REVIEW & CONTEST – WIN YOUR VERY OWN COPY! Today I would like to show you a new book for LEGO fans called The LEGO Ideas Book – Unlock Your Imagination. This is the second LEGO book I have received from DK Publishing, the first being the LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia that I have reviewed yesterday. (And yes, you can win your very own copy of both books – read on to find out how.)

Let me give you the official description first and then I will go into details about the contest. Here is the publisher’s blurb about The LEGO Ideas Book. Check it out:

You have what it takes! Did you ever wonder what you can do with all of those LEGO bricks after you have created the project they came with?

 Now with The LEGO Ideas Book, you can take what you already have and make something new! The book is divided into six themed chapters—transportation, buildings, space, kingdoms, adventure, and useful makes—each with basic templates of key models and spreads to inspire you to create your own.

Hints and tips from Master Builders can help you turn your classic car into a race car or add a bridge to your castle! Don’t be concerned if you haven’t got all the bricks you need: this book also shows how to simplify details, making this a great user-friendly guide for any building ability.

Featuring all-new LEGO building projects, tips to supplement and enhance your LEGO creations, inspirational builds, and expert advice from LEGO Master Builders, The LEGO Ideas Book will keep kids of all ages creating for hours.

• Unlock Your Imagination!
• Be inspired by LEGO fan builders to create amazing LEGO models!
• The LEGO Ideas Book is a visual treasury of building ideas, tips, and tricks to inspire your very own brick creations. Inside its pages you will find medieval castles, intergalactic spaceships, dastardly pirate ships, soaring jet planes – and much, much more!
• Discover building ideas to suit all abilities and ages – Learn new ways to approach building with LEGO bricks – Unlock your imagination and become a better LEGO builder!

And now my thoughts on The LEGO Ideas Book: This book works well both as a practical reference book for LEGO fans as well as a coffee-table book just for browsing and reading. It is large, hard-cover, and beautiful. I would say that the book is best suited for older kids and adults who are interested in advanced and interesting LEGO building ideas and techniques. The large pictures and minimalist text can be enjoyed by younger kids as well, but they will likely need adult help with building any of the models.

Please note that the intent of this LEGO book is to inspire and get you thinking about LEGO building in different ways that you might have been accustomed to. It is a great book to stimulate, exercise, and stretch your creative muscles. The book does not give building instructions about the featured LEGO models. However there are detailed photos and description of the techniques used for each model, so with some thought and effort you can build them. I actually really like this feature of the book as it makes me think!

Just like with other LEGO books published by DK Publishing, the layout and the design of the book are excellent! The book is divided into 6 chapters:

• VEHICLES: cars, trucks, trains, planes, helicopters, boats (featured LEGO models by Barney Main)
• BUILDINGS: houses, train stations, country barns, bridges (featured LEGO models by Deborah Hidgon)
• SPACE: space-ships, moon-buggies, robotic vehicles, aliens (featured LEGO models by Tim Goddard)
• CASTLES: castles, draw-bridges, traps, wagons, dragons, cannons (featured LEGO models by Sebastiaan Arts)
• FANTASY: pirate-life, Viking-life, wild animals, robots (featured LEGO models by Duncan Titmarsh)
• PRACTICAL MAKES: desk organizers, displays, picture frames, mosaics, board-games (features LEGO models by Andrew Walker)

The book is written by Daniel Lipkowitz, author of a previous bestseller; The LEGO Book. Daniel writes for LEGO Master Builder Academy and the LEGO Club Magazine. He also creates characters and storylines for new LEGO themes, and writes scripts for animated LEGO movies and videos. Check out this virtual flip-thru of the LEGO book from Parka Blogs:

What I like most about this LEGO book is that it features the creations of LEGO fans, rather then company employees. At the end of each chapter, there is a Meet the Builder section, where you can learn a bit more about each of them. They answer questions like “How old were you when you started using LEGO bricks?”, What are you inspired by?”, “What is the biggest and most complex LEGO model you’ve made?”, “If you had all the LEGO bricks (and time!) in the world, what would you build?”, “What are some of your top LEGO tips?”

I highly recommend this book for any serious or even causal LEGO fan! It is absorbing, interesting and inspiring! Also, you can’t go wrong with giving this as a gift to someone who likes LEGO! You can buy the book on Amazon here (on sale right now for $13.99 – regular price $24.99): The LEGO Ideas Book on Amazon

And now about the LEGO contest and winning your very own copy of The LEGO Ideas Book! DK Publishing was kind enough to set aside for our readers three copies of both the LEGO Star Wars Encyclopedia and the LEGO Ideas Book for a little contest and fun. See my review on the LEGO Star Wars Encyclopedia with the second contest. The third contest is at theBrickBlogger’s Facebook Page. Yes, you can enter all three contests! Here is how the contest works:

THE LEGO IDEAS BOOK CONTEST

➡ HOW TO ENTER: In the spirit of The LEGO Ideas Book lets play with the same question as the books featured LEGO fans did. Simply complete the following sentence in the comment section below:

• If I had all the LEGO bricks and time in the world, I would build…

➡ WHAT ARE THE RULES: Nothing difficult; just complete the sentence. Keep common-sense courtesy and manners otherwise your answer can be as serious or funny as you want! Have fun!

➡ HOW TO WIN: Contest will run from now until Sunday, November 27th at midnight US EST. Once the contest is closed I will ask my little sister to pick a number between however many comments are there. (So if there are 100 comments I will ask her to pick a number between 1 and 100. Don’t worry; she is old enough to know her numbers!) Whichever number she picks is the winning comment.

➡ WHAT YOU WIN: The winning commenter will receive two books: the LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, and The LEGO Ideas Book.

➡ HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR PRIZE: If you are the winning commenter I will contact you by email. Please make sure your email address in your comment is correct! You send me your shipping address (no PO Box please) and DK Publishing will send you both LEGO books. Best of luck! 😉

LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Brick configuration and the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group. © 2011 The LEGO Group. Produced by DK Publishing under license from the LEGO Group. © 2011 Lucasfilm Ltd. ® & TM All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.