A Book for Wimps

After reading seven billion pages worth of Libba Bray's trilogy this last couple of weeks, I decided it was time for a break. By the way, the second book was action-packed and exciting, but the third was 400 pages too long, frustrating, had a disappointing ending, didn't make much sense and I hated what she did with the characters. Wasn't worth a whole post to say that.

The break I chose took me about an hour to read. Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" was hilarious. It's geared towards the tween crowd and when my seven-year-old saw it in the library book pile, her interest was peaked. I told her I had to read it first to check on the language and content and she nearly hounded me to death until I finished it. It was a long hour. The book checked out and now she's happily reading it.

"Diary" is the story in cartoons and journal entries of Greg, a wimpy kid. He's not only wimpy in size and strength, but in his friendships and decisions. He always picks the wimpy way out of situations, often to the detriment of his only friend, Rowley. He's not much for working hard or taking responsibility and he sure has zero patience for his little brother, Manny. Greg is funny and has a total middle-school-age-boy view of the world. One of my favorite parts was the skanky, nasty cheese that has been sitting on the basketball court pavement for eons. Anybody who dares to touch the cheese then become a pariah, having now contracted The Cheese Touch. I swear, that brought me straight back to sixth grade. It was awesome.

I started to get on Greg's side, thinking his parents were a bit hard on him and that he didn't get the credit he deserved. Really he didn't deserve much credit because he's such a wimp about things, but it was written in such a funny way, I was willing to let it slide. If you're in the mood for some juvenile fun, give it a read. Or give it to a 10-year-old nephew and watch him giggle.