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| Published in 2010 |
I can understand why Jeff Kinney’s book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth made the New York Times
Bestseller list and is so popular among middle school students. At first
glance, a reader can see that the book would be visually appealing to young people because it is a graphic novel. The book is written in first person
point-of-view from Greg Heffley’s perspective. The cover and binding look like a
diary or a spiral notebook, but Greg insists it is a “journal.” The
illustrations are drawn in a cartoon format, and the pages are lined like
notebook paper. The book is divided by months and days, rather than by chapters,
and the words appear to have been written by a young child. The book is an easy
read because of the many illustrations and large font size; I read it in one
sitting. I have to admit this is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long
time. I can’t wait to read more of
Kinney’s books! I highly recommend that adults take the time to read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series because it
really does give a humorous glimpse into the mind of a middle-school-age child.
Greg Heffley, the protagonist, is worried about the same
things we all worried about or experienced when we were that age: our appearance, our friends,
and the crazy antics that often involve family get-togethers. In this book, the
family get-together involves Greg’s Uncle Gary’s FOURTH wedding, and he has had
to take part in "every single one of them!" He can’t understand why there’s all
the fuss; next year will be Uncle Gary’s FIFTH wedding. But the funniest
anecdote is when Greg’s school announces there will be a special fund raiser
for the music program at their school, a lock-in. I guess this one appealed to
me because I’m a teacher, and I could visualize something like this actually happening.
Greg thinks it’s going to be great because boys AND girls
will be there. However, when he checks in, he notices there’s “at least one
adult for every kid,” and there’s not many girls at the lock-in at all. It’s
not quite what he expects. One thing leads to another, and the adults can’t get
the kids to participate in the activity center because everyone is listening to
their electronic gadgets. This is a realistic portrayal of young people today!
All the cell phones and electronic devices are confiscated, and this causes a
major uproar later because the parents can’t get in touch with their children.
Throughout the evening, there are several misunderstandings between the adults
and kids, but the funniest thing happens when they are persuaded to be “social”
and play a game.
Here’s Greg’s explanation of how the game is supposed to
work: Each team has to go into another room and take a picture of one of its
members. But the picture has to be a close-up, like an ear or a nose or a hand
or something like that. Then each team will bring their picture to the library,
and the other teams will have to guess who is in the picture. The winning team
will get ice cream sandwiches (Kinney 66-67).
The boys are disappointed when they are handed old-fashioned
instant cameras because “they don’t have a screen or anything” (Kinney 145).
Greg’s team then goes off to the science lab to take their picture. They go
back and forth trying to decide who and what part of the body to photograph. Is
this really something you want to tell a group of middle school boys to do? Finally,
they decide to take a picture of Tyson Sander’s bent arm, and they walk proudly
back to the auditorium to win their prize. When the adults see the photograph they
misinterpret it as someone’s “posterior,” become angry, and threaten to call
their parents to take them home. The boys don't know what the word posterior means. Mr. Tanner says the one "whose butt [is] in the
picture [is] going to REALLY be in trouble" (Kinney 151)! The kids run because they fear a “butt
lineup” to try to catch the culprit.
Finally, Mr. Tanner listens to the boys’ story and compares
the photo with Tyson’s arm and all is resolved. It was all just a simple
misunderstanding. The entire book is filled with misunderstandings like this
one between adults and kids that, I believe, both can relate to and will enjoy!
I highly recommend this book not only for middle school students but for adults
as well.
There’s one journal entry I have to comment on before
closing. Greg is struggling with math. He says, “This math thing is becoming a problem.
We have ‘standardized testing’ coming up at my school, and I heard that the
teachers won’t get their bonuses unless we get good scores. So there’s a lot of
pressure on us kids, which kind of stinks. I remember back in kindergarten,
math used to be really FUN” (Kinney 66). Bonuses? What’s a bonus? Mr. Kinney,
where did you ever get this idea for your book?
I absolutely loved Diary
of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth!
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