Top Ten for Tuesday, February 2, 2011

By chadwbecks

On Monday, Lemme Students will have the opportunity to Skype with author Tom Angleberger!  Everyone knows that I am obssessed with his book "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda", so I am THRILLED!  For this top 10, I give you 10 things I have learned about Master Angelberger while preparing for our Skype on Monday!  If I missed anything, please leave a comment!  AND- if you have a question for Tom, post that too!

1.  Tom loves Yoda of course, but his favorite Star Wars character Correction!  Tom's favorite Star Wars character is YODA and  Grand Moff Tarkin is Tom's favorite Star Wars Villain.  Who?  I had to Google him myself!

This video isn't exactly right... it has been edited, but it gives you an idea of Tarkin!

2. If Tom didn't get permission to use Yoda from the man who created Star Wars, we would have been reading "The Strange Case of Origami Einstein" or "The Strange Case of Origami Kung Fu Master".  Thank you, George Lucas!

3.  Tom is really 2 people... well not really!  Tom is Tom, but he wrote this book, Qwikpick under a pseudonym Sam Riddleberger.  A pseudonym is when an author uses a different name to write a book.  May be we can ask Tom why he chose to use a different name to write this book.  Tom has a sequel to this book, but it hasn't been published yet. 

 

4.  Tom started out as an artist.  He was a fine arts major in college and wanted to write comic books.  He applied for a job a a newspaper artist, but was assigned to a writing job covering government meetings by mistake.  It was this little mistake that changed Tom's path in life... from artist to writer.  He still writes for The Roanoke Times!

5.  It took 4 brilliant Jedi Masters to create the cover of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.  Check out Chad W. Beckerman's blog to see how the cover started, evolved and became what it is today.

6.  Tom wrote this funny letter to his teen self.  I think my teen self needs a letter a lot like this... future blog post?

7.  Tom first saw Star Wars in 1977 when he was 6 years old.  I was 4 in 1977 and didn't see the original Star Wars in the theater, but I did see The Empire Strikes Back at the drive in with my dad in 1980.  Tom said he didn't fully appreciate the move when he was so young, but after another viewing, he got it.

8.  This was Tom's favorite Star Wars toy when he was a kid... what's yours??  You can buy this vintage 1977 Kenner Yoda Action figure on ebay for about $500!!! 

Kenner Yoda Action Figure

9.  Tom folded 1,000 paper Yodas to promote his book.  It took him about 3 months to fold that many Yodas.  He streamlined his design and came up with a 4 fold Yoda that made things easier.  He sent the Yodas out with copies of his book.  I have one of these Yodas in my office that Tome sent me last summer!

10. "Let him do it"  That is the line that allowed Tom to publish The Strange Case of Origami Yoda!  Tom and his editor Susan didn't think that they would be able to publish the book because Yoda is a copyrighted character- it belongs to George Lucas, the maker of Star Wars.  Tom's editor Susan sent the book off to Lucasfilm.  The woman in charge of Star Wars books gave the book to her son and her son loved it and said to his mom "Let him do it". And that was that!  Tom got the go ahead to release his book.  It is said that the name of that little boy is hidden somewhere in The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.  Have you found it?  Tell me!  Tell me!