Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus (An Origami Yoda Adventure) by Tom Angleberger (Amulet Books)

The Origami Yoda Chronicles seem to have slipped silently by most folk on this side of the pond, but the New York Times Best-Selling series draws to a close with "Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus", Tom Angleberger's latest geek-tastic Star-Warsy mash up.

For those new to the series, the stories revolve around a crew of cooky stooky kids at McQuarrie High School (yes, the books are absolutely laden with Star Wars references - partly why Daddy had to kidnap this book and sneak off to read it, as Charlotte's still not sold on the whole Star Wars idea yet).

Tommy and his friends have successfully rescued their field trip to Washington D.C but that's just the start of a new adventure, which takes a downward turn as Principal Rabbinski declares the trip an "Origami Free Zone" - Disaster! How will the kids cope?

Tom's six-volume (plus accompanying peripheral books) series reaches a satisfying conclusion that doesn't just nod its head knowingly to geek culture, but tenderly examines the huge changes that kids experience as they move through school, develop friendships and relationships and start to find their first faltering steps in the big wide world.

Reaching the end is just a very good excuse to dive all the way back to book one (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda) and read this hugely satisfying series all over again.


(Kindly sent to us for review by Amulet Books)