The LEGO Build Your Own Adventure book series by DK Publishing has been very popular with young and old LEGO fans alike. They include stories, building ideas, and LEGO bricks to build some of the models from the books. For kids, they are great for learning to read and build at the same time, and also ignite the imagination with seed ideas. The books also carry well for travel. They come in a slipcase that contains a normal hardbound book and a separate compartment for LEGO parts. Adult LEGO fans and collectors also like the books because of their high quality, and because they are basically unique LEGO sets.
So far, there has been eight books in the series; the LEGO Ninjago: Build Your Own Adventure and the LEGO Friends: Build Your Own Adventure from 2015, the LEGO Star Wars: Build Your Own Adventure and the LEGO City: Build Your Own Adventure from 2016, the LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Build Your Own Adventure and the LEGO Nexo Knights: Build Your Own Adventure from 2017, and the LEGO Disney Princess: Build Your Own Adventure and a new LEGO Ninjago: Build Your Own Adventure from 2018. This year, we are getting two more books; the new LEGO Star Wars: Build Your Own Adventure is not yet released but can be pre-ordered, and the LEGO Harry Potter: Build Your Own Adventure is already available.
We talked about the previously released titles in the series previously (see links at the end of this post), so today we will only discuss the recently released LEGO Harry Potter: Build Your Own Adventure book. Just like the previous books, the LEGO Harry Potter: Build Your Own Adventure book comes with a slipcase that keeps together the hardbound book and a separate compartment for LEGO parts. This book also includes a poster and a couple of bookmarks, which are a nice surprise.
The book itself is 80 pages long, and features building instructions for two alternate models; a Sorting Hat spinner, and a revolving fireplace. These can be built from the included LEGO pieces. The other projects featured in the book are seed ideas that you can build and expand on from pieces of your own LEGO collection. There are also little dialogues and stories to make the book more interesting and tie the builds together. DK Publishing is known for their high quality books with sturdy paper and brilliant printing, and the books in this series are no exception.
The separate compartment for the included LEGO pieces is basically a shallow cardboard box. Again, the box is high quality with nice printing. Inside the box, you will find all the building pieces (about 100) and a Harry Potter minifigure. The minifig is not exclusive, but the Sorting Hat is a rare piece that so far only appeared in one regular set; the #75954 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Great Hall. In addition, the book comes with four printed 2×2 tiles with the Hogwarts House crests. These are exclusive to the book and do not appear in any regular LEGO sets.
I have always been fond of the LEGO Build Your Own Adventure books, and this latest addition doesn’t disappoint either. The stories, the featured models, the included pieces and minifigures are all carefully selected and brought together into a high quality item that’s worthy of both the DK Publishing and LEGO brand names. Below is the official description of the book.
Conjure your own magical world with more than 50 ideas to inspire your own LEGO Harry Potter models. Plus, a Harry Potter minifigure and all the bricks you need to make an exclusive 2-in-1 LEGO Harry Potter model! The perfect gift for a LEGO Harry Potter fan, LEGO Harry Potter: Build Your Own Adventure features model ideas and expert build tips to help you recreate classic movie moments from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Send Hogwarts letters flying in the Dursley’s living room. Explore Diagon Alley with Harry and Hagrid. Cook up a Halloween feast in Hogwarts’ Great Hall. Build your own wizard chessboard and Devil’s Snare plant. Exclusive LEGO Sorting Hat spinner model can be rebuilt as a magical, revolving fireplace. LEGO Harry Potter Build Your Own Adventure also contains Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore bookmarks and a fun poster. Recommended for ages 6 – 9 years. Hardcover, 80 pages, dimensions: 8.9 x 1.7 x 10.8 inches. Regular price: $24.99 – BUY ON AMAZON
As I mentioned above, the new LEGO Star Wars: Build Your Own Adventure book won’t be available until August, but you can pre-order it on Amazon. Here is the official description: Want more ideas for LEGO Star Wars( models to build? You need this book with bricks that inspires children to build, play, and learn all about the LEGO Star Wars universe. LEGO Star Wars Build your Own Adventure: Galactic Missions combines action-packed story starters with more than 50 fun ideas for building. Once you have built new creations, play out exciting adventures of your own using your personal LEGO collection. Use your favorite Star Wars minifigures to complete five top secret missions! This book comes with a minifigure and the bricks to build an awesome exclusive vehicle that features in the story. Recommended for ages 6 – 9 years. Hardcover, 80 pages, dimensions: 8.9 x 1.7 x 10.8 inches. Regular price: $24.99 – PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON
The regular price of the book appears a little high, although in my opinion totally worth it, and you can almost always find them cheaper on Amazon. Here is a list of all nine books in the collection that were released so far, with links to their Amazon pages:
- LEGO Ninjago: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Friends: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Star Wars: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO City: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Nexo Knights: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Disney Princess: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Ninjago: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Harry Potter: Build Your Own Adventure
- LEGO Star Wars: Build Your Own Adventure (pre-order)
What do you think? Do you have any of the LEGO Build Your Own Adventure books? How do you like them? And which one is your favorite? Did you build any of the suggested models found in the books? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!
And you might also like to check out the LEGO Books section for more book reviews, or select from the following related posts:
- Build Your Own Adventure – New LEGO Books (Ninjago & Friends)
- Build Your Own Adventure – More LEGO Books (Star Wars & City)
- LEGO Build Your Own Adventure More Books (Super Heroes & Chima)
- Collecting LEGO Books – Intro to a Fun Hobby!
My kids love these books! Their favorites are the Ninjago, Star Wars, and Super Heroes titles. Eventually, the bricks get mixed up with other sets, but oh, well. The books are still great for ideas.
We like these books too. The alternate builds and inspirational ideas are just the right size for younger builders. And hey, as long as my kids read, I’m happy.
Hmm, that Harry Potter book looks a little interesting with two alternative builds.
Otherwise, I liked the old DK Brickmaster books with alternative builds. Particularly the Star Wars books.
We started collecting these books from the early brickmaster days. Got lazy and haven’t kept up with all of them, but it’s good to see they are still around. Two books a year is not bad. I might get back to collecting them.
I think the books were better during the Brickmaster days. More bricks included, and more models you could actually buy with the bricks included.
Although I guess it could also depend on which minifigs and themes you’d be interested in. Myself, I might possibly buy a book with a unique Spider-Man villain minifig or something…
I think I liked the old Master Builder version of the books a little bit better. You could just open the book and all the bricks were there. Sometimes the book got a little beat up, but the setup was convenient. I understand why they switched to the new format though. It keeps the book in better condition.
I haven’t seen these books for a while now, but we had so many bookstores close in the past few years. I’m glad that the books are still around. Might pick one up on Amazon for Christmas.