Amulet Books, 2010
I've been blogging about this great new book by local author Tom Angleberger.
I went to one of his book signings and blogged about it here.
He recently was on WDBJ7 for an interview. I linked to that here.
There was a great article about this book in The Roanoke Times. But, I hadn't blogged about the book itself. Until today. My writing group friend,
Angie Smibert, told me about blogging about a book that you think is awesome. It's called "Spread the Awesome" and we are supposed to blog about a book that deserves 10 stars. It's promoted by
Elana Johnson. The big day is May 3, so I held out on my lovefest of this book until today.
Gist of the book: Dwight is a nerd and everyone knows it, but Dwight has this Yoda--an origami Yoda. Yoda gives advice and talks in that strange sentence structure that Yoda speaks in. The book is told from different character's points of view each giving their story about their encounter with origami Yoda and whether he really has powers. It's like a case file collection of Yoda and his advice and whether it worked or not. The whole book is filled with hilarious stories of what Yoda has done for each character and the healthy doubt that comes from believing a talking folded piece of paper.
Top Five Reasons I Love this Book:
1. It is hilarious. What is funnier than a nerdy kid carrying around an origami Yoda and giving advice to his friends? It's LOL funny.
2. Boys will love this book. I'm a teacher and I bought a "school copy" of this book from
Scholastic Book Clubs. I do book talks about different books.
I showed the video of Angleberger talking about this book, and showed them them the
Roanoke Times article about it. The book literally flew out of my hands. I am taking my signed copy to school tomorrow (which I normally don't do) because so many kids want to read it. I also will be placing another Scholastic order for some more copies. And by the way, girls will love this book too.
3. The design of this book is kid-enticing. The cover jumps right out at you. The pages inside look crinkly--like some kid wrote his story, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can because he was so embarrassed. There are cool drawings and doodles throughout the book that make it fun and kid-like.
4. Angleberger is a master of characters. He makes these characters real and really nails the voice for each one. It would be difficult to write a distinctive voice for each kid that tells his story about Yoda, but he does it and does it well.
5. He's a local author. He writes for our local paper. I love seeing local authors become really successful. Need I say more??
11 Comments on Spreading the Awesome: 10 Stars for The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, last added: 5/5/2010
A month or so ago I won an advanced copy of Michael Hemphill’s and Sam Riddleburger’s STONEWALL HINKLEMAN AND THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN from 100 Scope Notes.
The premise of this book for the 5th-8th grade set is that 12-year-old Stonewall, who’s less than enamored of his parents’ Civil War reenactment obsession, gets sent back in time to make sure the war turns out more or less the way it actually did — despite the interference of a time-traveling neo-Confederate. (No, really.)
So it’s basically a fun way to explain to kids what happened at Bull Run. And it is a fun, and well-done, book in a lot of ways — particularly, in Stonewall’s voice and his sardonic commentary on the reenactments.
The problem, though? It’s fundamentally trying to eat its cake and garner congratulations for its abstinence from dessert, too.
What I mean is, Hemphill and Riddleburger make a big point of putting their book on the side of the Union army’s ultimate victory. Well, uh, that’s good. And actually, the most interesting part of the book is probably the slave boy character. The authors have Stonewall try to interact with him like any other 12-year-old, and the slave, whose name is Jacob, just patronizes him like he does every other white person around, which is, of course, how he survives. I’m really glad they didn’t go for some lame feel-good development where Jacob comes to understand that Stonewall isn’t like all the other white people who are casually determining his future.
But. The book’s real hero is… Stonewall Jackson. A Stonewall Jackson who has magically lived through the intervening centuries and turned into a hippie who sees how wrong he was… so we also see what a great guy he was, even though he was really wrong on this one little issue of slavery that was the defining question of his time, and killed a ton of people defending it and other details like that.
And I’m all, come on.
Because I think what Hemphill and Riddleburger (Virginia residents both) are really trying to do is attach themselves to some piece of Confederate nostalgia for Southern “heritage” while disclaiming its racist implications. And I just don’t think they can do that. I’m certainly not saying they’re racists… I’m just saying they’re liberals who are against racism but also seem to want to avoid pissing off some frankly racist parts of the book market and get their book taught in Southern classrooms. Which is, though not just as evil, at least a little bit as annoying.
Posted in Race and Racism, Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run
I received an email a while back from someone asking how I get my watercolour effects. Specifically, the granulation. Difficult one, as I have been mucking about with paint ever since my old dad got me my first basic Reeves box, when I was about four. So it's kind of second nature, precocious though that may sound. I break the 'rules' about mixing different kinds of paint (I do, frequently - gouache and watercolour) and I sometimes use old, and often dried up paints, frequently getting bits of dust in the wash. But somehow granulation always occurs in my washes, even though I hadn't heard of the term until a few years ago when someone told me I was doing it.
The main thing is, I watch my washes hawkishly, like a chef minds his (or her) sauce. This painting already has already two flimsy and dried washes. They go down loose, like liquid tissue paper...
...and when it is finished to my satisfaction, I get it levelled (or I might prop it a little, to push the darker paint into the shadow area) and watch it dry. It has to dry evenly, and naturally. No hairdryer. Ever. The upper photo shows the evaporating, dulling wash in the bottom right corner. This is what I watch, to check it is not drying too hard into the wash, which might create a tide mark. If it is going too fast, I might tip the board, or put a bit more water in, to coax and blend it into the existing one. It's a matter of squinting sideways and judgement. Then acting quickly and confidently if action needs taking.
The granulation; basically a speckledy finish. And below, just to the side of the window, the pigment in danger of drying into a slight trough. If it is left it will create a darker line - so I tilt the board gently this way and that, to even it out.
After about 40 minutes of babysitting it, I popped down to make some tea, and returned to a minor hiccup - the dark area had dried unevenly, resulting in a nasty little blotch.
Somewhat late for surgery, but some careful tweaking just about sorted it. Luckily it's in the shadow area where I will be putting in some pencil work, but I don't loose too much sleep over little mishaps - it's all part of the process. You can't teach this and the most disappointing answer I give - in reply to most things, not just painting - is it takes time, trial and error, which results in experience. Making mistakes and waiting are sometimes the best way to learn. Putting the time in can seem boring - but I don't have a magic, instant solution, and it works for me.
Great review, Marcie. I'll have to get the book!
Awesome! Another boys book!
Omgosh...this sounds so funny. Really, you had me at the title!
This sounds and looks hilarious! Seriously, if the book is as good as the cover, I'll be in heaven when I read it.
I have never heard of this book. How is that possible, it looks fantastic! I'll blame it on its newness. Thanks for letting us know about it.
What a fantastic title! Sounds like a wonderful read. Thanks for the recommendation!
I actually picked up this book at the bookstore today and very nearly bought it. Next time, I will! Thanks for the review! :-)
My son would love this! Thanks for the rec!
this sounds hysterical! My son will lose it, after I read it...
Thanks for the awesome!
My son just bought this book while we were on vacation in South Carolina. It's hilarious! Good choice :)
Excuse me while I go add this book to my must-be-read-right-this-minute list. :o)