Master Model Builder Alec Posta has teamed up with Chronicle Books to share some tips for tapping into the power of LEGO bricks. No, not in a “power a clock with a potato” sense, but more like “how to power through real life issues using LEGO as a source of inspiration.” Build Every Day is available from Amazon for $13.99 US, and the companion Master Builder Notebook can be had for $13.60 US. Read along as we take a look inside both books and see just what they have to offer!
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of these books for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Build Every Day
A Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Arizona, Alec Posta has the background necessary to bring some real insight to a book like this. Intended for a wide audience, this is a quick 96 page read. The hardbound book comes with a dust jacket, and the cover design on both is bright and colorful, with a more sedate design on the spine that meshed well with the other LEGO-themed books in my collection.
There are 22 chapters, and if you look at the page numbers, you can quickly deduce that they’re very quick reads at 4 pages each.
Well, “four pages” if you’re being generous. Each chapter starts off with a two-page spread of the chapter title.
Each chapter then gets two pages of text. The general format is some anecdotal storytelling from Alec followed by a “Build it” challenge. This works out nicely – the background stories are interesting, and he presents some insightful views on how the building challenges you can face can also be applied to challenges you face in your daily life. The “build it” challenges are good jumping off points to help get you past a block, or just a prompt to pick up some brick and get building if you haven’t in a while.
Master Builder Notebook
The second book we’ll be looking at today is the Master Builder Notebook. Best described as workbook and journal, this one also contains some trivia and building prompts.
The cover has an integrated wheel that lets you set the mood for your copy. You can select from “Master Builder in training”, “I’d rather be building”, or “Warning! Builds in progress”.
Inside, the first page invites you to fill in some contact information. I question if the “I just built” and “I want to build” entries are going to be valid for the life of the notebook, but whatever. Maybe I just take a lot longer to fill up a book.
The interior pages are grouped into sections of square grids, blank white space, and wide ruled pages. The text rotates through glossary terms like MOC and Jumper Plate, building prompts, and trivia. The trivia, shockingly, actually includes some pretty deep cuts.
Many of the pages are “goal oriented” – helping you plan out your creations. It’s pretty free-form, but seems easy enough to customize to your own style of building.
There are also big building prompts like “build a list of sets to design”, and even a bit of general advice mixed in in huge splash pages.
There are some odd bits, though. What age group is the “Sets I wished I still owned” list aimed at? Sure seems like a downer concept for an otherwise upbeat notebook, regardless.
Conclusion and recommendation
Build Every Day is a quick and easy read, intended for the 12 and up age group. It’s a bit light on content, but what is there is interesting and cheerful. If you’re looking for building techniques you’re going to want to look elsewhere, but the life advice presented here is all at least LEGO-adjacent. This book should appeal to both casual and hard-core LEGO fans, but it’s likely to be a read-and-put-on-a-shelf rather than a frequently accessed resource.
The Master Builder Notebook is more utilitarian – designed to be written in to help organize your LEGO projects. It would be a good fit for younger builders, and for those looking to bring a bit of structure into their creative time. Personally I’m not sure there’s a huge reason to use this book over a spiral-bound notebook or artist’s pad – but if you’re looking for a gift for a LEGO fan and you don’t want to give them actual bricks for some reason, you could do worse.
Build Every Day is available from Amazon for $13.99 US, and the Master Builder Notebook is available for $13.60 US. They may also be available from local bookstores, too.
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of these books for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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