Product Description

Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into a new year and a new school where undersize weaklings share the corridors with kids who are taller, meaner and already shaving. Desperate to prove his new found maturity, which only going up a grade can bring, Greg is happy to have his not-quite-so-cool sidekick, Rowley, along for the ride. But when Rowley's star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend's popularity to his own advantage. Recorded in his diary with comic pictures and his very own words, this test of Greg and Rowley's friendship unfolds with hilarious results.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Primary Times, May-July 2007
Very funny. The diary format means it can be read in small doses
which is an encouragement for reluctant readers.

About the Author
Jeff Kinney is a brand-new and very exciting addition to the Puffin list. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is his debut novel and the comic adventures of his protagonist, Greg Heffley, began online in 2004 on www.funbrain.com where 70,000 children read about him every day. Jeff is an online developer and designer. He lives with his family in southern Massachusetts, USA.

Customer Reviews

will make you laugh out loud on public transport, even if you are 30+
i bought this book for my seven year old son, and decided to read a bit on the train home..... i would like to think of lots of clever things to say, but this book is just really funny. My son loved it too, and actually asked me if he could read for a bit longer! The comic style illustrations are also great fun. I recommend this book to anyone aged anything!

Great read for struggling readers
My 10 year old son has dyslexic tendancies - so finding reading material that is suitable for is age and that he is capable of reading can be very difficult - but he absolutley loved this book.
Great characters and a funny story combined with little sketches to liven up the pages made it an ideal read for him. He enjoyed reading this book and recommended it to several of his friends.

Brought Back Goofy Memories of My Son and His Best Friend

If you haven't had a good laugh lately, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is your source for timeless humor.

There's a particular goofiness about boys in middle school that drives parents crazy but has to delight when considered from a distance such as through reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Jeff Kinney captured that goofiness with a tongue-in-cheek irreverence that will amuse anyone reading this book.

This is a graphic novel, but not the slick sort that you see from Japan. Instead, Mr. Kinney imitates the style that a middle school boy with good printing skills might use in displaying this simulated diary in the form of Greg Heffley's journal.

Greg is a middle child as well as a middle schooler. His older brother Rodrick can't be bothered with Greg except when the temptation to torture occurs to Rodrick. His younger brother Manny is the apple of his parents' eyes and is spoiled rotten.

Greg has a few, simple needs to satisfy: Avoiding touching the cheese that's been on blacktop since the prior spring, not getting beaten up by bigger kids, playing his favorite video games (which his parents don't approve of), avoiding embarrassment, and getting credit for doing something right. Parents, teachers, fellow students, and fate conspire to thwart Greg. But Greg has one ace in the hole . . . his friend Rowley is even more of a loser than Greg is. And Greg exploits Rowley for all he's worth. The gags are often based on the results not turning out as Greg anticipated.

The book has many funny parts that will have you laughing out loud. Occasionally, Mr. Kinney goes over the top and employs too much self-satire. But the story is quickly rescued by going back into straight satire.

I derived special pleasure from the book by recounting the adventures of one of my sons and his best friend at this same age. That gave me many more things to laugh about.