Bringing Books to Life: Take a Look Inside the Ultimate Minecraft Bedroom

Posted on 14 May 2015

Books are now so tightly entwined with other media it is often hard to remember what came first; the game, the book, the TV show, the film, the website. Anything which gets children interested in reading and recognising that books can deepen your knowledge and expand your world, is a big thumbs up in our books. Last year was the most successful year for children’s books since 2007, and this is largely to do with the might of Minecraft.

So, we were blown away when we were sent pictures of Tracy’s son’s Minecraft bedroom and asked Tracy if she would tell us the story behind the makeover and what got them started both with the books and with the bedroom!

So, whose idea was the bedroom?

We told the children we were moving home and as they weren’t very keen on the matter, we used the fact they could have ‘new bedrooms’ as a bit of a bargaining tool and my daughter chose a Frozen theme and my son chose Minecraft .

Lewis is 8 years old and was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder at the age of 5. The spectrum is huge and Lewis has what is more commonly known as Asperger’s. He has very little interests apart from his beloved gaming, and Minecraft has been his ’thing’ for around 2 years now. Given that he doesn’t own many toys as he doesn’t really play, we decided that the box room would be more suited to him rather than his sister (I think she could open up her own library in her room).

This left us with a difficult challenge as I’d never attempted anything like this before. I took to the internet and also read up on Minecraft to get some ideas.

Did you make all the Minecraft decorations yourself?

A friend of mine runs a company called Brokenpencil and we worked on turning the side of his wardrobe into a bookcase and boxes into blocks using printed vinyl. We used IKEA cubes named VALJE and FÖRHÖJA and the bookcase was a preloved wardrobe bought via Facebook.

The stone effect window blind is from Dunelm and the ottoman bed and bedding were from Argos. The bed/bedding is set to look like Steve’s bed from Minecraft and my son loves it!

The boxed picture frames are from IKEA and cost £3.50. I filled them with a printed background from the internet and a couple of spare toys he had lying around.The foam weapons were purchased via eBay along with the wall sticker and were all reasonably priced.

The room is painted in grey and is finished with one wall of red brick wall paper from B&Q.

What makes Minecraft so appealing to your son? My son loves Minecraft in every form – books, YouTube (under supervision) and playing the game. I think it’s a combination of the music, diversity (you can change the skins/players), the structures that he can build and the fact you can play with friends and also read up/look up ideas and share experiences. This has given my son a platform to talk to other children as it’s a very popular subject and has brought him closer to his peers.

The books were a natural progression as he was instantly drawn to them. He showed me things he’d already achieved using one of his books and also found new objectives for him and his sister to achieve.

How have you and your son benefitted and learnt from his experience of Minecraft both online and offline?

I have read with my children since they were babies and only very few books have ever really caught his attention. He seems to get involved when reading or showing me excerpts out of his Minecraft books. He wants to talk about it, he wants to read more and learn from them. My 6-year-old daughter on the other hand, loves to read and will read anything and everything possible. Her favourite author is Julia Donaldson.

Do you have an equally awesome book-themed bedroom? Send your photos to us at talktous@scholastic.co.uk