Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Angleberger, T. (2011). The strange case of Origami Yoda. London: Amulet Books.

Dwight, an awkward junior high student, carries around a paper Origami Yoda on his finger. He tells people Yoda gives helpful advice. Seeing that Yoda has helped people, Tommy becomes curious about Yoda and decides to open a case file. He asks classmates to tell their stories of their encounter with Yoda. Some students tell Tommy about their experience where Yoda helped them get through difficult situations or decisions. However, some weren't sure about Yoda and his advice because his advice wasn’t helpful. Harvey is a student that thinks Yoda is ludicrous and the other kids are ridiculous for believing his advice has helped them. Harvey creates his own Yoda just to prove Dwight's Yoda cannot predict the future. Dwight's Yoda tells Tommy that Sara likes him and Harvey's Yoda tells Tommy she doesn't. At the school dance, Tommy realizes Dwight's Yoda is right and he and Sara like each other and start dancing. Tom Angleberger brings humor in a delightful way to this soft science fiction book. The language of the characters makes the book best suited for tween and middle school students. The way each character's personality is portrayed, the reader can reflect back and envision themselves as one of the characters when they were in junior high. Each chapter in the book is organized as Tommy's "case files" to help play up the "investigation" theme. To help enhance this theme, the text is made to look like old-fashion case files by using typewriter text and student's handwriting. The text is broken up by pictures, illustrations of objects discussed in the text, and doodling. I would recommend the rest of the Origami Yoda series by Angleberger as follow up books.