Mr. Boyer's Blog

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“Let go of your feelings. Hate and revenge to the dark side only lead.”

“New one you must make.”

“Mulked learn to spell you must. Forget not the T.”

These are only a few bits of advice given by a small hand-made finger puppet. Who would have thought that an origami finger puppet would have such a profound effect over a bunch of middle school students. This is indeed what happens in The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger.

Now that my Reading Circle group is done for the year, I needed something to read. After having purchased the sequel to this book at the school Book Fair, I figured I’d better refresh my memory on the first book in the series before starting the second one. I can say that i enjoyed it as much the second  time as I did the first time I read it. There were still some parts that made me laugh out loud.

The story is told through the point of view of Tommy, a sixth grade student McQuarrie Middle School. Everyday the school “nerd”, Dwight, sits with him and his friends at lunch. Dwight is a Star Wars fans and not very “popular” with the rest of the students in the school and most try to avoid him. All that begins to change when Dwight creates an origami finger puppet that looks like the Star Wars character, Yoda. Yep, that’s right, Yoda! He proceeds to wear it around the school and dull out advice using a Yoda voice.

When some of the advice comes true and starts to bring good luck to the students who asked it, more and more kids begin making decisions based on the advice given by the Yoda. Tommy is just dying to know what Yoda would say about a question that is burning on his mind. A question about a girl that he likes and wants to ask to the school dance, that little rascal. Think the Origami Yoda can help? Read the book. Written in the form of a journal, this book tells of the events that lead up to Dwight’s rise in popularity with his middle school classmates.

When I read this book, it makes me think back to my junior high days. Back then 6th grade was still in the elementary school, but I remember junior high/middle school quite fondly. I can relate to Tommy’s dilemma as I remember the stress of  those middle school dances caused because you wanted to ask a girl to the dance. I can remember the nerves I had wondering if Tamara Spaluk – name has been changed to protect the innocent – wanted to go to the dance with me or not. She did and we did, and like every middle school dance, I’m sure we all hung out with friends instead and maybe danced to one song.

I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series, Darth Paper Strikes Back!

Below, is a video about how to make yourself your very own origami Yoda. Just don’t make it in class.

How to Make an Origami Yoda

There are times and situations that come up in life that sometimes we have to take action to get what we want.

I have just finished reading the book “The Underdogs by Mike Lupica”. The main character in the book is a 12-year old named Will Tyler. Will wants nothing more than to play tackle football in the his area league. Because of a struggling economy, the city decides to cut their funding for the football program that Will so greatly loves, now he has nowhere to play. 

Image from www.betterworldbooks.com

With the thought of not having the chance to play football, Will decides to take matters into his own hands and in a last ditch effort, tries to find a sponsor for their football who would pay for equipment and fees into the league. Will finds that sponsorship in the form of an executive from New Balance athletic shoes. With money secured, Will’s sets out to find players to fill a team. Will meets a new girl in town, Hannah Grayson, who is a pretty good football player herself. 

The action sequences and the play by play details of the games in this book are those that will make someone want to cheer for Will and his team of small town kids. Readers will admire and want to root for Will simply because of his determination and perseverance through all the hardships that he has to overcome to fight for something that he truly loves, the game of football.

As I read the book, I had to admire Will for all the hoops he had to jump through to get a football team in his hometown. I wonder how kids in our community would handle a similar situation. Luckily for our community, we have a program in town, Salvation Army Football, that has been around for many years and thus has steady funding  and isn’t really in danger of shutting down. But what if it did happen? Would we have some kids who would show enough perseverance and be strong-willed (pardon the pun) enough to want to get it started on their own.

I really hope so!