SuperFolder strawberrycat
When I read the Origami Yoda series for the first time, I was ending elementary school and starting middle school, around the time Princess Labelmaker To the Rescue came out. I was younger than the characters at first, but now, I’m a high school senior! I came back to the series after sitting in my room surrounded by my old books during the pandemic, and even brought out my origami from back then while rereading. Ahsoka was always my favorite Star Wars character, and I remember being happy each time Rhondella refused to take her because I wanted her as my own puppet! Unfortunately, though I think I started by doing some modifications to the universal puppet in Art-2, I never really recorded instructions and have long since forgotten how she was made.
Looking back, it’s fitting that I chose Anakin’s Padawan, because rereading Harvey’s comments reminds me so much of my past self. I caught so many new details the second time around that made me empathize with him- for example, the way his attempts to identify others’ bugs in Darth Paper Strikes Back are motivated by a need to feel useful and confident after Dwight wouldn’t let him catch any himself.
(By the way, I really am impressed by the writing in this series! Tommy doesn’t always interpret Harvey correctly, while Harvey himself is almost never direct about his feelings, so both of them are unreliable narrators. But Harvey’s emotions manage to come through nonetheless.)
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was painfully like Harvey in middle school. I would brag quite a bit to cover up my overthinking and insecurities. You couldn’t pay me to shut up about my interests. I would talk extra loudly again and again when my crush and their friends were around, because even mocking attention was better than nothing. I remember going into fight or flight mode when they focused on someone else (it hurt noticing that Harvey disappeared during the first Twist and that he forgot to play BrainBusters2Lite not just because of Fun Night, but out of “Tater Tot Panic”). And of course, I was jealous and looked down on others who I thought were more normal or happier than me.
Though my high school life hasn’t been perfect by any means, especially since the pandemic has taken away time with my friends and events I was looking forward to, I am still much less lonely and insecure now. Between the first time I picked up these books and today, I learned to better understand my emotions and relate to the people around me. And so, when I revisited Harvey’s character arc, seeing him start to redeem himself and apologize made me proud. Even if Tommy wasn’t in the picture, Sara would definitely be wrong for Harvey, but I believe that (like I did) he will grow, meet someone, and one day have the sappy relationship he pretends not to want. And I know that he has learned to treat his friends more kindly in the future. Overall, I imagine he hates cliches, but I want so badly to encourage him- one loud, nerdy, ex-gifted kid to another- that life really does get better after middle school.
It goes without saying, but thank you so much to Tom Angleberger and the Superfolders for creating books that mean so much to me and keeping them alive through this community.
