The sort of book that makes me
giggle.
Fiction – Juvenile
Age Range: 7 and up
217 pages
Publication Date: January 1st 2001
Diary of a Wimpy Kid #1
Literary awards:Borders Original Voices Award for YA or Independent
Reader (2007), West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA) for Younger
Readers (2009), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award (2009), ALA
Teens' Top Ten (2008)
The quest for easy popularity is never as simple as it should be just ask
Greg Heffley. Pouring out his hilarious
troubles with words and drawings into a journal, Greg shares the ups and downs
of middle school for the small and weak.
With his side kick, Rowley, Greg muddles through the perils of middle
school, until Rowley manages to get the elusive notoriety Greg wants and leaves
Greg behind.
When I first started looking into this book to read there were a range of
opinions from people who loved it – usually kids- to people who hated and could
barely tolerate it – mostly adults and parent.
Personally I found Greg likeable, in the sense I don’t have anything to
do with him and thus can appreciate his antics without having to deal without
the inevitable consequence. Sure he is a
bit snarky, self-centered and impulsive but he’s also fun; basically he’s a
regular middle school boy. Maybe it is
my middle school sense of humor, but I tend to like smart asses and have a
special place in my heart for the class clown and the pursuit of trying to fit
in.
I loved the journal format and stick drawings and the fact that it was a
fun book about everyday life, which almost anyone can relate too. I giggled my way through this book and thoroughly made a fool of myself in
front of people at the doctor’s office, mechanics and basically anywhere I
bothered to read it, and even my husband couldn’t help but ask every five
minutes what was so funny. Unfortunately,
I could never quite relate the genius of this book to others; I guess it’s just
something you have to read for yourself.
Even if you can’t like it as an
adult, it’s easy to understand why middle schoolers love it, do not deny them
the pleasure of reading this book.
ISBN 0810993139
(ISBN13: 9780810993136)
This book starts off by explaining what life was probably like inside a mother's womb. After I'd read the first few pages, I went back and read them again. I blinked. Hard. No, it was true. The books starts with the main character, Greg Heffley, describing what he thought his mum and dad and older brother, Rodrick, did when Greg was inside his mum's tummy.
ReplyDeleteI'd already read all the other Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and I was incredibly disappointed with this one. As I am 11 years old, the Wimpy Kid books are a little childish for me, but I gave this book a go just to see what it was like.
Basically, what happens is Greg Heffley, a boy in middle school, has quite a lot of trouble finding a girl for the Valentine's dance. He comes up with lots of completely unrealistic ways of getting the girl he wants, for example sending a love letter to a girl he has a crush on in his class and writing something like: "If the answer is no, which I hope it is not, please give this card to Charlotte and if her answer is no, give this card to Kelly." When he does find a partner, which is about seven eights of the way through the book, Greg's friend Rowley turns up with a cowboy hat and scarf wrapped round his neck – covering a chicken pox pimple – at the Valentine's dance, sort of stealing Greg's Valentine from him. For some reason the girl likes a fat boy wearing a cowboy hat and thick scarf who had chicken pox pimples more than a smartly dressed, quite good-looking boy dressed in a suit.
That's all that happened, really. (There was a Valentine's dance and Greg found it hard to find a partner.)