The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World's Imagination

An International Bestseller

“Absolutely essential reading for every LEGO fan.” —Blocks

The definitive history of LEGO, based on unprecedented access to the company’s archives and rare interviews with the founding family who still owns the company

"This book tells the story of how my family built the LEGO brand." —Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, former President/CEO of the LEGO Group and 3rd generation owner

It’s estimated that each year between eighty and ninety million children around the globe are given a box of LEGO, while up to ten million adults buy sets for themselves. Yet LEGO is much more than a dizzying number of plastic bricks that can be put together and combined in countless ways. LEGO is also a vision of the significance of what play can mean for humanity.

This book tells the extraordinary story of a global company and a Danish family who for ninety years have defended children’s right to play—and who believe grown-ups, too, should make the time to nurture their inner child. The LEGO Story is built on Jens Andersen’s unique access to LEGO’s own archives, as well as on Andersen’s extensive conversations with Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, former president and CEO of the LEGO group and grandson of its founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen.

A riveting cultural history of changing generations’ views of childhood and the importance of play, The LEGO Story is also a fascinating business case study of how innovation and creativity helped leaders transform LEGO from a small carpentry business specializing in wooden toys into the world’s largest producer of play materials and one of the most beloved brands in the world. Richly illustrated with never-before-seen photos from the family’s private archive, this is the ultimate book for fans of LEGO, revealing everything you ever wanted to know about the brand.

Based on rare interviews and unprecedented archival access, this is the story of a company built on one family’s belief in the power of play.

• A Family Business Saga: Built on extensive conversations with Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, grandson of the founder, this is an intimate look at three generations of innovation and perseverance behind one of the world’s most beloved brands.
• From Wooden Toys to Plastic Bricks: Follow the ninety-year journey from Ole Kirk Christiansen’s small carpentry business to the global toy company that produces billions of plastic bricks a year.
• The History of Play: Discover a riveting cultural history that explores how views of childhood and the importance of creative play have evolved over nearly a century.
• Unprecedented Archival Access: Go behind the scenes with a richly illustrated history, featuring never-before-seen photos from the founding family’s private archive.

Jens Andersen is an award-winning Danish author and literary critic whose works include acclaimed biographies of Hans Christian Andersen and Astrid Lindgren. He has a Ph.D. in Nordic Literature from Copenhagen University. Jens lives in Denmark and writes for several Danish newspapers.