Friday, May 16, 2014

Review of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Welcome to Children's Book Week
 
 
Synopsis: "IT TAKES THE WISDOM OF YODA TO SURVIVED THE SIXTH GRADE

Meet Dwight, a sixth-grade oddball. Dwight does a lot of weird things, like wearing the same T-shirt for a month or telling people to call him "Captain Dwight." This is embarrassing, particularly for Tommy, who sits with him at lunch every day.

But Dwight does one cool thing. He makes origami. One day he makes an origami finger puppet of Yoda. And that's when things get mysterious. Origami Yoda can predict the future and suggest the best way to deal with a tricky situation. His advice actually works, and soon most of the sixth grade is lining up with questions.

Tommy wants to know how Origami Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. Is Yoda tapping into the Force? It's crucial that Tommy figure out the mystery before he takes Yoda's advice about something VERY IMPORTANT that has to do with a girl.

This is Tommy's case file of his investigation into "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda."


My Review: This was a little odd, and I am not really sure how to rate it. I am sure if I was a nearly teen boy this might be a whole lot more enjoyable (we will have to ask Munchkin in another 10 years or so). It is set up as a case file so has several different narrators but Tommy somehow stays the main narrator. The one thing I wasn't a big fan of was all the teasing, mocking and name calling by friends, but I am no stranger to the fact that this goes on all through school. I did however really like how it ended. I also like the fact that there are instructions in the back of the book on how to make your own origami yoda, a fun way to interact with a book.
 
My Rating: While the book wasn't quite what I expected, I do believe that it is a great book for the target audience.  I give it a rating of Three Paws.

2 comments:

  1. I have been curious about this book series for a long time now but still haven't made time to read it. You review does have me curious though to try it out and see if I'd like it.

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    Replies
    1. It was interesting but not what I expected. It is a very short read though only a couple of hours. I look forward to seeing what you think.

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