Overview from Barnes and Noble:
In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages , Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Dwight’s classmate Tommy wonders how Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. With contributions from his puzzled classmates, he assembles the case file that forms this novel.
My thoughts:
This book was a fun, easy read that gets young readers engaged and laughing while showing social interactions. Middle school can be a scary time, transitioning to being more independent and having more chances to embarrass yourself, like school dances, and can cause quite a bit anxiety. I liked how these boys handle it with the help of a finger puppet that may, or may not, have magical powers. Each chapter in this case file is written or recorded by different students in the same middle school and they each have their own, distinct voice.
I checked both the hardcover and the audio book out of the library, I read through the book on my own and then played the audio in the car for my children. My older two have already read it on their own as well. It is fun to hear them laughing along with the story and repeating silly lines. It reminds me a bit of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, but in a good way. I think that it is great that it is mostly told from a male perspective as I've found it can sometimes be harder to keep boys interested in reading for fun. It is amusing enough that adults aren't going to bored either!
Product Details
- ISBN-13: 9780810984257
- Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
- Publication date: 3/1/2010
- Series: Origami Yoda Series , #1
- Pages: 141
Meet the Author
Applying for a job as a newspaper artist, Tom Angleberger was mistakenly assigned to cover local government meetings. Fifteen years and countless town council meetings later, he is still writing instead of drawing, currently as a columnist for the Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia. He began work on his first book while in middle school. Tom is married to author-illustrator Cece Bell. They live in Christianburg, Virginia.
