The Lone Ranger - a Little Golden Book Classic, I Am Pilgrim, To Kill a Mocking Bird and an Origami Yoda

I love this one. Such a welcome change from Transformers, Batman, Spiderman and all the other characters my boys have had a fixation on over the past decade.

It is exactly what you would expect. Young Tom Mason sits on a rock and waits to wave to his brother, who is due to pass by. He's Bill and he drives the stagecoach. But hang on a second, here it comes, but the drivers seat is empty!

Luckily, the Lone Ranger and Tonto are not too far away. "Listen Tonto!" the Lone Ranger cried. "That youngster's in trouble!" It transpires that a dastardly gang have stolen the stagecoach with its cargo of gold and seem to think they have got away scot free....

"That may not be their fire," the Lone Ranger said. "But if it is, those varmints are mighty sure of themselves. Let's check."

They do a whole lot more than check! They ambush and catch those filthy, no-good thieves! Excellent stuff. For ages four and up.

Elsewhere in the house is more edge of the seat material.

This is currently on sale in Tesco for under seven euros and I am looking forward to getting stuck in.  I've just finished my annual re read of this,

and am hoping it will be a move from the sublime to the ridiculously exciting.

And here we have an actual Origami Yoda...

Do you have kids aged eight and up who have not read this series? Well, you shouldn't. 

Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

I knew nothing about Origami Yoda when I bought it other than I loved the title. My eldest read it in two sessions (he was eleven) and I ended up reading it aloud to two of his younger brothers on holidays. They could not get enough of it.

Its written in the form of a report put together a group of  middle school children. With (fantastic!)doodles by some of them. I'm not in middle school but I think the characters are really well drawn, the kind of people that you find something familiar about. Mike was a favourite of mine because he simply could not stop himself bursting into tears when things didn't go his way in sports. Its such a typically embarrassing thing for slightly older kids and yet I've never seen it addressed before. (And I did it all the time!)

And there's Dwight, the origami master of the school, who, when he knocks a drink onto the floor, wipes it up with his t shirt. Without taking it off.

As the main narrator, Tommy says "Dwight never seems to do anything right." And yet, the Origami Yoda on his finger gives great advice? What gives? (as I think they say in the States.) Anyone who has ever been called a wierdo will love Dwight.

And theres Harvey, the person who would have called you a wierdo, but he is human too. Like I said, its a really good book. This is what the chapters look like.

And the next book; Darth Paper, which is just as good!