Ah, yes, the further adventures of the kids at McQuarrie Middle School. My son loves these books (there are 6 in total, so you’ll be hearing about all of them).
So Dwight, the creator of Origami Yoda, has been kicked out of school, and his mom put him in the local private school, at least for the rest of the semester. But he has sent something along to help his friends while he’s gone: the Fortune Wookie. A Chewbacca fortune teller thing. Remember those? They’re folded, you put it on your finger, then choose a number, move the sides, and then eventually you’d find out who you liked, or how many kids you’d have, or whatever was on your mind at that age.
Anyway, he apparently gave it to Sara, his neighbor, Tommy’s crush. The funny part is that all of the answers are in Wookie, so she also needs Han Foldo to translate. But Chewie’s advice is fairly vague, and certainly hit-or-miss.
Meanwhile, Dwight is having an interesting time at private school – the kids there are all about “understanding our differences,” and they understand Dwight a little bit too much. His friends at McQuarrie are afraid that Dwight might be becoming . . . normal.
There’s a little bit of a B plot about the school getting rid of electives and starting to teach to the state standardized tests that will be explored further in the next book – and it’s clear which side this author comes down on. Interesting developments. . . .
My kids have been lured into the gentle glow of the Origami Yoda series because OMG IT’S STAR WARS. I consider the series a one star reading experience, especially compared to most of the other books we’re currently reading (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, everything Ronald Dahl). The only upside is that it’s sparked an interest in origami and the authors youtube videos are cool and useful. But as far as bedtime reading goes? Meh.
That’s pretty much how I feel about it. My house looks like an origami factory – plus my boy did an “aeronautics club” at school last year, where he made a jillion different paper airplanes. He keeps raiding my printer for more paper!
Right now he’s reading the next book in the series (something about Jabba the Hut) to me, while I’m reading The BFG to him. He reads a chapter, then I do. Every night. I much prefer Dahl. He also wants to start on Harry Potter, about which I’m pretty excited.