Coming soon...

reviews of:
THE LOST SYMBOL
CATCHING FIRE
THE ROAD
THE 13 1/2 LIVES OF CAPTAIN BLUEBEAR
... and more!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, by Jeff Kinney

Hmmm. I'm not sure what to make of this one, really.

I've always liked the DOAWK series. It provides laughs and has gotten a lot of people reading. I recently read about the author in the USA Today and he seems like a very cool person.

The newest book in the series follows Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler who characterizes himself as 'wimpy', but really shouldn't, as he tries to prevent his dad from making him go to military school. But, as usual, the storyline is loosely told, as the emphasis in the books are on the characters and the quirky situatations they get in. I guess you could argue that that is how they should be - after all, if you or I had a diary it wouldn't have a 'storyline'. But I would have liked it a whole lot better if it did. The book is very funny, but there were not really funny moments you could quote later, like the original had plenty of. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and as long as Mr. Kinney keeps writing, I will always be reading them.

(P.S. Everyone is reading these, from 6 to 66, so I wouldn't be worried about appropriateness (appropriateability?))