Sonic Books in the UK

The UK had quite a few books, to go along with their prolific comic series. These included what look like short stories or mini-novels of some kind, several "Where's Waldo" style Sonic books and "Yearbooks", which are explained below. Many sites allows you to look up books that are out of print, or from any country by using the ISBN number. Use the ISBN #s combined with one of the links to the left to find them! If you can't order it from a book retailer online, try your luck at Ebay, also to the left.

Britain favors BOOK SERIES so expect to see more than 1 of almost everything! This is an important theme throughout the history of UK Sonic books!

Sonic Gear Main Merchandise
UK Sonic Books Page 2
UK Sonic Books Page 3

The Invisible Robotnik-
Publisher: Ladybird
ISBN: 0-7214-1739-6
Date: 1994
"The Invisible Robotnik" with "Awesome fold out picture". Which is hopefully not of invisible Robotnik. Ladybird Books had a whole series of these things. They are short stories, with mostly words on illustrated backgrounds. Info by Ota.

Blurb: Sonic the Hedgehog and Ladybird join forced to bring you some fast, furious, frantic and fun-filled radical action!

Summary: Robotnik decides to create an invisibility machine in order to turn himself invisible to stop Sonic. After scaring away the inhabitants of Mobius with his invisible actions, Robotnik realises that Sonic is too much of a match for him to handle even when invisible. All his plans fail and Robotnik ends up returning to visibility and destroying his machine. This story is fully illustrated in colour and takes place in the zones of Sonic 2.

Robotnik's Oil-
Publisher: Ladybird
ISBN: 0-7214-1740-X
Date: 1994
Blurb: Sonic the Hedgehog and Ladybird join forced to bring you some fast, furious, frantic and fun-filled radical action!
Summary: Robotnik discovers potential oil underneath the Aquatic Ruins Zone and sets up multiple rigs to mine for it. Annoyed at this, Sonic puts up a fight for the Zone's peace. Eventually Sonic redesigns Robotniks machinery resulting in Robotnik striking water instead of oil. This story is fully illustrated in colour and takes place in the zones of Sonic 2. Info by Ota.

Sonic the Hedgehog Robotnik's Oil book with "radical fold out picture" that is hopefully not of Robotnik's oil. This is obviously playing off an older book and possibly movie "Laurenzo's Oil" which is quite possibly boring.

In England, Virgin Books and Martin Adams did a series of 4 short story books. They don't seem to have inter-connected plots and they are NOT in comic book/graphic novel format. Each one has the "Back cover summary" provided by DarkWingUK. Thanks to the fans!

"Sonic In The Fourth Dimension" which looks like 'time' judging by the dinosaurs in the background. Were they thinking of Sonic CD when doing this one? It is by Martin Adams and published by Virgin Books.

"As part of his latest plan to rule Mobius, the dastardly Dr Robotnik is sending his robots back through time to change history. Sonic the Hedgehog - guardian of Mobius, hero to all and all around cool dude - intends to stop him. Hopping onto one of Robotnik's time machines, he zooms into the past. And that's when his troubles
really begin."

"Sonic and the Silicon Warriors" Apparently 'silicon' is very like 'chrome'. But oh well. You can look it up on the Amazon link to the left.
"Sonic's pals - even that feisty fox Tails - have been sucked inside computers, and infected with a disintegrator virus.Yes, that egg-crazy weirdo Doctor Robotnik is up to
his evil tricks again. And when Sonic speeds to the rescue, he comes face to face with the most ultra-mean of badniks from his favourite computer games!"
*Also note the unique and rather cute running Tails art at the bottom. The ear-interior is not colored white, but it is still a surprisingly good picture of him. These are not illustrated, but there is a 'flip book' style Sonic on the pages so if you flip thru it fast, he appears to animate. This is a clever touch.

The last in the series is called Sonic in Castle Robotnik. In the photo a traditional "Eggman" version seems to be holding a drill and a springy cord. Your screen does not decieve you, this photo really is blurry. Gear needs a better one!

"It's the FrankenSonic monster! In this, the fourth book in the series, Doctor Robotnik plots to defeat that pesky hedgehog once and for all - by building a bolt-together version of Sonic.Werewolves, vampires and mummies lie in wait for Sonic and his sidekick Tails as they venture into Robotnik's mountaintop castle for a cataclysmic confrontation."

Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Labratory
This is the first book in the series. A slightly altered stock art is holding a test-tube while some green face flies around in the 'chemistry set' background. Is he summoning the Green Goblin?
"Yo dudes, where'd everybody go! Why can't Sonic and Tails find their
friends? It's not long before the spiky sprinter realises that they're being held in the laboratory of Dr Ivo Robotnik: the maddest, baddest man in the whole of Mobius. Can Sonic rescue his friends in time? Or will the traps and mazes of Robotnik's laboratory prove too much for even this way-cool hedgehog to deal with?"

1991-1992 Year Book

I own this one! The yearbooks are filled with short comics, games, a 'Sonic diary', various fan events where a Sonic Costume poses with bands such as "Worlds Apart" and various sport and racing stars. There are also game ratings and reviews, for Sonic titles and others. The back cover is exactly the same as the front. Look this one up with
ISBN 1-85830-151-3

Year?

The yearbooks are compilations of work, so they arn't technically BY any one author. The 1992 one is published by Grandreams Limited.

Sonic The Hedgehog Activity Books

"Where's Sonic Now?" This time you can find Knuckles too. There is an American equivelent book, which was lost in the post and does not appear.
Where's Sonic Now?-
Publisher: Ladybird
ISBN: 0-7214-2542-9
Date: 1994
Blurb: Get smart - it's trouble! The coolest blue dude is back in town! Sonic the Hedgehog is hiding out on Angel Island and only sharp thinkers stand a chance of finding him. Sonic's best friend Tails, his arch-enemy Dr Robotnik and his fiendish opponent Knuckles can also be found in every amazing zone. But even then the hunt's not over, so start searching if you dare...
Summary: Where's Wally/Waldo format book. Each page is fully illustrated in Sonic style asking you to find 1 Sonic, 1 Tails, 1 Knuckles, 1 Doctor Robotnik, 10 Golden energy rings, 2 energy T-shirts, 1 pair of sneakers and 1 Chaos Emerald in each cluttered stage. Stages are over crowded with badniks for that zone, in which you have to find the characters asked for. This book follows the storyline of Sonic 3.
Info by: Ota.

"Where's Sonic" book. This started off the format with large hard cardboard cover, and wacky detailed pictures. Depending who drew them, they could be a visual treat. However, these are not that common a book to find.
Where's Sonic?-
Publisher: Ladybird
ISBN: 0-7214-3436-3
Date: 1994
Blurb: Sonic the Hedgehog and Ladybird join forced to bring you some fast, furious, frantic and fun-filled radical action!
Summary: Where's Wally/Waldo format book. Each page is fully illustrated in Sonic style asking you to find 1 Sonic, 1 Tails, 1 Doctor Robotnik, 1 Chaos Emerald, 2 Starposts, 2 TV monitors and 10 Golden energy rings in each cluttered stage. Stages are over crowded with badniks for that zone, in which you have to find the characters asked for. This book follows the storyline of Sonic 2. Info by Ota.

This is one of those 'electronic' interactive books. it says "7 Light and Sound Random Adventures" With symbols at the top, pages to turn, and probably a pen to jab at things with...this battery powered book looks like it helps you choose an adventure. This is uncommon.

Photo courtesy of Rhia of the UK

A large format "Coloring Poster Book". Which is like a coloring book, but it has pull-out pages so you can tape them to your wall when you're through. Another one by Ladybird books, this has a extra-large size pull out poster. It is likely to feature stock-art, but no interior shots are available yet.
Colouring Poster Book-
Publisher: Ladybird
ISBN: 0-7214-3437-1
Date: 1994
Blurb: Sonic the Hedgehog and Ladybird join forced to bring you some fast, furious, frantic and fun-filled radical action!

Summary: A book which is entirely made up of a pull out poster. One side is black and white lineart to colour in of each stage from Sonic 2. On the reverse is a full colour information poster on Sonic, Robotnik and Sonic 2 levels. The art is drawn, over stock. The poster is VERY large. Info by: Ota.

Here is a part of the poster, so you can see the quality of the art. As you can see, it's mostly stock-art, altered a little to create the scenes. Notice that Eggman has been replaced with Robotnik inside the flame thrower machine boss.

A pair of magazine covers during different eras of Sonic. Most fans collect a magazine if it has his picture on it, or a large enough feature. Magazines come in more handy than you think sometimes! What you may not realize as "Lost Levels" appear in preview shots, and they are a valuable look into the past when saved in a collection.

Continue at the library! More books on Page 2