Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Darth Paper Strikes Back

Darth Paper Strikes Back: an Origami Yoda book by Tom Angleberger. Published 2011.

I just read The Strange Case of Origami Yoda this summer and fell in love with it and was so happy to hear that the follow-up book just came out. I think what I love about these books are the heart of the tween characters. They're trying to figure out how to solve their own problems but they're still "childish" enough to try to solve it by asking advice from a paper Yoda. Its humorous, but also touching, how they embrace Dwight and his eccentricities without being sappy or melodramatic about it.

I think the first book might work for kids more because it really focuses on their ideas about whether or not Origami Yoda is real, but as an adult I really appreciated this follow-up. It had a sub-plot that dealt with school boards and Standardized Testing and budget cuts that I found really added something special on an intellectual level. Whether kids would enjoy it, I don't know.

In the words of Origami Yoda, "Read it, you must."

Interest level: Grades 3-6, Intended reading level: 4th Grade
Genre: Humor, fiction

Comparable Titles: Diary of a Wimpy Kid and other tell-all diary with illustration books

Book connections: origami folding book, Star Wars paper game

No comments:

Post a Comment