With books and paper in Minecraft you unlock a treasure trove of knowledge and power. In the real world they can take you to new creative heights and on fantastic journeys, in this PC adventure game though, they unlock a certain kind of magic. The items themselves are pretty much worthless on their own, but they remain a major stepping stone on the pathway to true power.
With these two items as a base players eventually can craft a Bookshelf and an Enchanting Table. And the more bookshelves you surround the Enchanting table with, the more powerful enchantments it unlocks. Sugar Cane is the key, as you’re going need bunches of it to make the Paper. From there you begin to start truly opening up the potential of Minecraft. But where to find Sugar Cane, and how do you make use of it? Let’s find out.
You just need to look near any water source, the Sugar Cane has a small chance of spawning on any sand next to water. So that makes desert biomes an ideal place to look. Once you have some, start saving it, you need three Sugar Cane to make three sheets of Paper.
You don’t need any special tools to collect the Sugar Cane, like certain Ores, so it’s very easy to get as much as you need. Be sure to save one piece and plant it on sand next to a water block. This will then slowly grow into a stalk that can then be replicated across multiple stalks. Also, be certain to never break the bottom stalk of Sugar Cane so it can keep growing indefinitely.
Once you have the paper, and a lot of it, it’s time to start making the books. The next step is to take that paper and pair it with a piece of leather. Be sure to have some cows penned in for this purpose, as the leather industry will come in handy later as well for other crafting. Three paper and one leather make a book. So for every run of Paper, you can make one book, assuming you have the leather.
Sometimes you can trade for paper, books and other items from villagers. So if you have some spare Emeralds, be sure to check any villages for traders with these items.
You will also likely want to have a stockpile of books completed and ready for assembling into a full bookshelf. Bookshelves in Minecraft are a big part of the game, mostly for enchanting your gear, and you will need a lot of them to make the best gear possible.
