"So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents." -- Genesis 25:27 (NKJV)
When summer's over, harsh reality returns with the school bell. For Greg Heffley, the school building door might as well be labeled, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." Greg and Rowley (his only "friend" and usually a happy victim) have had a fight, so Greg is on his own, and he laments that ". . . it seems like EVERYONE is having more fun than me these days." Undaunted, he puts on a brave show, but there's a new threat: puberty is starting for some classmates and the adults want to share too much information about it for Greg's taste. On top of that, Greg's mom is going back to school, and the "men" in the house have to take up the load. What's a guy to do?
The jokes, the hilarious situations, the self-deluding day dreams, and new indignities pile up faster than Greg can make a mess out of them.
One of the beauties of this series is that it's written to appeal about equally to the 10-12 aged group and to adults, who will be reminded of events and thoughts they haven't considered in decades . . . but that were once "life and death." I suspect that the older group will like this book even more than the younger set. For the young people, there's an extra reward in being able to laugh about the events with friends.
Will Greg make it through? Read the book, and you'll agree that the journey is more fun than the destination.
I "devoured" this book. I didn't realize that I could become so deeply engaged in a book that I spent so little time with.
For me, this is the best book in the series and promises more good things to come as Greg gets a little older.
I marvel that Jeff Kinney can remember all of these predictable youth crises and capture them in such a fresh and engaging way. Well done!