Spreading the Awesome: 10 Stars for The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

by Tom Angleberger

Amulet Books, 2010

I've been blogging about this great new book by local author Tom Angleberger.

I went to one of his book signings and blogged about it here.

He recently was on WDBJ7 for an interview. I linked to that here.

There was a great article about this book in The Roanoke Times.

But, I hadn't blogged about the book itself. Until today. My writing group friend, Angie Smibert, told me about blogging about a book that you think is awesome. It's called "Spread the Awesome" and we are supposed to blog about a book that deserves 10 stars. It's promoted by Elana Johnson. The big day is May 3, so I held out on my lovefest of this book until today.


Gist of the book: Dwight is a nerd and everyone knows it, but Dwight has this Yoda--an origami Yoda. Yoda gives advice and talks in that strange sentence structure that Yoda speaks in. The book is told from different character's points of view each giving their story about their encounter with origami Yoda and whether he really has powers. It's like a case file collection of Yoda and his advice and whether it worked or not. The whole book is filled with hilarious stories of what Yoda has done for each character and the healthy doubt that comes from believing a talking folded piece of paper.

Top Five Reasons I Love this Book:

1. It is hilarious. What is funnier than a nerdy kid carrying around an origami Yoda and giving advice to his friends? It's LOL funny.

2. Boys will love this book. I'm a teacher and I bought a "school copy" of this book from Scholastic Book Clubs. I do book talks about different books. I showed the video of Angleberger talking about this book, and showed them them the Roanoke Times article about it. The book literally flew out of my hands. I am taking my signed copy to school tomorrow (which I normally don't do) because so many kids want to read it. I also will be placing another Scholastic order for some more copies. And by the way, girls will love this book too.

3. The design of this book is kid-enticing. The cover jumps right out at you. The pages inside look crinkly--like some kid wrote his story, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can because he was so embarrassed. There are cool drawings and doodles throughout the book that make it fun and kid-like.

4. Angleberger is a master of characters. He makes these characters real and really nails the voice for each one. It would be difficult to write a distinctive voice for each kid that tells his story about Yoda, but he does it and does it well.

5. He's a local author. He writes for our local paper. I love seeing local authors become really successful. Need I say more??

Origami Yoda on the Local News

Yesterday, I spent 13 hours with my fourth graders going on a field trip to Charlottesville. Most of the time on the bus was spent making trash-runs up and down the aisles, but I did sneak in a few chapters of The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger, local author.

Several of my boy students saw the book I was carrying and started asking lots of questions. They were intrigued. I told them about Mr. Angleberger and how they should go see him at Barnes and Noble this weekend. He'll be at Barnes and Noble, Tanglewood, Roanoke on April 24, 2:00pm.

The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda is also featured in a recent Scholastic Book Club order, so I ordered a copy for my classroom library. After I finished reading it, I quickly wished I'd ordered multiple copies because just like Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, I won't be able to keep this book on my shelves.

This morning, I was getting ready for school and Tom and his book were being featured on WDBJ7. You can read the newsstory and the watch the video clip here.

What happens when I got into a bookstore...or the tale of the princess books

I went to Barnes and Noble today because they were doing teacher educator day and they were offering books for 25% off. And I knew that some local authors would be signing books, so I headed over with my three year old daughter in tow. She bypassed all the teacher "freebies" and headed straight for the "kids' section" as she calls it. That might really impress you, but she wasn't headed back to look at books, but rather to play with Thomas the "lead-infected" Train. She didn't even give me time to gather a few books to read while she played, so I limited her time. I did the count down--3 more minutes, 2 more minutes, 1 more minute, okay, say goodbye to Thomas.

We finally got to pick out a few books, and talk to the authors. Cece Bell was there with her Sock Monkey books. We just purchased her latest, Sock Monkey Rides Again, at the local art show. I also highly recommend her new board book, Food Friends. It's very simple, but it pairs common foods together (i.e. mashed potatoes and gravy, bacon and eggs). My three year old was "reading" it to herself after I read it to her once.

Cece was there with her husband, Tom Angleburger (aka Sam Riddleburger) of blogging and QuikPik fame. I got to meet the fellow blogger and get him to sign a copy of The Quikpick Adventure Society for me. I can't wait to read it.

But my daughter of course, wanted to find her own books. We already have all of Cece's books (which are age appropriate for her), so she found the things that were her height--Disney princess books. I know it serves me right for going to a big chain bookstore with their paid advertisement books facing out. So she picks up this princess book and INSISTS that we get it. Yuck! I say. Let's get something better--how about an Ed Emberley drawing book? How about How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? How about...

That stupid princess book made it's way to the cash register. Thank goodness it was cheap, but I still hate it. And you might think, so why didn't you just tell your kid NO! Well, I guess I'm also from the school that at least she loves books. As a teacher, parents complain to me all of the time that their kids aren't reading what they'd like to see them read. My response is always, "It's wonderful that they are READING. At least they don't refuse to read at all." I must take my own advice. We have hundreds of high-quality books in our home library. My daughter will still be exposed to the good stuff. I don't want to squelch her personal choice too much. I just need to have an arsenal of decent princess books that don't make me want to hurl. I love The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch and Do Princesses Really Kiss Frogs? by Carmela LaVigna Coyle. Help! I need some more STRONG girl titles for little three year olds who think they are princesses. I can't bear another Disney book!!!!