Greg Heffley is just going into middle school, and things aren't going very well for him. All of the other kids in his class are terrible, and his friends and family are making him horribly uncool. Follow Greg through this series of terrible middle school happenings as he navigates the world of being a middle schooler.
AGE RANGE INTERMEDIATE
THEMES
Middle School
Bullying
Drama
OVERALL RATING 4/10
There aren't very many books that I can say I really don't like, but this is one of them. I will start by saying I understand why kids like it. The characters and events in the story often include kids doing things they aren't allowed, and it represents characters that don't always do the right thing. The book is also written with less dense text and lots of illustrations, so it is perfect for middle school-aged kids who aren't too keen on reading. So, you can see why kids would like a book that is easy to read and has imperfect characters - but this book is terrible at representing kids. The main character never feels bad about the things he does, and he is mean all the time without any emotion around it. It never mentions him feeling guilt, or trying to do something good for someone else - he's just always trying to make things work out for himself. Kids do bad things in real life, but they don't do them because they want to ruin the lives of everyone else, or because they don't care about their friends. In my experience, when kids do something wrong, it was usually an accident, or because they were really scared or angry, and they have emotions around it. Greg just seems like a monster, and he is the one you are supposed to relate to. On top of all that, all the girls in the book are represented as makeup-obsessed maniacs who have no personality at all, and hardly any of them even have names.
PROS
Easy to read
Characters are more fun to read for kids because they are flawed
CONS
Represents kids as emotionless and selfish monsters
Sexist