Here’s the bargain of the year, folks!

Due to various deals, BN.com has The Strange Case of Origami Yoda for just $8.73.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?EAN=9780810984257&x=

That’s just a pre-order right now. The book comes out in March or April.

Order three and you’ll qualify for free shipping. (I think)

Or you might want to add in a pre-order of Meanwhile, by my Abrams/Amulet comrade Jason Shiga.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Meanwhile/Jason-Shiga/e/9780810984233/?itm=1&usri=jason+shiga

How’s this for the best Christmas present ever…

Charlie Christmas reads Origami Yoda

My awesome editor zipped this to me on Christmas Eve! It’s the paperback advance reader copy of Origami Yoda! She even wrapped it!

After so much work it was wild to open it up and see what it’s like — crammed with doodles and details! It sure pays off to have an incredible designer working on your project! And of course, that same designer made the spectacular cover. Man, I love it like Lobot loves headphones!

Well, this sure has made my Christmas merry and I hope yours is too!

I’ve got a Geekdad post up about Marble Raceways and picking the right one for the right kid.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/12/marble-raceways-are-a-perfect-gift-but-which-one-is-right-for-your-geeklet

Here’s a picture of one made from old cereal boxes and canned food. It’s a freebie — except for the $5 worth of tape that holds it together. (That’s an exaggeration, of course, but it’s good to have plenty of tape on hand.)

Streetball, a one-page ad for basketballs that ran in bajillions of old comic books, is possibly the greatest single page of comic booking ever done. The great Jack Davis was on fire! And so was Dr. J.

Awhile back I set out to recreate at least part of this great page on a large scale and in felt. The Dude at Dudecraft was nice enough to put it on his blog…

http://www.dudecraft.com/2009/12/doctor-j-in-felt.html

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Want another dose of Cece’s holiday magic?

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Little Christmas miracle:

I’ve been searching for “The Barking Ghost” a Goosebumps book for a kid I know who is a big fan AND is my square dance calling partner. Finally nabbed it today at Once Upon a Child.

Here’s an old chestnut Tom found at the bottom of a box of Christmas lights:

http://www.riddleburger.com/christmas/rcp0.html

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Meanwhile, Sam’s been crying because somebody made a mean comment on “The Best ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Ever.”

http://riddleburger.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/the-best-best-christmas-pageant-ever-ever-continued/

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And Cece has a lovely Sock Monkey Christmas card up at http://www.cecebell.com

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And, of course, no Christmas would be complete without watching the Folger’s “Peter’s Home” commercial — starring Sock Monkey:

It has been a long journey. But now I have (circa) 1,000 origami Yodas to help promote my book “The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.” ( http://www.origamiyoda.com )

You may notice stickers on the backs of the Yodas. Yes, I know adhesives are not part of Origami. The stickers are not necessary for day-to-day use. But since these Yodas are going to be given away for use as finger puppets, I wanted them to have something to help keep them together.

Here they are boxed up for their trip to New York:

These Yodas were all hand-made from hand-cut paper — which is really a way of saying that the paper was only approximately the right size and many of the folds were judgement calls. Thus the result is a lot of variation among the Yodas, as you can see here:

The Yodas on the top row are Golden Yodas. These means that some strange combination of paper-size and fold placement resulted in their ears folding out on existing creases. This only happens to 1 or 2 percent of Yodas. Oddly, it doesn’t result in them looking much different that the others or even being uncrooked.

How do you like those benevolent, beatific smiles? That’s Cece’s work! She drew the faces on every one of them. I’m pretty lucky to have an Acclaimed, Award-Winning, Superstar Illustrator willing to help!

Here’s a shot from my latest school visit:

This is actually a 1946 shot of an unnamed illustrator from the Google Life Archive.

Anybody recognize the elephant? The monkeys? the style? The ill-fitting suit?

How often do you see a picture of the author and the hero of a book together?

Here’s a nice photo of M. Henry and M. Horse together.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=847dba9d4688c499&q=chincoteague%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchincoteague%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D144

The caption is a little cryptic:

Authoress Marguerite Henry w. ‘misty horse heroine of her childrens’ book bidding farewell to for breeding farm.

This Google Life Archive is amazing. Lots of unpublished photos.

Just go to Google, type your search word and add source:life

trythis one:

beatrix potter castle farm source:life

Cynthia and Doug Leitich Smith have already been very good to Stonewall. Now they’re ending the year with more goodness by putting us on their year end lists.

Doug put us on his Favorites of 2009 list! http://greglsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/favorites-of-2009.html

Cynthia dropped our name on the BookPeople KidsBlog page of books she recommends: http://kidsblog.bookpeople.com/2009/12/10/what-are-your-favorite-authors-giving-this-holiday-season/

where she called the book a “a whopper of a time-travel adventure story.” Wow! I like that word “whopper!”

In an unrelated note, the next edition of our book will have the following minor change to the title: “Stonewall Leitich Smith and the Battle of Bull Run.”