Origami – specifically, origami versions of Star Wars characters – plays a big role in Tom Angleberger’s Origami Yoda series, which is currently three books strong. But just as the Star Wars empire has grown well beyond George Lucas’s first three films, Angleberger’s series is set to expand, when Abrams’s Amulet Books imprint releases Art2-D2’s Guide to Folding and Doodling: An Origami Yoda Activity Book on March 26 with a 500,000-copy first printing.
In Angleberger’s middle-grade series – which currently consists of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Darth Paper Strikes Back, and The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee – a group of students routinely seek the counsel of Star Wars–themed origami finger puppets; the books have sold more than 550,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 75% of print sales. The new book will include more than 75 origami and drawing activities, as well as crafts, games, and 10 sheets of origami paper (see below for a sample spread from the book). While characters like Mo Willems’s Pigeon, Lucy Cousins’s Maisy, and Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants have also made the jump into activity books (offerings starring Victoria Kahn’s Pinkalicious, and David Soman and Jacky Davis’s Ladybug Girl, are due later this year), Art2-D2’s Guide to Folding and Doodling probably has more in common with another fairly recent Abrams offering, The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book.
Angleberger will promote the book as a speaker at the American Library Association’s upcoming Midwinter conference, and Abrams will distribute more than 20,000 book samplers to booksellers, librarians, and fans across the country during the lead-up to the book’s March pub date. At that point, Angleberger will embark on a 15-city tour, sharing his origami tricks with kids nationwide. Origami demonstrations have been part of Angleberger’s earlier book events, and as he told PW in 2012, he estimates he has already taught thousands of people how to fold Origami Yoda. Activities also will be made available for download online here.
“We wanted to make this activity book for the fans, to start them off with tips and tricks so they can develop their own style of creativity,” Angleberger said in a statement. “Art doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s our uniqueness that sets us apart, and we just want to help them get the ball rolling.”