Erica Rogers: 'May the 4th be with you'

May the fourth be with you today.

That’s right, it’s Star Wars day. Some of you might be reading this and saying “There is a Star Wars day? What does that mean?”

Well, it means that on this particular day, May 4th (which sounds like the catch phrase from the movie “May the force be with you”) is a day for fans everywhere to celebrate all of the awesomeness that is the “Star Wars” franchise. This includes watching movies, going to parties, cooking foods that sound like Star Wars names, and just having some fun.

I love “Star Wars” for many reasons, but one of my favorite things is the fact that it spans many generations of people. I know a man in his 70s who knows more about the intricacies of the world of “Star Wars” than anybody I know. He can go on about all of the different variations of each R2-D2, because while he is the only character to appear in all nine of the movies, each movie has a unique robot.

I also know a lot of children who discover “Star Wars” every day, and their love lights up their faces. It’s now a phase that children go through … dinosaurs, firetrucks and “Star Wars.” It’s amazing. It is something that sticks with people as they grow up and become surly teenagers and eventually adults who all share the same love of a fictional world full of characters that are timeless.

This timeless love is perfectly paired with the library. We have things for all ages that are related to “Star Wars.” To start off with, we have all of the movies. We actually have multiple copies of each of them! We even have something that is called a fast flicks box, which has all of the original series movies in it that you can check out … and it only counts as ONE of your DVD checkouts.

“Star Wars” is more than just movies. We have extended universe stories that take place in the same universe, but outside of the movies. These books live in the juvenile, teen and adult collections. We even have picture books and books that teach children how to read and get excited about it. So no matter what your age, we have a “Star Wars” book for you.

If fiction isn’t what you are looking for, “Star Wars” also has cookbooks, with fun recipes themed around the galaxy far, far, away. There are also inspirational books such as “The world according to Star Wars,” which is about the impact of “Star Wars” on the authors life growing up. We also have copious amounts of non-fiction books that talk about all things “Star Wars” from the film history to identifying all of the ships and droids in the movies.

And if those STILL aren’t the books you are looking for, we even have “Star Wars” Shakespeare novels. That’s right, we have four novels that have translated some of the films into the language of Shakespeare. It’s pretty amazing to see the amount of effort that was put into these creations.

I love Star Wars because I love to see the joy that it brings to all generations. Sometimes it seems easy to only see the differences in people at different ages, but when it comes to “Star Wars” there is no age limit. It is one of the few things in life that really brings joy to people of all ages. Maybe it’s not your thing, and that’s OK …but for a lot of people, it’s pretty amazing. I can’t explain why, I just know that it is.

For all your “Star Wars” needs, and more, make sure to check out the Grand Island Public Library.