Community Reviews
For a kid's book, I enjoyed it. I laughed out loud several times and, as an added bonus, finally got some of the jokes my 9 year-old son has been telling me.
Okay, I was forced to read this only because I have to do an event to help "celebrate" the newest book of the series: "The Ugly Truth".
Greg is a self serving and greedy horrible friend. Yet his plight are humorous and for some reason, you do find him amusing and liking the book. I can't understand why I liked it except I was having a mild giggle and wanted to finish it. I am perplexed but going to read the next one in this series.
Greg is a self serving and greedy horrible friend. Yet his plight are humorous and for some reason, you do find him amusing and liking the book. I can't understand why I liked it except I was having a mild giggle and wanted to finish it. I am perplexed but going to read the next one in this series.
One star is being kind. Kindness being a thing Greg Heffley has never heard of nor, I suspect, will never acquire.
I don't get this book. Is it a satirical book for older kids about the trials of middle school? If it is, then why is it written at a 2nd-grade level? If it's not a satirical book for other kids, what is the message? Because any normal person over the age of 15 can see that Greg Heffley is a jerk and is not worthy of emulation. But if the intended audience reads this, will they be able to tell? I don't think so. I remember being that age and aping just about everything I read or saw or listened to. My parents did a pretty good job about helping filter what I read (without being censorious) but I still remember a phase where I read a doofy magazine called "J-14" constantly and was obsessed with lip gloss.
The problem is that there is nothing redeemable about Greg. He never does the right thing, he is never nice or kind, and he is self-centered and heartless throughout the whole plot. What are impressionable kids supposed to take away from this? That it's okay to be a jerk to your best friend just because he won't leave you (presumably because he has no other options)? That it's okay to let your parents spend hundreds of dollars on a gift you'll never use because you can't be honest with them about what's going on in your life? That it's okay to blame literally everyone else in your life for the things that go wrong in yours? I'm sorry, but no. I see enough behavior like this without the added help from a kid's book series.
If you'd like to go read a diary-formatted book series that is hilariously funny and manages to occasionally find a redeeming quality in the main character, try [b:Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging|402013|Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, #1)|Louise Rennison|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1400533444s/402013.jpg|108471] instead.
I also should maybe have been tipped off that the top review was from Rick Riordan, a man who has proved time and time again that he has no concept of what quality children's literature is.
Lastly: the reason I read this was mostly because ALL my kids have read it and it is ALWAYS coming up, so I thought for the sake of reading what they're reading, I would try it. Let's just leave it at this one and polite, noncommittal comments.
I don't get this book. Is it a satirical book for older kids about the trials of middle school? If it is, then why is it written at a 2nd-grade level? If it's not a satirical book for other kids, what is the message? Because any normal person over the age of 15 can see that Greg Heffley is a jerk and is not worthy of emulation. But if the intended audience reads this, will they be able to tell? I don't think so. I remember being that age and aping just about everything I read or saw or listened to. My parents did a pretty good job about helping filter what I read (without being censorious) but I still remember a phase where I read a doofy magazine called "J-14" constantly and was obsessed with lip gloss.
The problem is that there is nothing redeemable about Greg. He never does the right thing, he is never nice or kind, and he is self-centered and heartless throughout the whole plot. What are impressionable kids supposed to take away from this? That it's okay to be a jerk to your best friend just because he won't leave you (presumably because he has no other options)? That it's okay to let your parents spend hundreds of dollars on a gift you'll never use because you can't be honest with them about what's going on in your life? That it's okay to blame literally everyone else in your life for the things that go wrong in yours? I'm sorry, but no. I see enough behavior like this without the added help from a kid's book series.
If you'd like to go read a diary-formatted book series that is hilariously funny and manages to occasionally find a redeeming quality in the main character, try [b:Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging|402013|Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, #1)|Louise Rennison|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1400533444s/402013.jpg|108471] instead.
I also should maybe have been tipped off that the top review was from Rick Riordan, a man who has proved time and time again that he has no concept of what quality children's literature is.
Lastly: the reason I read this was mostly because ALL my kids have read it and it is ALWAYS coming up, so I thought for the sake of reading what they're reading, I would try it. Let's just leave it at this one and polite, noncommittal comments.
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