Justina Ireland's A Test of Courage
I think this is the first of the middle grade High Republic books, so another good starting point. It’s set a little bit after the hyperspace disaster, but still in the early days of figuring out that there’s an enemy group opposed to the Republic/the Jedi and their expansion. But they’re vicious space pirates, so not super sympathetic, especially since the plot here involves them sabotaging a luxury space cruiser, leaving only four children/teens as survivors. Luckily one teen is a brand new Jedi Knight, another is a padawan, one child is a mechanical genius, and the other has survival training, so when they end up on a jungle moon, they just might make it out. There is also a self-actualized droid, which is my jam. This is middle grade so it feels kind of short, but I love Justina Ireland's writing and this was a super enjoyable read. A/A-.
