The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda

Angleberger, T., & Rosenstock, J. (2010). The strange case of Origami Yoda. New York: Amulet Books.

“Weirdo” Dwight says and does odd things until he creates an origami version of the Star Wars character, Yoda. “Yoda” starts predicting things. He also makes some wise statements, which is not like Dwight at all. The focus is on Origami Yoda and Dwight, but Tommy tells the story. He struggles with the question of whether Origami Yoda is real or not. There are lots of small drawings that enhance the book. This book will be especially popular among 12-18 year old boys because of the connection to Star Wars. In reality, the novel isn't connected to Star Wars at all. The rotation of first person dialogue enhanced the book and made the other characters just as memorable as Dwight. The characters in this book are very stereotypical of nerdy high school boys, but it totally works. The vocabulary used was right on target for this. He used words like "fart-face, bejeezus, crap, idiot, and jerk" which is exactly how teenagers talk.  Writing like a teenager makes the book and characters more meaningful to the reader, especially the teenage reader.