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113 of 133 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Or why you never want to play a tree in a school production of The Wizard of Oz, March 25, 2007
The world has not yet invented a method of finding the best webcomics currently available on the Internet for kids. So basically, for every twenty low-quality/poorly thought out amalgamations of crap, you get one bright shining star. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," the webcomic, was one such star. The only conclusion I can really draw at this point is that somebody at Abrams is a friggin' genius for plucking the comic up and making it into a book. Now normally I don't like to separate titles into "girl books" and "boy books", but Jeff Kinney has written such a marvelous "boy book" that for every parent that walks in the door of my library I'm going to be cramming this title into their arms. Heck, I'll slip it into their purses if I have to. This book is going to reach its intended audience whether I have to wrestle skeptical parents to the floor with it clamped firmly in my teeth. Want to transfer your Captain Underpants lovers from graphic novels to fiction? This book won't do that. It's just something that every single person will get a kick out of.
First things first. Boys do not have diaries. Girls have diaries. Let's get that straight cause things could get messy if we don't. Basically, what we have here are the gathered thoughts and memories of Greg Haffley. Greg's got a pretty average life, all things considered. His older brother is a jerk, his younger brother annoying, his best friend a doofus, and his parents perfect dweebs. To top it all off, Greg's been thrown into his first year of middle school and things are really weird. Suddenly friendships are shifting and Greg's not sure who he wants to be. Add in some haunted houses, wrestling, downhill games involving bodily injury, forbidden cheese, and basic family fears and you've got yourself one heckuva debut.
I should specify that in spite of the fact that this book is based on a webcomic, it's not a graphic novel. Not really. Comic illustrations appear on every single page and complement the storytelling, but this is really more a (what's the term again?) illustrated novel. What this appears to be, more than anything else, is a notebook that's been written in by hand with the occasional cartoony illustration here and there for effect. It never breaks up into panels or long illustrated periods. There are just tasty little comic treats on each and every page.
Now the term "laugh-out-loud funny" is not to be bandied about. When I say that something is "laugh-out-loud funny" I don't want to be talking titters, mild chuckles, or undersized, underfed guffaws. I want to describe something so amusing that you think about it later and start laughing in an embarrassing manner on the subway. Jeff Kinney gave me that more than once. There was the moment when Greg's trying to get out of performing as an apple-throwing tree in his school's production of, "The Wizard of Oz." He thinks that maybe if he screws up what he has to say, that might be his out. "But when you only have one word to say, it's really hard to mess up your lines." The next thing we know, "Dorothy" has picked an apple and Greg's trying out a tentative, "Owwwchhh?" Oh! And the form thank you letters! Greg figures out that he says basically the same thing to all his relatives. So he just cranks out a form letter and fills in the details. This works great until he gets to something like, "Dear AUNT LORETTA, Thank you so much for the awesome PANTS! How did you now I wanted that for Christmas? I love the way the PANTS looks on my LEGS! All my friends will be so jealous that I have my very own PANTS." I think I was laughing over this for a good three hours after I read it.
There's something particularly charming about Kinney's illustration/cartoons too. The lines are incredibly clean and precise, even as they are showing some pretty raucous stuff. Kinney's grasp on visual gags is without comparison. At one point Greg happens to mention that if you "mess up in front of Dad" (i.e. kick over your little brother's toys maliciously) he'll throw whatever he has in his hands at you. We then see two shots of Greg misbehaving. The first is labeled, "GOOD TIME TO SCREW UP:" and shows him kicking over some blocks while his dad is holding the newspaper. The second reads, "BAD TIME TO SCREW UP:" and shows him doing it while his dad is cementing together a brick wall. Comedy gold, people! The comics are drawn over lined paper, making the whole enterprise really feel as if you're poring through someone else's journal.
And for all that, the writing's not too shabby. When Greg talks about week-ends he says, "The only reason I get out of bed at all on weekends is because eventually, I can't stand the taste of my own breath anymore." Been there. Tasted that. Kinney's able to point out all kinds of funny school details we adults may have forgotten, but that kids will recognize instantly. For example, why should you tell kids that "It's great to be you," when a lot of people really should think about changing themselves? We see two bullies shoving some poor kid down at this point yelling, "It's great to be me!," you you have to concede the point. I mean, Kinney remembers what it was like to roll a really big snowball and then see that you were ripping up the grass on your lawn in the process. No one remembers that! Characters are also lovingly delineated, not only in words, but in their little comic illustrations. Take as your example the character of Greg's fellow student and neighbor Fregley. Fregley is weird. So how would you, as the writer/cartoonist, convey this? You might want to have him say things like, "Wanna see my secret freckle?". You might draw him with a mouth wider than his head. You might have him stabbing kites in his front yard, shirtless. For a start, anyway. Every character in this book feels real. Even Greg's annoying, practically mute, little brother.
And so much more. Such as the name of Greg's older brother's band. Loaded Diaper, only it's spelled "Loded Diper" with an umlaut over the "o". Greg suspects his brother thinks that it really is spelled that way. And there are the small failures and triumphs of your average pre-adolescent. No one in their right mind would ever want to return to the days of Middle School, but if Jeff Kinney keeps churning out books like this one, I'll follow him there any day of the week. This title has already been getting some pretty choice reviews here and there. Can I make a nomination for funniest children's book of 2007? Consider it a necessary purchase.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious Even for Adults, December 8, 2007
I learned of this book in my University of Maryland alumni magazine and I'm very glad I did. The author, Jeff Kinney, wrote a popular comic strip called "Igdoof" in the early 90's for the Maryland student newspaper, the Diamondback. His comic alone made me look forward to each new issue of the paper and I continued to seek it out even after I graduated to read Kinney's comic.
From what I understand, he fought to get the strip syndicated after he graduated, but it never happened- presumably because his somewhat simplistic and crude artistic style is nothing like what you see in the daily comics sections. I had often wondered what became of Kinney, whose considerable talent should not be going to waste, so I was happy to pick this book up once I discovered it.
The book, likely written for kids at or above a fifth or sixth grade reading level, was better reading for a 37 year old than I could have possibly imagined. Kinney picks up right where he left off with the Igdoof strip with the very same humor and art that made me enjoy it so much. The book was laugh-out-loud funny throughout and I would recommend it to not only kids, but anyone who can appreciate humor books. I wish Jeff all the success in the world and look forward to reading more of his works-- he has really found his calling.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, August 10, 2007
If you work with middle grade kids, be sure to check out DIARY OF A WIMPY KID.
Greg Heffley is a 6th-grade weakling trying to make his mark in the middle school world. His family includes a mom, a dad, a heavy metal big brother, and a whiny, tattling little brother. His best friend is Rowley, another odd 6th-grader with overprotective parents and the world-class ability to annoy.
Greg is always a victim of the big, mean bullies in the school. He constantly seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In an attempt to be "cool" he experiments with the idea of weightlifting, creating his own haunted house, running for class treasurer, and building a snowman big enough to be considered for the Guiness Book of World Records. However, the only mild success he accomplishes is as a safety guard whose job is to walk the kindergarten kids home at lunchtime.
At least with that job he gets free hot chocolate and misses twenty minutes of math class.
Readers will be able to relate to Greg's typical teenage problems. His parents ground him from his video games, his older brother picks on him, his little brother gets him in trouble, and the girls in his school think he is a waste of their time. He'd like to pretend he's just a mediocre student when he is really one of the "uncool" gifted kids. The odds are just stacked against him.
Kinney bills his books as "a novel in cartoons," which is sure to be a popular feature with middle grade readers, especially those of the reluctant variety. The clever illustrations were a fantastic way to play up the already great humor in the book.
Once again, if you have anything at all to do with middle graders, get this book in their hands ASAP.
Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
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