Sixth grade boys are weird, but none so strange as Dwight. His neighbor, Sarah, has observed him dig large holes in his back yard simply for the purpose of sitting in them. Then there was the "Call me 'Captain Dwight'" phase. But, Dwight's oddness reaches its pinnacle when he creates -- without a pattern -- an amazing origami Yoda . . . and asks people to talk to it and ask it for advice.

Stranger still is when Origami Yoda replies, and offers insight and wisdom beyond anything Dwight could possibly know.

Thus begins Tommy's quest: to investigate The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. The book itself is billed as the case file, with editorial comments from a skeptic (Tommy's annoying friend Harvey) and marginal illustrations provided by Tommy's friend Kellen. Various students write reports about their encounters with Origami Yoda, and readers put together the story's sub-plots through the questions the students ask Origami Yoda. Because more than Tommy wants to discover if Origami Yoda is *real*, he wants to know if Sara likes him and if he should ask her to dance at Fun Night.

This book is a delight from start to finish, with all of the factors that make a book truly terrific: voice (in spades), realistic characters (they are so perfectly pegged the conversations feel like recordings of actual boys rather than fictional ones), true-to-life issues (there's an incident where one kid gets water on his pants and is anguished because he's afraid people with think he wet his pants . . . and this came up in a conversation with adults at work this week -- though sans the anguish!), quick pacing, and plot twists.  Yet there is this added element of magic and mystery with Dwight and Origami Yoda that adds another layer of fun.

Though it's never mentioned, part of me wonders if Dwight is a highly functioning autistic kid. His lack of social skills, ability in math but deficit in all other subjects, and his seeming clairvoyance could be indicators.

Or he could just be weird.

At any rate, this is a terrific boy book with snazzy illustrations throughout.  Tom Angleberger's Web site has some great info, including a poll asking which Star Wars character should appear in the sequel.  Scholastic did a book trailer -- you'll need to scroll down through the list of books they're promoting. On YouTube, the author does a tutorial on how to make your own Origami Yoda.

For those interested, there are no Big Boobied characters, and the only incidence of bad language/euphemisms is one use of "heck."  There is minor boy-likes-girl stuff, but nothing that would make me hesitate to let my younger nephew (3rd grade) read it.