Boys don’t keep diaries—or do they?
The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to
It’s a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you’re ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.
In book one of this debut series, Greg is happy to have Rowley, his sidekick, along for the ride. But when Rowley’s star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend’s newfound popularity to his own advantage, kicking off a chain of events that will test their friendship in hilarious fashion.
Author/illustrator Jeff Kinney recalls the growing pains of school life and introduces a new kind of hero who epitomizes the challenges of being a kid. As Greg says in his diary, “Just don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that.” Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley says he won’t do and what he actually does are two very different things.
Since its launch in May 2004 on Funbrain.com, the Web version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been viewed by 20 million unique online readers. This year, it is averaging 70,000 readers a day
My thoughts:
This is the latest audio book I listened to with my children in the car. Last summer we listened to book four on a car trip because that was all the library had and my children had seen commercials for the movie about this book. Even though it has been almost a year since we watched the movie for the book I have to say that it seems to have followed the book pretty well.
Greg is sarcastic and a bit mean. I'm not sure what I think of him as a model for my own children. I know children think the books are funny, and it definitely had me laughing out loud at times, but he simply isn't that nice. In deciding if he should do the right think in admitting that he was the one who did something wrong he decides to let his friend, "Take one for the team." However when he admits the wrong doing to his friend he did suffer the consequences of his actions which to me was a lesson in itself. It brought some jumping off points for talking about honesty and doing the right thing.
Middle school seemed like the hardest of the school years, not academically, but socially to me. For a number of reasons eighth grade was particularly hard for me. I think the time between sixth and eighth grade is hard because everyone starts changing at different times and students start changing classes more and a whole host of opportunity for bullying arrives. I can see why Kinney would set his story in middle school rather than high school or elementary.
Even though I am not sure of how I feel about Greg I think it is likely that I will continue on with the stories with my children. I'm finding that if I introduce characters, authors and series to my children they later check those books out of the school library on their own because they want to read more and anything that gets kids excited and interested in reading more is a positive thing (age appropriate content of course, not ANYTHING anything- since they are in elementary school I am hoping the school library wouldn't have anything questionable).
Product Details
Pub. Date: April 2007
Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
Format: Hardcover , 224pp
Age Range: 8 to 11
Series: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series , #1
ISBN-13: 9780810993136
ISBN: 0810993139
No comments:
Post a Comment