If you ever invaded Minecraft’s strongholds, temples, and dungeons, you’ve undoubtedly uncovered dusty books stuffed in chests and bookshelves.
They can be an entertaining read or a useful enchantment tool. We show you how to make a book in Minecraft so you can author your in-game tomes.
You can create a book with a special message authored by you up to 50 pages. You can also create books containing enchantments that can be used on weapons and armor.
If you simply want decorative bookcases in your hideaway, you’ll still need a few books as ingredients.
Quick Answer:
The crafting recipe for a book is 1 leather and 3 pieces of paper. Place the ingredients into the crafting box.
(Other Minecraft hack: how to craft a bed?)
How to find a book in Minecraft?
You can obtain books from chests in stronghold libraries. Strongholds are not the easiest places to find as they are built underground but are massive in size and rewarding for what you can find in them.
The best strategy to find them is to use an eye of ender. This item will point you in the direction of the nearest stronghold. If you do not have an eye of ender you can always get the ingredients to make a book yourself
How to make a book in Minecraft?
Given below is a complete guide on how to craft a book, you can follow the steps to do so.
Using a crafting recipe is another way of obtaining a book in Minecraft. The player will first need to start by making a crafting table.
Each player starts off with a 2×2 crafting grid located in their inventory however this recipe is much more complicated and requires a 3×3 grid.
This is done by opening your inventory box (Pressing ‘E’) and placing 4 wooden planks into the 2×2 grid located in the top right corner.
You are able to use any type of Wooden Planks like oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, or dark oak.
Once you are done with this step you should see a crafting table appear to the right of the arrow. Right-clicking on the item will put your new crafting table into your inventory.
After you have completed the recipe you will need to equip the table to your hand. This is done by dragging the item to the bottom left row of your inventory box.
The last step is to place the item on the ground. To do this you will need to find an open area you will like the table placed at then right-click to put it on the ground.
Doing this will allow you to then click on the crafting table and utilize a 3×3 grid for crafting recipes rather than the default 2×2 from your inventory. Now that you have a crafting table to use lets craft a book.
Ingredients to make a book
1xLeather– You can get this ingredient as a dropped item from a slain cow, donkey, horse, llama, mushroom, or mule. However, for this guide, we craft leather using hide dropped by slain rabbits.
3xPaper – Paper is easiest to get from crafting. You will need to put 3 Sugar Cane in the bottom row of the Crafting Grid.
Sugar Cane itself is a little tricky to get, the best way to obtain them is from running around the Overworld and trying to find the item on the ground.
They are generally located near patches of Water on top of pieces of Grass or Dirt. Further information on Paper can be found at How To Make Paper In Minecraft.
Pro Tip: The sugar cane ingredient for paper is not the easiest thing to find naturally. Once you have found some it is useful to grow a sugar cane farm for yourself.
Craft your book
By right-clicking the crafting box a pop-up window will appear. The crafting recipe for a book is 1 leather and 3 pieces of paper. Place the ingredients into the crafting box.
You will need to put 1 paper in the bottom left, 1 in the middle left and one on the direct centre of the grid. The leather will go in the middle right slot.
Once this is done you will see the book item appear in the empty box to the right. Right-click on the book to transfer the item into your inventory.
Create your bookshelf
Open your Crafting Table. Place one wood plank block into each square in the top row on the crafting grid.
Place one book into each square in the middle row. Place one wood plank block into each square in the bottom row.
Drag the resulting bookshelf down into your inventory.
Enchant a book
This method requires an Enchanting Table, one crafted book, and three lapis lazuli. You can obtain the latter ingredient by mining lazuli ore — blocks speckled with blue flakes — found between 11 and 27 blocks below the surface.
Open your Enchanting Table. Place one book in the left square. Place three lapis lazuli in the right square.
You’ll see three enchanting options just to the right, each with a number displayed on the far right.
This number is the experience level you need to unlock and select the enchantment. If you don’t have enough experience, venture forth to kill mobs for XP and then return to the table.
Select an enchantment. You’ll need to move the cursor over the enchantment to decipher the language.
Drag the resulting enchanted book — still in the left square — down into your inventory. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 until you create the enchanted book you want.
Craft a book and quill
Place a book, ink sac, and feather anywhere in the crafting area to make a book and quill. Using this item opens an interface where you can type in a long message.
This recipe is not available in the pocket edition, or in some older console versions. To get feathers, kill chickens. To get ink sacs, kill the squid.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I write a book?
Craft a book first. Then, go into the crafting table and put a feather next to it. It should give you a book and quill. Just left-click it.
Where do you find sugar cane seed?
There is no seed, but you can find sugar cane growing in warm, sandy places near water.
Can I insert a map into a book?
No, you can only write in it.
How do I read a book in Minecraft?
Books are actually not readable in Minecraft. You can create them and have people write in them, but you cannot read them.
I am in PE and I can’t craft a book and quill. What do I do?
In pocket edition, it is not possible to make a book and quill at this point.