The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda by Tom Angelberger (Children's Literature Novel)

Angelberger, Tom. The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda. Abrams. 2010. (150 pages)

An eccentric boy named Dwight folds an origami Yoda finger puppet, which he uses to dispense wisdom to his fellow 6^th graders. Tommy, the main narrator of the book, creates a case file to investigate what impact this figure has made. Students offer testimonials and opinions in this unique and engaging book.

There was a lot to absorb in this book. There are many narrators, many doodle illustrations, many styles of writing (from a sample text message to transcribed words from a tape recorder and more), and even many different fonts! It’s interesting that I read this on the same day that we read Make Way for Ducklings in class, because both books may represent opposite sides of a spectrum: styles which people dub “modern” or “old-fashioned”. This book seemed very modern to me – the speed, stimulation, and information from many sources almost mimicked a smart phone internet browser.

When I was finished with the book, I gave it to my 6^th grade son to read. He read it in one sitting! I asked him what he thought about it, and he said he loved it. When I asked why, he said, “I liked the comments at the end. Also it’s quirky. And original. And I liked the little pictures on the sides.” I believe that most kids would feel this way, and I think it would be a great book to use as a language arts teacher. It’s interesting to see the interplay between the abstract thinking of Tommy and the concrete, or “black-and-white” thinking of his friend Harvey. I think that this could be a great source of classroom discussion in a 5^th or 6^th grade classroom.

a new cult?

So, a friend of mine talked to me yesterday about a new(er) religious belief based on this book called, "A Course in Miracles" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Course_in_Miracles

I guess that the author describes the book as being dictated by an inner voice she identifies as Jesus; although followers of this religion do not believe that Jesus is God. Only that God teaches us through Jesus - but that Jesus is just a man who is a good teacher.

Here is a page describing the teaching: http://www.acim.org/AboutACIM/what_it_says.html

It looks like a mix of many different ideas; including some Christian, some eastern, some new age, and some almost ancient gnostic "we are just minds" kind of teaching. The friend who had been sucked in to this cult was turned onto the teachings by a hired "life coach" and since hearing about these teachings was very confused about life. She described a story of creation in which God creates a perfect forest using all the love He had; but one leaf became jealous and wanted more love, so it turned inward and created it's own world. Then other leaves did the same. Until we all exist in this forest together but are completely unaware of the reality outside the inner world we have created ourselves. To get out of it, she had to repeat the 2 mantras of the religion every half-hour.

Nothing real can be threatened.


Nothing unreal exists.

She then went onto describe an eastern idea about suffering and pain being only illusions. When asked, "what about people with cancer?" she replied, "Cancer comes from anger. It only kills because people can't see the truth." When asked, "What about a child born with a disease like autism?" she was confused, but speculated that maybe they did something in a previous life (karma).
 
She also had some matrix-style jargon like, "this cup is not real" "nothing is real". She also began to feel like everything was meaningless including connections such as marriage.
 
Anyway, it sounded kinda strange. So, I just wanted to give people a head's up about it.