Synopsis: Greg Heffley hopes to be famous one day, but for now he's stuck in middle school where he is smaller than just about all the kids in school. At home, he's the dreaded middle child, stuck between his evil big brother, Rodrick, and his cute little brother, Manny. Add dealing with his parental units, and life is not easy for Greg, but it is hilarious, and he writes about and illustrates it all in his diary, I mean, journal. After all, guys don't write in diaries.
Review:
Okay, so I'm a believer. Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Rodrick Rules are truly hilarious. The humor in these illustrated novels falls somewhere between Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series and The Simpsons. And without giving too much away, the whole Cheese Touch storyline in the first book made me think of the family brown towel situation in David Sedaris' memoir, Naked. And much like Naked, I think I will find myself reading these novels over and over again.
Kinney really gets what it is to be a kid in middle school, sugar-coating nothing. In Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I love Greg's explanation for his friendship with Rowley. "It's been great having him around, mostly because I get to use all the tricks Rodrick pulls on ME." Or when it comes time for the wrestling unit in P.E., Greg is the lightest kid in the class, and he's worried that he might have to wrestle this really big dude, Benny Wells. "But then I found out who I DID have to wrestle, and I would have traded for Benny Wells in a heartbeat." Greg has to wrestle, Fregley, the only other kid in his weight class and about as low on the school popularity scale as he can get. It would be better to get beaten up by one of the big guys then get beaten up by a dweeb.
In Rodrick Rules, Kinney's insight is applied more to Greg's family dynamic. The family motto, at least amongst the siblings, would fall along the lines of "eat or be eaten." "The truth is, Rodrick can pretty much treat me any way he wants, because he knows there's nothing I can do about it. See, Rodrick is the only one who knows about the REALLY embarrassing thing that happened to me over the summer, and he's been holding it over my head ever since. So if I ever tell on him for anything, he'll spill my secret to the whole world." And things with little Manny aren't all that much better for Greg. When Greg plays a trick on his friend, Rowley, Manny sees the whole thing. Greg thinks he's got it covered by bribing Manny with candy, but no such luck. "Manny told Mom everything. He even told her about the horror movies. Don't even ask me how he knew about that." Poor Greg. He can't even catch a break from a three-year-old.
Both of these novels are a great read and fun to look at too. The illustrations are simple and reminiscent of traditional newspaper comic strips. (Does anyone else think that the drawings of Greg's Mom look like Marcie from Peanuts?) I can't wait until my four year old is a bit bigger so I can read them to him. And if I can't wait, I suppose I can always cover them with brown paper so that no will know I'm reading a kid's book on the subway. Even at 35, there's peer-pressure.