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Aug 23, 2011

Tween Tuesday: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

4 crispy & spicy snickerdoodles!

Cover Love:
Yes. I love the colors, the lightsaber and the adorable yoda!

Why I Wanted To Read This:
The whole idea intrigued me! And I kept seeing reviews that said tween boys needed to read this book. I have a few so I wanted to see if I thought they would like it. Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:
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.


I Kept Reading Because:
The author gave us a nugget in the beginning that I had to follow!

Romance?: A little tween one!

What I Liked (& Didn't):
I felt Dwight was so well written. I know several boys like this and while they are so annoying, they also just crave attention and friendship. The Dwight I know is tolerated by most kids, but not all of them. If he had a Yoda, it would sure help him out!

I was glad that we never got a definitive yes or no as to whether or not Yoda was real. We got a lot of good information and drew out own conclusions, just like Tommy in the book.

I loved the problems Yoda helped each of the kids with, so typical middle school!

All of the middle school kids were very well written. This is an author still firmly in touch with his tween roots!

As always with Amulet books, the design was wonderful. It was like reading through a messy boy's notebook. I loved the little illustrations sprinkled throughout. All of these little touches made the book easier to read and seem less like I was reading a book. This is what makes it attractive to that illusive group of reluctant readers!

To Sum Up: Touching and humorous. I will be booktalking this all year! Great for middle grade readers--boys and girls.

Book from my school library.



3 comments:

  1. Dang! Another one I have to read. LOL. :-0

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  2. This sounds so cute!!! I love the cover, you're so right, that yoda is the cutest!!!

    I'm with Shannon! Put it on the pile! This one sounds too good to pass on!

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  3. It was an awesome read for boys. The sequel Darth Paper Strikes Back just came out!

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