Tom Angleberger, Virginia native and author of the books "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda" and "Darth Paper Strikes Back: An Origami Yoda Book," stopped by the Janet D. Greenwood Library Thursday, March 1 for a Friends of the Library event.
From young to old, a full crowd in the library atrium was captivated to hear what Angleberger had to say about his finger puppets, or as he denotes them, powerful origami. Through the lecture, Angleberger focused on a chapter of his first book, "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda," and the characters therein.
In a very interactive appeal to the children sitting at his feet, Angleberger asked them about the point of his stories and quirky characters. Many of the students were in a book club that have been reading the book and analyzing it, to a degree, over the past few weeks.
The artist-turned-writer who currently resides in Christiansburg, Va. said he has been working on his first novel ever since he was in eighth grade, but "never seemed to finish it," he added. His inspirations include the most notable science fiction movie and book series, "Star Wars."
The children were full of excitement from the start when Angleberger drew a pair of pants on a broad sheet of paper. Why pants? Angleberger's lesson, through an array of back story, involved how one should deal with "pee-stained" pants.
A reception began at 3:30 p.m. with Angleberger taking the podium shortly after 4 p.m. Angleberger's books were also on display to be purchased and signed.
As someone who has been a newspaper reporter, juggler, lawn mower part assembler and even a biology research assistant, Angleberger claims he is not "necessarily all that creative" on his website (origamiyoda.wordpress.com). "I'm more of a puzzle putter together. I take all these little puzzle pieces — Yoda, middle school problems, Cheetos — and I fuss and fuss with them until I fit them together," he writes.
According to Angleberger, the creativeness of origami cannot be ignored. He said, "Origami is all around us, in our space, and it is very powerful."
The premise of Angleberger's presentation turned out to be quite simple. Main character Dwight, the "loser" student in middle school who always talks about "robots or spiders or something," comes to school with a Yoda finger puppet one day. "I write about the weirdest kid in school because I was the weirdest kid in my school," he said.
However, Dwight does not seem like such a loser when Yoda begins giving people advice. Some of the best advice is given to his friend Kellen, who accidentally gets his pants wet by reaching over a sink to erase a message on a mirror. Kellen, obviously embarrassed by what looks like "pee-stained" pants, takes some of the best advice from origami Yoda, who tells him to wet his entire pants to avoid utter embarrassment.
Angleberger's presentation on the book he never quite finished would not have been complete without the creative characters fashioned with his 1.0 Pilot G2 gel roller pen, his favorite. From the goofy-looking Dwight to Mr. Howell, the feared teacher that suspiciously resembles "Star Wars" character Jabba the Hutt, Angleberger kept the crowd attentive and entertained.
At the end of the discussion, Angleberger handed out a green rectangle to everyone and showed them how to make their own origami Yoda, in five steps, to use when times get tough.
A third book to Angleberger's own origami will be announced April 1. The title has yet to be announced, but some of the students were already making guesses on who the secret character will be.
