We Meet Origami Yoda!

Last night at our fabulous local independent book store, Quail Ridge Books, we had a real treat!  We got to hear a talk by the author of one of the books that my son and I both had on our 2011 Newbery top 5 list:  Tom Angleberger, writer and illustrator of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.  We love that book (read my reviews here and here), so we wanted to go meet the author in person.

Tom is such a fun and animated speaker that it is hard to get a non-blurry picture of him while he is speaking.  But here he is with the star of the book--Origami Yoda himself.

As I said, Tom is a really funny and lively speaker, and he interacts with the kids really well.  In addition to telling one of the chapters in the book and showing us some of his drawing of the characters, he let us in on what is coming next for him.  His latest book, Horton Halfpott, a silly Victorian-era inspired mystery, will be coming out in May.  Then his sequel to Origami Yoda will come out in the fall, and will feature--brace yourself--DARTH PAPER!

Of course, no visit with Tom Angleberger would be complete without some origami.  So he provided paper and instructions for us all about how to create not only Origami Yoda, but also Darth Paper.

And he is someone who is worth getting to sign your book, because he includes at least one drawing in every book!  He asked the students who their favorite character in Star Wars was, and tried to draw them  if he could.  When my son said he liked learning the acronyms of the different vehicles (ATAT and such), Tom was interested by that, and said he might try to work in a vehicle acronym in his next Star Wars book.

So see!  Go talk to your favorite author, and your ideas may show up in a future book!