Wimpy Kid Series — Kristie Weibling

I read a few of the books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I’d seen many students read them, so it was fascinating to find out what they’ve been enjoying and laughing at all this time! I liked that the Wimpy Kid books reflect middle school life in a way I think most people can relate to. It brought back memories from my own middle school years, and also from the time that I interpreted at middle schools, such as of line dancing units in PE. The constant humor used allows the books to present issues that many students face in a gentle way.

I think upper elementary school students and middle school students would particularly like this series. As an adult, I also think that parents and teachers–and, well, many other adults–would enjoy it as well!

My only concern with these books is that I haven’t noticed the POV character, Greg, expressing remorse. I do appreciate that this book doesn’t preach to its audience, and I think it’s possible that Greg feels regret but presents his feelings differently in his diary. Nonetheless, I felt somewhat disconnected from Greg because of this. I’m optimistic that I’ll get more insight into his conscience as I read other books in the series in the future.

I really like that these books could encourage students’ self-expression. In class, my group has talked about asking students to keep a journal in class. We think it would be helpful to read Greg’s journal entries before we write our own. I really like that Greg uses both pictures and writing to talk about his experiences. For many students, drawing a picture could help students to launch their ideas.

I think it would be neat to also have a discussion about how Greg continues to journal throughout middle school, what his motivation is, and how journaling might be helpful to him. One site online suggested a class discussion about what would change if Greg published his journal entries publically, either with his name or anonymously. Would it affect what he writes? How might people respond?

The cover of the ninth Wimpy Kid book will be released in April–which turns out to be Wimpy Kid month–and another great idea I found online is to have kids design their own covers for the book. I’ll be keeping this idea in mind for future series that are popular among my students.