How to Make a Book in Minecraft

Co-authored by Zac Churchill

Last Updated: July 31, 2024 References

Books are simple to make, but the ingredients can be frustrating to track down. Once you have the materials, it's easy to set up your own farm so you never run out of paper and leather. Now let's get started so you can start planning out the library.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Minecraft for the Computer or Console

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1
Gather sugar cane. Sugar cane is a green reed that grows near bodies of water. It can be difficult to find on some worlds, but if you follow a coastline you should come across it. Break it with your bare hands or any tool to pick it up.
- Sugar cane does not grow next to frozen water. Look for it in warm biomes.
2
Start a sugar cane farm (recommended). Since sugar cane can be annoying to find, save some to plant before you turn it all into paper. Placing a piece of sugar cane on the ground will plant it, but it will only grow taller in the following conditions:
- It must be planted on dirt, sand, grass, or podzol.^{[1]
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- There must be at least one water block adjacent to the ground it is planted on.^{[2]
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- Note — to harvest the cane, just wait until it grows taller and break the top blocks. If you leave the lowest cane block it will keep growing.
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Fill one row of a crafting table with sugar cane (three in total). This makes three sheets of paper, which is enough to make one book.
4
Hunt for leather. Cows are usually not difficult to find, while horses spawn only in plains or savannah. Each one killed will drop 0 to 2 units of leather.^{[3]
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- You can also make leather out of four rabbit hides, or find it occasionally by fishing.
- If you want a steady source of leather, grow wheat and use the harvested stalks to lure cows into an enclosure. Offer a pair of cows more wheat to breed them whenever you're getting low on animals.
Place leather in one square and paper in three squares, anywhere in the crafting area. This makes one book.^{[4]
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Method 2

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Minecraft Pocket Edition

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1
Check your version number. These instructions assume you are playing Minecraft Pocket Edition version 0.12.1 or later. If you are playing an earlier version, be aware of the following changes:^{[5]
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- Before 0.12.1, books do not require leather to craft, but they also have no use in the game.
- Before 0.3.0, books do not exist.
2
Search for sugar cane. Sugar cane is a green reed that grows near bodies of water. You can harvest it with your bare hands. Once you find some, consider planting your own back at your base so you have a permanent paper supply. Sugar cane grows on sand or dirt adjacent to water.
- If you don't have enough cane to make the amount of paper you'd like, you can make it grow faster with bone meal.^{[6]
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Tap your crafting table and select the Paper recipe in the Decorations menu.^{[7]
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Each cow killed will drop 0, 1, or 2 pieces of leather. If you have Pocket Edition 0.11 or later, you can find it by fishing instead, but it is much less common there.^{[8]
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The Book is another item in the Decorations section of the crafting table menu.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Crafting Other Items with Books

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Combine six planks (top and bottom rows) with three books (center row) to make a bookshelf. Many players craft these blocks just for style, but they can also improve your enchantment results.
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Make an enchantment table. You'll need four blocks of obsidian (full bottom row and center square), two diamonds (left and right of center), and one book (top center). Using an enchantment table allows you to spend experience on special abilities for your tools, weapon, and armor.
- To make obsidian, divert flowing water onto lava. You will need a diamond pickaxe to mine the obsidian.
- Using enchanted books in minecraft allows a user to get random enchantments from an enchantment table.^{[9]
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- It allows a user to add more enchantments to previously enchanted items through the use of an anvil.^{[10]
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- Enchanted books can be acquired by the user through trading with librarian villagers.^{[11]
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3
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 pocket edition, or in some older console versions.
- To get feathers, kill chickens. To get ink sacs, kill squid.

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I write a book?

Wooduco

Community Answer

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.

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What about an Xbox 360?

Lily

Community Answer

Same way. All recipes remain the same across all platforms.

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Question

Where do you find sugar cane seed?

Community Answer

There is no seed, but you can find sugar cane growing in warm, sandy places near water.

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Tips

You can enchant a book to store an enchantment for later. Using an anvil, you can combine the book and another item to transfer the enchantment. This is a good way to get a single item with multiple good enchantments.

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You can also chop bookshelves to obtain books. They generate naturally in villages and strongholds.

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Books occur naturally in stronghold chests and in village and stronghold libraries.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you are creating story-driven maps with other players, you can use your books to show the rules, guides, and bios of all the characters.
Make sure to enchant some of the books you make so you can make your armor and swords work better.
You may be able to get a book or even an enchanted book by fishing.

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