The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett: An Origami Yoda Book

Angleberger, T. (2013).  The surprise attack of Jabba the Puppett:  An origami Yoda book.  New York, NY:  Amulet Books.  McQuarrie Middle School has not scored well on the state test.  In order to bring the school up to par, a new program has been installed, Fun Time Education System.  The elective classes have been cancelled, and in their place, students must watch videos featuring Professor Fun Time and his singing calculator.  Afterwards, they completed worksheets.  This proved to be unbearable for the students.  They saw hope upon the return of Dwight and his origami Yoda.  Together Dwight, Tommy, Amy, Sara, Harvey, Rema and the gang try to find ways to do away with the program.  What they decided to do was recruit as many 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders to refuse to take the state exam.  When they did not find enough support, they asked them to at least lower their scores so that the state could see that the program did not work.  Due to all the trouble the gang is causing, Principal Rabbski calls a meeting with the parents.  Here the parents see what the kids had been watching.  They did not like it and requested that Principal Rabbski inform the school board.  I think this book was an excellent criticism of the state mandated test.  It also made me think about my teaching methods, such as, “Am I just teaching to the test?  Am I just giving the kids worksheets?”  A lesson the teacher can teach with this book is that the students were successful because they researched and organized their plan.  I think the style of this book stood out.  There were a few cartoons, dialogue was circled for emphasis, and the chapters are written by different characters so that you can see the different points of view.