The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee by Tom Angleberger

Plans for a fourth book appear to be underway: as Origami Yoda puts it, 'A great battle ahead I sense.' Ages 8-12. From Kellen's romantic cluelessness and Sara's savvy to some poignant material about Dwight, who isn't doing as well at Tippett as he would have his friends believe, Angleberger shows an uncommon ability to get into the heads and hearts of middle-schoolers, while keeping humor at the forefront. (In one of the funniest gags, the paper Chewbacca's fortunes consist of variations on 'MMGGGGHHHRRRRR,' requiring translation from a second puppet, Han Foldo.) As with the previous books, this story's greatest strength lies in the way Angleberger develops, distinguishes, and humanizes the main characters, who take turns narrating in chapters brought to life with a variety of typefaces and scrawled cartoon marginalia. But the kids still need wise, Star Wars%E2%80%93themed advice, and thus the Fortune Wookiee is born. It’s a solid read, and while I’m not entirely with the end, I’m going to go back and read the earlier books, if only to get a better grasp on the plot.The seventh graders of McQuarrie Middle School are back-except for Dwight, creator of the original Origami Yoda, who is stuck at nearby Tippett Academy after getting suspended in Darth Paper Strikes Back.

I liked the portrayal of nerdy girls in this book, but I don’t like the idea that “Oh, well, her advice is more manipulative than the kind Dwight gives.” It doesn’t outright say it, but that’s what it felt like to me. (Which isn’t a bad message, but it does have a very anvilicious feel to it.) The only thing I don’t really like with the book overall is that the main characters feel cheated that the person behind the Fortune Wookie was Sarah and that she was dispensing girl advice.

The message is very much a diatribe against schools cutting the arts and killing kids’ creative in order to focus on testing. The plot is a little thin, but I’m chalking that more to the fact that I haven’t read the previous two books, and so I don’t know the full story behind Dwight and the Origami Yoda. I liked the journalistic style, I thought the kids were fun and they all had their own distinct voices (as well as page font, but you could tell who was talking without noticing the change in typesetting). That said, this was a solid read, and one that I was able to plow through pretty quick. We’ve gotten in the other Origami Yoda books in at work, and I’ve made mental notes to check them out, but I just never gotten around to doing so before we returned them. So, thanks to work-related deadlines and I have too many books to read in a short amount of time (why does everything come out in September, why?), I broke my rule about not starting series in the middle.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee by Tom Angleberger