LEGO books are a great gift for kids and teens. Inspire creativity with these 10 fun books full of building ideas that are outside the box.
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We are big LEGO fans in my house.
We’ve had a LEGO-themed birthday party and organized our bricks by color and function. I think we have also borrowed all the LEGO books in existence from the Fort Worth Public Library.
We have also purchased several of our favorite LEGO books because they’re needed daily. Yes, needed. Our favorites all have one thing in common: big bright photos. How else can we recreate scenes from films and construct unusual creatures, like a space shark?
Here is our list of LEGO books your family needs in your own brick library. These are the best lego books for adults, teens, and kids of all ages!
The best LEGO books
1. The LEGO Ideas Book
by Daniel Lipkowitz, published by DK
As the name implies, The LEGO Ideas Book doesn’t have instructions, but it does have a lot of good photos. My kids are the make-it-up-as-you-go-along type, so that works well. If your child needs step-by-step instructions, this book might be a little frustrating. There are many close-up pictures though, and tips for adding specific pieces. This is especially helpful if you don’t have the exact piece pictured.
It covers a wide range of categories – transportation, buildings, space, kingdoms, adventure, and useful makes. So no matter what your little builder is into, they will probably find something here to like.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
2. LEGO Minifigure Year by Year: A Visual History
by Gregory Farshtey and Daniel Lipkowitz, published by DK
At first, the LEGO Minifigure book was more exciting for me than for the kids. It has every minifigure made from the beginning of time until it was published in 2013. We had a good time flipping through the ’80s and ’90s pictures and seeing which ones I had as a kid. For a collector, this book would be a gold mine.
After looking through the book though, both kids realized that they could use it to make up characters. One of the things that I think makes LEGO successful is that they reuse shapes. For example, the wizard from 1986 has the same hat as Gandalf in 2014. The colors have just changed.
Order this book from: Amazon.com
3. LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia
by Elizabeth Dowsett, published by DK
The LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia is really just an encyclopedia listing all the minifigures. There’s one character per page (over 200) and the images are huge. If you have the pieces though, that’s really all you need to build your favorite characters. This book is fun for Star Wars fans of all ages.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
4. Cool Creations in 35 Pieces
by Sean Kenney, published by Henry Holt & Company
The Cool Creations in 35 Pieces book is really the hidden gem of this list. It isn’t authorized or official. However, it has pages and pages of simple creations that don’t need instructions. As the title suggests, each LEGO creation can be built with about 35 pieces.
My son spent hours flipping through this book and making a lot of the creatures. There are lots of categories too: vehicles, spaceships, home accessories, animals, nature, robots, and more. He spent a lot of time making different aliens and robots, most of which used only a dozen pieces. We initially picked it up at the library, but I put it on my shopping list for his birthday.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
5. Cool Castles: LEGO™ Models You Can Build
by Sean Kenney, published by Henry Holt & Company
Since I first wrote this blog post in 2014, I discovered that Sean Kenney has come out with a series of themed LEGO building books including Cool Castles.
Order this book from: Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
6. The LEGO Technic Idea Book: Wheeled Wonders
by Yoshihito Isogawa, published by No Starch Press
We don’t have any LEGO technic kits, so if you do you might like The LEGO Technic Idea Book even more. It has several complicated machines that you can build using those specific pieces. I’m including it in my list because it was inspirational.
My son loves building machines that do something. He is great with spaceships, vehicles, and – I don’t even know what to call them – puzzles, maybe. He took some of the ideas from this book and made some doors that open and close, and cogwheels that turn one another. Right now he’s seven, so an older child would probably enjoy this even more.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
7. The LEGO Neighborhood Book: Build Your Own LEGO Town!
by Brian Lyles, published by No Starch Press
If you or your kids enjoy building tiny detailed neighborhoods and villages, The LEGO Neighborhood Book is packed with great ideas. It includes some technical tips on choosing color schemes, planning your layout, and other details.
The rest of the book is filled with photos and step-by-step instructions for building a few buildings. Once you’ve gone through some of the tutorials and learned how to recognize LEGO shapes in the real world, you’ll be creating your own custom buildings.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
8. The LEGO Neighborhood Book 2
by Brian Lyles, published by No Starch Press
After you’ve built a few buildings from the neighborhood book I mentioned above, you can up your tiny town game with The LEGO Neighborhood Book 2.
This one is a continuation of the first one but has more architectural features. You’ll find a lot of specific styles (like Art Deco) and instructions for details like furniture and appliances.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
9. 365 Things to Do with LEGO Bricks: Lego Fun Every Day of the Year
by Simon Hugo, published by DK
If you are looking for a great all-purpose LEGO book for a wide age range, I love 365 Things to Do with LEGO Bricks. It has so many ideas and tutorials for things to build beyond classic structures.
The 20+ chapters include tricks and pranks, single and multi-player games, art, puzzles, storage, and party decor.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
10. How to Build LEGO Dinosaurs
by Jessica Farrell, Hannah Dolan, Nathan Dias
LEGO has an official series of building books and they’re all really fun. I’m a fan of How to Build LEGO Dinosaurs, but you can also find cars, houses, animals, and robots.
Each book includes instructions for building 30 creations. They’re not as detailed as the instructions that are included with a set, so I’d recommend this for older kids who have a solid understanding of how to build LEGO with only 3 to 5 steps pictured.
Order this book from: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
New LEGO book for adults
There’s a new LEGO book for adults coming summer 2024! The Force of Creativity celebrates the 25th anniversary of LEGO® Star Wars™ building sets. It’s a big coffee table book, over 300 pages. It includes history, interviews, and tons of photos behind the scenes of LEGO’s creative process.
Order this book from: LEGO.com
What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
Thank you for sharing your ideas. The Lego display shelf is great.