Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons by Jeff Kinney
I started Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney at about midnight last night when I should have been going to sleep, but man, I devoured this book! I read it straight through and had to stop only to wipe away the tears from my eyes as I was laughing way too hard.
So, so funny! Now, I was an avid Archie reader when I was younger. So reading a novel partly done in cartoons was no big stretch for me, although I would not qualify this as a graphic novel. Rather it’s a really funny story with cartoons for illustrations.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid starts out with Greg, our main character writing:
First of all, let me get something straight: This is a JOURNAL, not a diary. I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I SPECIFICALLY told her to get one that didn’t say “diary” on it. Great. All I need is for some jerk to catch me carrying this book around and get the wrong idea.
Greg is a “wimpy” kid in middle school and writes down his humorous accounts about the school year, his best friend Rowley, and the “cheese touch.” Of Rowley, he says:
Rowley is technically my best friend, but that is definitely subject to change.
I’ve been avoiding Rowley since the first day of school, when he did something that really annoyed me.
We were getting our stuff from our lockers at the end of the day, and Rowley came up to me and said, [told in the cartoon] ‘Want to come over to my house and plaayyy?’
I have told Rowley at least a billion times that now that we’re in middle school, you’re supposed to say “hang out,” not play.” But no matter how many noogies I give him, he always forgets the next time.
And another quote from Diary of a Wimpy Kid about the cheese touch, which after I read knew I wouldn’t be able to put this book down, because it was way too funny:
That piece of Cheese has been sitting on the blacktop since last spring. I guess it must’ve dropped out of someone’s sandwich or something. After a couple of days, the Cheese started getting all moldy and nasty. Nobody would play basketball on the court where the cheese was, event hough that was the only court that had a hoop with a net.
Then one day, this kid named Darren Walsh touched the cheese with his finger, and that’s what started this thing called the Cheese touch. It’s basically like the Cooties. If you get the Cheese Touch, you’re stuck with it until you pass it on to someone else.
The only was to protect yourself from the Cheese touch is to cross your fingers.
But it’s not that easy remembering to keep your fingers crossed every moment of the day. I ended up taping mine together so they’d stay crossed all the time. I got a D in handwriting, but it was totally worth it.
This one kid named Abe Hall got the Cheese touch in April, and nobody would even come near him for the rest of the year. This summer Abe moved away to California and took the Cheese touch with him.
I just hope someone doesn’t start the Cheese touch up again, because I don’t need that kind of stress in my life anymore.
I highly recommend this book especially if you have a reluctant reader in your household or even if you’re a woman pushing thirty like myself. I totally can see why this and it’s sequel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules has been on the bestseller list for 65 and 26 weeks, respectively.
According to Jeff Kinney’s website, the third installment Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is coming out January 17, 2009 with two more books planned after that as well as TV/movie possibilities. You can also watch a video presentation of Jeff Kinney here. I found it interesting to note that Jeff Kinney still holds down a full time job as a online game developer and designer and considers himself a cartoonist rather than an author.
Maybe I was in the perfect mood, but man, this was a way too much fun. Can’t wait to read the second one!
Interesting and completely opposite the last review I read: the last review (can’t recall whose) suggested that the “wimpy kid” played practical jokes on other kids, which would give the kid reading it ideas. That reviewer didn’t like that at all. What did you think about the jokes the kid played?
I haven’t read it and wasn’t going to, but with two completely opposite reviews, I guess I should see what the fuss is.
on July 20th, 2008 at 6:47 pmRebecca - Interesting! I completely disagree with the other reviewer. Greg, our “wimpy kid” actually plays very few practical jokes. I skimmed through the entire book and could find a couple played on him, but he’s always on the receiving end of things rather than one to play practical jokes on others. He can be deceiving though, I’ll easily say that.
On Jeff Kinney’s website he says that he wanted to write a book about all of the funny parts of growing up and none of the serious parts. He wanted a book about what it was really like to be a kid. I think he succeeded.
On his website, it is also asked: Is Greg Heffley a good role model? Jeff Kinney’s reply: “No, not really. Greg is self-centered and can be kind of clueless. I don’t think Greg is a bad kid, necessarily; but like all of us he has his faults. Hopefully, readers will understand that Greg’s imperfections are what makes him funny. I think that stories with characters who always do the right thing are a little boring. I wanted to create a character that was more realistic.”
Hope that helps!
on July 20th, 2008 at 7:41 pmOh the cheese touch, how funny! Thanks for sharing about this book, the other reviewer needs to lighten up a little:)
on July 21st, 2008 at 1:39 pmhaha! that sounds funny. i totally want to read it now. i wasn’t going to because it looked like some silly kids book but i don’t care if i read kid books but i don’t really like to the books that are like the tortise and the hare type. if you know what i mean. i can’t really explain it but that’s what i thought it was. well you’ll be pleased to know that thanks to your review you have changed my mine! i’ll add it my list. lol. thanks so much! =]
on July 21st, 2008 at 2:09 pmI worked at a book sale at the elementary school and this sold like hot cakes! We were taking pages worth of orders for this. I haven’t read it, but kids obviously connect with it.
on July 21st, 2008 at 8:12 pmI think I had read the same review that Rebecca read, so I wasn’t very interested in this book. I’ve seen this book everywhere and now that I have your recommendation, I think I’ll try it.
on July 22nd, 2008 at 8:30 ammy brother hates reading so one of his teachers gave him this book. HE FINISHED IT IN TWO DAYS which is unthink able for him. He then made me get him the first one and the second and finished that in a day and a half its a really good book. especially a starter to make kids see that there ARE books out there that may interest them
on July 23rd, 2008 at 4:53 amI’m going to have to read this one; I can tell. I’m adding my name to the library queue right now! Thanks for the review.
on July 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 amI teach middle school, and my most reluctant readers actually fought over who would get to read this book next. It’s humor and illustrations really make it non-threatening to students who don’t regularly read independently. I need to get a couple more copies for my classroom library!
on July 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 pmI’ve read kind of mixed reviews of this book–so I’m really not sure what to think now!
I was thinking about it for my 12 yo brother (who IS a reluctant reader if I ever knew one…but which 12 yo boy isn’t??). I might have to pick it up and browse through it to see for myself! Thanks for the review, Natasha.
on July 24th, 2008 at 7:18 pmI think the majority definitely think that this one is a winner, especially for those reluctant readers. I can’t wait till I get the second one off hold from the library!
on July 26th, 2008 at 7:28 pmi am definitely going to read this one soon! haven’t read a light book in ages and this will be perfect! thanks for the wonderful review!
on August 1st, 2008 at 11:38 am[…] recently reviewed Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (read that book review here) and had so much fun with it that I knew I had to read its sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick […]
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