Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007)

I have to admit, I brought this with me to jury duty a couple of years ago as something to pass the time. I wanted to know what the fuss among my students was about. They were all over this series. I had multiple copies of each of the books (I think there were only four in the series at the time), and I couldn't keep them in the library long enough to get them to the shelves. This sort of fervor usually doesn't happen unless a book is Harry Potter or it has something highly inappropriate that adults don't know about yet. Since it wasn't Harry Potter and it wasn't even Harry Potter-like, a lot of my fellow teachers assumed it probably fell into the highly inappropriate category. I wanted to see for myself before I joined them.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. This book, despite its being about an embittered boy with a rather dismal collection of adults supervising his life, was funny. It also maintained its pacing fairly well. It was an easy read, as was to be expected, but it felt honest and sincere. Kinney has a keen sense for the mindset of this audience and it seems to drive the story forward right up to the conclusion. Also, the plot is interesting for a school story. Greg isn't always nice. He mistreats his best friend and is more concerned about himself and his own interests than the greater good, but that works here. It's not written in such a way that would make you look up to him. It's more about making you understand his reasoning and his own motivations. You can understand him, even if you would have preferred that he handle himself differently, and you can enjoy humor of the situations. That's what this book does. It doesn't make a hero out of Greg, it makes you laugh and relate. He's very relatable and I think that's where the joy comes from. It's easy to laugh with this book.

What I say about the story to those who say that they don't approve of his actions is that it's fine not to approve. Still read the book. Still encourage your kids to read the book. Just talk about it. A reader who can comprehend the text should be able to figure out that they don't need to set their moral compass by it. If they can't, then open up the conversation using the text to propel it. It's a good way to talk about doing the right thing. This is a good book, and it deserves the attention it gets. The author knows his audience and the writing is genuinely funny. There's nothing wrong with that. ( )

I liked that when he went to sit down he said "I don't want to sit by morns."
I wouldn't change anything about this book: It is good how it is and it was funny and cool. My favorite part was when he said "this is not a diary, it's a journal." I know what it says on the cover so I think this book is one of the best books it is so funny it is cool so you should read this book. --Review by E.A., 6th grader ( )

Characters: 1.1 Greg Heffley
Rowley Jefferson
Susan Heffley
Frank Heffley
Manny Heffley
Rodrick Heffley

Setting: Setting is in the school and home during this century.

Theme: THe theme in the story is courage, friendship, and family.

Genre: Children's literature, realistic humor

Summary: This story is about a middle school student who goes to school and tries to manage going to his classes without getting bullied.

Audience: Adolescents and Teenagers who are trying to deal with bullying and growing up.

Curriculum ties: Ties to development where students are learnimg about how to deal with bullies.

Personal response: I remember seeing the movie with my students and I rememmebered how they reacted to the movie. They really loved it and it seems like they can relate to the movie in some way. In terms of the book. the illustrations present a comical view of getting bullied. The book's writing is great in a way that it puts the story in the persective of the Greg, the main character. On the area of the story, I really enjoyed the different scenarios that Greg narrrated about and I can remember how I experienced similar ordeeals when I was young. On the side of it being a picture novel, the art and the layout of the book presents it as a journal. This makes the story interesting to read, where it makes you want to flip the book to see what would be on the next page of the journal. I especially like the art, it makes the book liek its a comic strip of some sort. In a way, this can put bullying as an ordeal that is comical and that every kid can overcome it. Overall, I like this book and I thought it was a great realistic fiction and was really humorous. ( )

very homourous and a great start to the series be ready for the next book ( )

Such an awesome book, especially for boys sometimes it is difficult to provide male students with material that they would actually enjoy but this book here really captivates male readers because it is from the perspective of a young boy. As a teacher I could use this book to talk about bullying and how we as a class could help put an end to bullying as well as talk about the character traits in the story because you have so many different characters. ( )