Tommy Lomax wants very much to know if the mysterious Origami Yoda, a small paper object handmade by his friend Dwight Tharp, is genuinely predicting future events or just is lucky. Tommy needs to know because he wants to make overtures to a girl he likes, Sara Bolt. He fears that, if Yoda is wrong, he’ll be badly humiliated.

To find out, Tommy creates a book, a “case study” of testimony from other students who have worked with the paper puppet. Tommy reflects: “Who knows, maybe this case file could even be useful if scientists ever decide to study Origami Yoda” (2). Each chapter includes comments from Tommy’s friend Harvey Cunningham, who’s sure the Yoda puppet is just paper, and from Tommy himself. Tommy’s friend Kellen Campbell volunteered to help but mainly just sketched doodles all over the manuscript.

Origami Yoda belongs to Dwight, a nose-picking “total loser” who happens to be good at origami. He designed and made the Yoda puppet and walks around the school asking people to talk to it. Strangely, Yoda says smart things.