) by filling in the blanks in the poem below.
Be creative and write a poem Luke Skywalker would be proud of.
There was a yesterday

noun
So we all outside to play.

past tense verb
was a rebel leader,

person
And I was Luke in my .

noun
The neighbor were Empire troops,

plural noun
us in AT-AT groups.
-ING VERB
Augusta, from across the ,

noun
Was Vader, our retreat!

-ING VERB
And soon our was done at last,

noun
by an AT-AT blast!
past tense verb
Augusta and the twins —

past tense verb
Advanced as our failed!

noun
Oh, how we and felt unsteady,

past tense verb
Until Mom yelled, “ ”

phrase
We ran inside, the weather,

past tense verb
and together.
proper noun proper noun
We about our snow day fun,

past tense verb
For some had lost, but all had .

noun
My Again!
The poem “Again!” (p. 78) from I Wish I Had a Wookiee consists of nine
stanzas—one for each Star Wars movie. Each stanza starts and ends in
the same way and the lines in the middle talk about each film.
Write your own poem in the style of “Again!” by filling in the blanks below.
Remember that each stanza should be about a different Star Wars movie.
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I Wish I Had a Wookiee
Poetry Analysis
Choose one of the poems from I Wish I Had a Wookiee

and answer the following prompts about it.
Tit le T his p
P o em o em is abo
ut.. .
wo u l d Doe
n y s ta r s s th
How ma is p
em? r hy o em
e this po
y o u r at m e?
es
m ak
m
oe …
h is p feel
T e
m
L is t
wo a ny
r ds r hy
in t m in
his g
p oe
m.
e-
w som
Dr a t his
f r om
g
t hin m.
p oe
ABOUT THE BOOK
Inspired by the beloved world of Star Wars, this collection

of over 75 whimsical and original poems is a celebration of
childhood, creativity, imagination, and the early years of
Star Wars fandom.
In “My Pet AT-AT,” a ten-year-old dreams of playing

hide-and-seek and fetch with an AT-AT. In “Dad’s Luke
Skywalker Figurine,” a child opens their dad’s untouched
action figure but, instead of getting into trouble, helps
their dad rediscover his own sense of play. In “T-16
Dreams,” a little girl imagines herself flying through the
galaxy, the Empire hot on her trail, to help with her real-
world fear of flying.
I Wish I Had a Wookiee: Set in the hearts and minds of young children who love Star
And Other Poems For our Galaxy
Wars, and filled with the characters you know and love,
Poems by Ian Doescher
Illustrations by Tim Budgen I Wish I Had a Wookiee is the perfect gift for the young Star
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-59474-962-9 Wars fan—and the young at heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Ian Doescher is the New York Times best-selling author Tim Budgen is an illustrator and art teacher who
of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars® series, the Pop can usually be found with a pencil in one hand and
Shakespeare series, and MacTrump. He has written for a sketchbook in the other. He has worked on many
Marvel Comics and is a contributing author to the story children’s books for such clients as Scholastic,
collection Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View. He Hachette, and Simon and Schuster. He lives by the sea
lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family. Visit him on Hayling Island, England, with his wife, Julia, and
at IanDoescher.com. their pets, Baxter and Alfie.

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I Wish I Had

Texts From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

There was a yesterday

So we all outside to play.

was a rebel leader,

And I was Luke in my .

The neighbor were Empire troops,

Augusta, from across the ,

Was Vader, our retreat!

And soon our was done at last,

Augusta and the twins —

Advanced as our failed!

Oh, how we and felt unsteady,

Until Mom yelled, “ ”

We ran inside, the weather,

We about our snow day fun,

For some had lost, but all had .

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Choose one of the poems from I Wish I Had a Wookiee

Inspired by the beloved world of Star Wars, this collection

In “My Pet AT-AT,” a ten-year-old dreams of playing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

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