The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Dwight Tharp’s Yoda appears out of nowhere to befuddle McQuarrie Middle School’s sixth graders with his oddball wisdom. The students want to believe in him, but they’re not sure they can rely on his advice, which often seems odd or absurd. Trusting Yoda depends on two things: whether his words of wisdom are reliable, and whether they come from him or his puppeteer, Dwight. At first, Yoda’s advice seems “weird” and unexpected. The solution always involves making a sacrifice. This troubles the children, but they quickly discover that the advice works brilliantly.

Kellen Campbell, for example, accidentally gets water on his pants that makes it look like he peed on himself. Yoda’s advice—to get all of his pants wet—at first appears absurd. However, Kellen quickly realizes that uniformly wet clothes will hide the original, embarrassing stain.

Dwight has profound insight into the emotions and psychology of his fellow students. He demonstrates this when, as Yoda, he advises Mike Coley, who tries too hard at softball and always strikes out. He tells Mike to give up comparing himself to other players. This flies in the face of Mike’s deepest want, but soon he understands that the desire itself is what gets in his way.