Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney

Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
Genre: MG Fiction
Rating: A
For: Fun

Can I just say one more time how much I love these books! This fourth one does not disappoint and continues the wonderful tradition established in the first three. Our hero, the wimpy kid, Greg, writes in his diary about surviving summer. Yes, it's nice to be out of school, but he was at least looking forward to riding the Cranium Shaker on his vacation but his parents have decided they don't have the money for the beach this year. So he's stuck at home, which is made worse because he has a falling out with his best friend.

So he's left to go to the local pool, and try to start a business to make some money, and suffer through his mom's efforts to get him to do something other than watch TV and play video games.

Sounds awfully familiar! That's what is great about these books. They are so simple with hardly any plot, yet so funny because they are eerily true to life. Kids get it. Adults get it. They are wonderful for everyone.

And because I know my fellow book bloggers will love this, here's a bit I just have to quote. Greg's mom has started a book club to try to overcome the TV issue. He says:

Anyway, Mom told everyone to bring their favorite book to today's meeting so we could pick one and discuss it. All the guys laid their books on the table, and everyone seemed pretty happy with the selection except Mom.

(Pictures of books include Sudoku, video game cheats, shark pop ups, etc.)

Mom said the books we brought weren't "real" literature and that we were gonna have to start with the "classics." Then she brought out a bunch of books she must've had since SHE was a kid.

(Pictures of Little Women, Old Yeller, The Yearling and Anne of Green Gables)

These are the exact same types of books our teachers are always pushing us to read at school. They have a program where if you read a "classic" in your free time, they reward you with a sticker of a hamburger or something like that. I don't know who they think they're fooling. You can get a sheet of a hundred stickers down at the arts-and-crafts store for fifty cents.

I'm not really sure what makes a book a "classic" to begin with, but I think it has to be at least fifty years old and some person or animal has to die at the end.

And so it goes from there! Funny, funny stuff. If you have kids, they'll love this stuff. If you don't have kids, read them anyway, because you'll love it too.

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