I have been wanting to read this book ever since I first saw it reviewed when it was first published in the USA. Mostly because I thought the title was intriguing.
At first it seems like another American Middle school story, with the usual setting and character set. However the narrator Tommy is not only giving the reader his own view of events, but allowing other children to read it and add comments, drawings and their own views on the action. All of this is done in a range of different typefaces to help the reader work out who is speaking.
Tommy's friend Dwight is an oddball character who finds it difficult to conform to the expectations of middle school life. Dwight makes an finger puppet, an origami Yoda, who talks and offers advice to the children in the class about how to handle problems and difficult situations. The amazing thing is, the advice actually works! No-one knows for sure if Origami Yoda is real, or whether it's just Dwight making it all up - even his Yoda impression is awful, so how can the advice be so powerful? Tommy sets out to prove once and for all if Origami Yoda is real - or not.
Tom Angleberger has created a believable middle school with it's own set of pupils and teachers, including a truly scary Principal Rabbski. If you enjoyed the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, gives this one a try too. The second and third books in the series are available too Darth Paper Strikes Back and The Secret of the Fortune Wookie. I can't wait to see what happens next in book 4 (if there is one? Please?) Each book has instructions on folding your own Yoda, Darth Paper, and other characters. Definitely also worth a look is the website www.origamiyoda.com.
Read it you must.
