These Little Literary Dioramas Are a Delightful Way to Display My Lego
Over the last five years of covering Lego for Wirecutter, along with many more years of collecting sets on my own, I’ve reassembled a 1,931-piece TIE Interceptor after dropping it on a cement floor moments upon completion; scored a mint, long-retired Scooby Doo Haunted Lighthouse on eBay for barely above the original retail cost; and bled from my left thumb after a marathon building session. (To be fair, it was winter, and my skin was already dry.)
Needless to say, I’m all in on Lego. But lately, in an attempt to curb a genetic propensity for maximalism, I’m trying to be more intentional about decluttering my living space. My love for bricks hasn’t diminished, but it does mean I’m keeping fewer Lego builds on display than I used to.
Books, however, aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. (You’ll have to pry the first edition of Geek Love from my cold, Lego-calloused fingers.) In a fortuitous bit of timing, summer 2025 saw the introduction of Lego Book Nooks, which allow me to keep Lego sets in my sight line but packed neatly away between novels and biographies, rather than let The Goonies adventure across my dining room table while Barad-dûr lords over them from the corner.
If you’re unfamiliar, book nooks are essentially miniature dioramas meant to be sandwiched between books on a shelf. They reveal a small scene, anything from a tiny greenhouse to an enchanted forest, and many are DIY kits. We recommend the Nook Tales Mini Owl Bookstore in our gift guide for book lovers.
Many book nooks have interactive elements, like tiny doors that open or lights you can turn on, but Lego has taken the concept a step further. Its book nooks open up and allow for a more expansive view of the world hidden inside. Essentially, a little wink at the function of an actual book.
So far, Lego has released three: Sherlock Holmes: Book Nook 10351, The Lord of the Rings: Balrog Book Nook 10367, and Book Nook: Hogwarts Express 76450. (The company really needs to standardize its naming conventions.)
I adore the two that I’ve built, and with countless literary themes to choose from, I’m hoping Lego Book Nooks will become an ongoing line, like Botanicals. And they’re an ideal mash-up gift for anyone who loves both books and Lego.
Baker Street comes to vivid life with five minifigs and plenty of secrets to uncover.
You shall not pass … up this opportunity to keep Gandalf’s epic battle on your bookshelf.
I’m chaotic neutral when it comes to book organization. I like to be surprised as I peruse my titles, and for a casual observer, this randomness allows Lego Book Nooks to easily blend into my shelves, especially if a guest is only giving the multicolored, multi-height spines a casual glance — though I couldn’t help doing a bit of intentional rearranging to get some Doyle-on-Doyle and Tolkien-on-Tolkien shots for this article.
In its closed position, the Lego Sherlock Holmes: Book Nook 10351 shows a sliver of Baker Street narrowing into the distance, with minifigs of Sherlock, Watson, Irene Adler, and a noncanonical informant/paperboy named Paige hanging about.
Removing the nook from a book shelf and opening it reveals a small trove of movable parts, like a closed door that slides open to reveal the dastardly Moriarty, a spinning shop window that shows off the contents of a bookstore, and the interior of Holmes’s office, complete with his violin and a painting of the famous waterfall where he (supposedly) met his end. Lego wisely didn’t include a tiny bottle of morphine.
Lego’s The Lord of the Rings: Balrog Book Nook 10367 is a much simpler set, presenting a showdown rather than a full showcase. The display depicts Gandalf’s sacrificial tussle with a demon of fire, a battle that allows his companions from The Lord of the Rings to escape as he uttered the line that launched a thousand GIFs: “You shall not pass!”
I initially found this set a bit dull to build; it has a lot of similarly shaded pieces that add up to what’s essentially a basic rectangular structure. The experience was a far cry from the joy of constructing Sherlock’s mysteries and all of its moving parts. But I love the end result — especially the way the Balrog’s wings unfurl when you open the display.
I haven’t built the third set in this series, the Lego Book Nook: Hogwarts Express 76450. This set differs from the others in that it splits in half so it can also serve as bookends, and that’s not what I’m looking for in a book nook. But owner reviews are good, and it costs $30 less than the other two.
I think it’s pretty genius of Lego to enter the book nook market due to the sheer amount of literary content that could translate beautifully into a buildable tableau. Off the top of my head, I can already picture a bureau that opens into a snowy Narnia from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Or silky spider strands that spell out “Some Pig,” dangling between barn rafters, from Charlotte’s Web.
Or how about a minifig and an abyss, locked in a gaze, from Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil? That one’s in the public domain, so Lego wouldn’t have to deal with any pesky licensing fees.
This article was edited by Daniela Gorny and Maxine Builder.
