Origami Yoda is a very different book without the pictures, because it’s really two narrators, there’s Tommy that tells the main story and then there’s Kellen who he tells his story through his doodles. He’s the guy that doodles in it. And Tommy is sort of this series kid in some ways and Kellen is just gonzo and, and nuts and very funny. And so he’s the guy that goes in and makes the book funny sometimes. If it was, if was just Tommy the books would be a little more serious. So, I’m not all that serious of a person as you can tell, so as for me the books to have that right balance they have to have Tommy and Kellen working together.
Dwight is the main character of my Origami Yoda books and he’s the guy who actually starts the whole thing by making Origami Yoda and bringing Origami Yoda to school. And even before he brings Origami Yoda he’s already like the weird kid at school and this book is not my autobiography, but a lot of stuff in the book really happened to me or to my friends or is inspired by the of disasters that was my middle school career.
But the thing is I didn’t have Origami Yoda. You know, I was like Dwight that doesn’t save the day. It just ended in disaster and I went home miserable. So my book is me telling my stories and my friends stories with Dwight, but Dwight was smarter than me. Dwight found this great positive way to deal with things and that way was Origami Yoda.
So when he brings Origami Yoda to school he saves the day so it, instead of being a disaster like it was in real life, often he and his buddies end up coming out on top. And so I didn’t have Origami Yoda, I didn’t have Jedi wisdom to help me get through middle school, so that’s, that’s the idea of the book. Can Dwight and Origami Yoda save the nerds and the weirdoes and the strange kids and get them through middle school alive.
Okay. Well, as you know I did not invent Yoda. Every once in a while I’ll run into a kid who says, “Are you the guy that invented Yoda?” And I have to be like, “No, I’m not the guy that invented Yoda. That was George Lucas.” But George Lucas is this great guy that lets other people play around with his characters and it’s like this giant sandbox he created and a lot of people they get sand boxes and they fill them with toys and they’re like, “No, stay out.”
And we thought that’s what was going to happen, we thought George Lucas would say, no we don’t want you messing around with Yoda. I don’t care if it’s origami; it’s none of your business. It’s been the opposite. When my publisher contacted Lucas Film and they’re the people that have to make all the decisions, Lucas Film was like, “Come on in and play, let’s go, do whatever you want!”
And so instead of me trying to sneak around and steal their idea, it’s like they’re sharing and I’m having a great time and they’re very, very supportive. It’s been, it’s been a terrific experience.
