Reviews

Gr 4-8-In Greg Heffley's second adventure in middle school, family relationships play a large part, though school friends and shenanigans are still featured. Jeff Kenney's sequel (2008) to Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2008, both Abrams/Amulet Books) elaborates on Greg's relationship with his overbearing older brother Roderick, who knows Greg's most embarrassing secret and uses the knowledge to get the boy to fall in line with his plans. Through experiences such as being locked in the basement while Roderick throws a party for his high school friends, attempting to buy one of Roderick's old history papers when he neglects to do his homework, or trying to get on his younger brother's good side so as to avoid a parental scolding, Greg continues to journal his experiences in a genuine fashion, even when this puts him in a bad light. The seventh grader's misadventures are sure to strike a chord with young listeners, and narrator Ramon de Ocampo provides an expressive and captivating performance. However, the subtext provided by Kinney's sketches is missing, and many of the jokes fall flat without the book's accompanying illustrations-so make sure to have the book available.-Misti Tidman, Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Kinney's junior-high diarist returns to chronicle another year's worth of comic moments in this riotous sequel. Once again, school-related drama constitutes a good portion of Greg's subject matter, from an ongoing correspondence with a pen pal ("I'm pretty sure 'aquaintance' doesn't have a 'c' in it. You really need to work on your English," Greg replies to the French student?s polite introduction) to mastering book reports by writing "exactly what the teacher wants to hear" ("There were a bunch of hard words in this book, but I looked them up in the dictionary so now I know what they mean"). As in the previous book, cartoons form part of the narrative, corroborating (or disproving) Greg?s statements. He claims that kids with last names at the start of the alphabet are smartest, and a side-by-side comparison of prim uber-nerd Alex Aruda and gap-toothed Christopher Ziegel drives the point home. Additionally, Kinney fleshes out the often testy relationships between Greg and his slacker older sibling, Rodrick, and his little brother, Manny (when Greg gets mad at Manny for shoving a cookie in his video game system, the toddler protests, "I'm ownwy thwee!" and offers a ball of tinfoil with toothpicks shoved through to apologize). The hilarious interplay between text and cartoons and the keen familial observations that set Diary of a Wimpy Kid apart are just as evident in this outing, and are just as likely to keep readers in stitches. Ages 8-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.