The Diary of a Wimpy Kid

~~First, it is a JOURNAL,
      not a diary....

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. New York: Amulet Books. 2008.

ISBN 9780810993136

Jeff Kinney

PLOT SUMMARY:

Grey Heffley is starting middle school, 7th grade do be exact; he is neither an athlete nor popular, what he is the average normal adolescent middle child, which may sometimes be known as a wimpy kid. Greg would like to be popular at school or at the least be accepted by his peers. Greg has a miserable life at school and at home -- he has an older brother, Rodrick and a younger brother, Manny -- between school and his brothers -- Greg's entire life seems destined for misery. Rodrick enjoys playing tricks on Greg; at the beginning of summer, “Rodrick woke [him] up in the middle of the night. Rodrick told me I slept through the whole summer, but that luckily I woke up just in time for the first day of school.” As far as Manny is concerned, Greg realizes he is the baby of the family and he always “runs to where Mom is and tells on him and [Greg] knows he is in big trouble.” Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately Greg has a friend, Rowley -- these two are constantly getting in trouble at school – from “bringing personal music players to school” to “hanging posters for Class Treasurer with ‘fabrications’ about the other candidates.” Greg’s life, in all its chaotic splendor, is chronicled through his first year in Middle School.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

 Jeff Kinney has created a wonderful novel in cartoons with the main character / protagonist being Greg Heffley along with his sidekick Rowley Jefferson. The plot is centered around Greg and his entire life; from entering middle school where he says “for the record I think middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented. You got kids like me who haven’t hit their growth spurt yet mixed in with these gorillas who need to shave twice a day” to his home life where he begs his Mom “not to make him sign up. Those school plays are always musicals, and the last thing he needs is to have to sing a solo in front of the whole school.” Greg is always in turmoil with his older brother, Rodrick – who could be seen as one of the antagonists. I think this novel has a few antagonists – Manny, the younger brother, entering middle school, life in general, and even Greg himself is both the protagonist and antagonist. The novel is realistic, Mr. Kinney is able to draw on real-life experiences and put them on paper – both in words and stick figures. Greg received a much unappreciated Big Wheel from Rowley as a Christmas present – well, finally in January Greg figured out “a way to have some fun with … the gift.” The game is “one guy rides down the hill and the other guy tries to knock him off with a football. Rowley was the first one down the hill, and I was the thrower.” The scenario is hilarious but the stick pictures add a lot to the tale – the entire event is knee slapping, side-splitting comical.

As Greg struggles to find acceptance and figure out who he really is, lives little ironies continue to follow him. His friend Rowley broke his hand while playing the Big Wheel game because Greg “finally knocked Rowley off the Big Wheel but it didn’t happen the way [he] expected. [Greg] was trying to hit him in the shoulder, but missed and the football went under the front tire. Rowley tried to break his ball by sticking out his arms, but he landed pretty hard on his left hand.” Now “Christmas vacation is over and they’re back at school.” Rowley’s broke hand is garnering all kinds of attention, “everyone was crowding around him like he was a hero or something.” Greg “tried to cash in on some of Rowley’s new popularity, but it totally backfired.” He thought he would share the news that he was the reason Rowley broke his hand but classmates were not impressed, they called him a “MEANIE!” Greg quickly figures out “Rowley’s injury thing is a pretty good racket;” therefore, he goes home gets some gauze and wraps his hand “to make it look like it was hurt.” Again, this backfired on him, the girls did not swarm him, no one wrote their name on his bandage and the only “attention the bandage received was from a couple of people, but believe me, they were not the type of people he was going for.” The trials and tribulations of Greg’s life continue in the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series.

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

Publisher's Weekly: "Kinney's popular Web comic, which began in 2004, makes its way to print as a laugh-out-loud 'novel in cartoons,' adapted from the series. Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year's worth of drama."

CONNECTIONS:

* Have students create a list of traits they think
   would be considered wimpy
* Have students create a list of their characteristics / traits
* Discuss these lists and how people should treat others
   that are different
* Discuss family dynamics -- older brother, middle child, baby brother
* Continue reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series