Book Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Roderick Rules

Last year, when I read Jeff Kinney's first book, I could definitely tell why his book kept my reluctant reader ES reading well into the night. Jeff has an uncanny ability for capturing the angst and humor of middle school boys and his illustrations add extra oomph to the stories he tells. This second book in his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, is no wimpy sequel.

In Roderick Rules, Greg Heffley bemoans his boring summer and actually looks forward to the start of another year in middle school. However, with an older brother like Roderick, life can never really be boring. Roderick gets by with quite a bit, because he holds a humiliating secret over Greg's head.

I read most of the book in one sitting, on Tuesday, while waiting to see the doctor and then waiting for a blood test (to test my liver function since starting the new meds six weeks ago). I couldn't help but chuckle out loud at several of the hilarious illustrations (like the one where Greg decides the swim practice water is too cold, so he excuses himself to the bathroom, which is unfortunately so cold that he ends up wrapping himself in toilet paper in an attempt to stay warm). With illustrations on all but 3 pages, you can see why adolescent boys are scrambling to read this series.

I will have to check to see if the library has the third in the series. I didn't purchase the third book for ES's birthday. He received the first two from his brothers for last year's birthday.

Perhaps, I should have, since he gave one of his presents away to MS shortly after opening it. It was a shirt with Animal, from the Muppets, jamming on the drums and it said "I Rock!" MS thought it was a perfect gift for YS, since he plays the drums and he does, indeed, ROCK. However, ES said he could never wear a shirt with some Elmo-like dude on it.

As far as I'm concerned, Animal is way cool and ES ought to be proud to wear it. Still, I think next time I will consult the web site my friend, Tammy, mentioned. They do sell the Animal shirts there as well, but my favorite on that site is a t-shirt with a variety of drums and the line "Weapons of Mass Percussion."

ES loved the first two Wimpy Kid books. He was actually happy to receive them and read them quickly. That is unheard of. So, I'm thinking MS can sleep in the Animal shirt (after all, he rocks too, just not on the drums ... yet).

I'll plan on purchasing the third and fourth Wimpy Kid books as a Christmas gift, since I learned that the fourth book is due out in October of 2009. I don't think I'll make the additional purchase of this book, however. (If you follow the link, you can watch a two minute interview with the author of this series.) ES might be willing to read Greg Heffley's diaries, but there is no way in the world I'm going to convince him to write one of his own! I think he'd give that one away to MS, too, but MS would really use it (Mr. Artist and Grand Storyteller).