Origami Yoda Analysis

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The Strange Case Of Origami Yoda by Tom Angle Berger (2010)

This book is a great example the popular fiction genre of children’s books. It is designed to appeal to the middle school aged child, which it does an excellent job of from the cover art, to the different fonts, and ‘rumpled’ look of the pages. While the Star Wars reference inherent in the Yoda and light saber may deter a few readers who are not fans of the movie, those who take the book off the shelve will be hooked from the opening line; The big question, “Is Origami Yoda real?” What young teen doesn’t wish they had a magic way to get answers to the many questions shared by kids across time - “Yoda, can you tell me how to hit a home run? I want to be a hero for once, right?“ or “Origami Yoda, why doesn’t Sara like me?“ Author Tom Angleberger gets right to the point in a straightforward, quick reading style that will keep the kids laughing and engaged. The dialogue is natural and suited to the characters. So much so that even adult readers will find themselves thinking back to middle school and remembering who a character reminds them of. Didn’t we all have a Dwight? The kid who was just plain weird? Angleberger’s references to Google and YouTube make today’s reader instantly able to relate. These same references will however eventually date the book, no one can be sure what the kids will relate to 20 years from now. The biggest draw back I see to the book is that its appeal from first glance is heavily slanted toward the male readers in the age group. I think girls, once reading it, will laugh just as hard and relate just as much but unless assigned the book in class, their odds of just picking the book off the shelve is significantly lower than for boys....

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...to enjoy in this comic style book. The passage of time is not necessarily well defined in this book, it seems to go really fast and then really slow. For me that aspect is somewhat annoying. The less traditional reader will enjoy the comic book style used here where the pictures are in many instances more important than the actual words which appear in thought bubbles on the page. The plot is not necessarily extremely obvious, but I find that, at least in my opinion, most comic books don’t really have much of a plot. I think the authors did a good job of staying true to the style of writing intended for this publication and the dialogue seemed completely in line with the cartoon characters. I am not a fan of comics, this book didn’t really change that for me, but I think that it is an overall good piece of literature for those who enjoy this style of writing.

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