The Book Addict Reviews: Roderick Rules (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2) by Jeff Kinney

Genre: Young Adult, Middle Grade, Siblings, Humor
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Goodreads | Website
Rating: 3 stars
Borrowed book from library. 

In A Nutshell:
I enjoyed this continuation of Greg's story--but I was not so enchanted with the story that I am compelled to read the next book in the series.  If I see it, I will probably pick it up but I do not think I will seek it out.

Review:
Greg's mom is so proud of him for finishing his first journal, she immediately went and got him another journal to chronicle this year.  And in that journal we are re-acquainted with a lot of the same cast of characters that charmed us in the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Greg is still full of crazy schemes and wild ideas.  Rowley is still the faithful sidekick who always manages to come out ahead despite Greg's perceptions.  And Rodrick--well Rodrick is still the band member/big brother who flip flops between ignoring Greg and terrorizing Greg.

Overall, this book continued many of the same elements from the original.  In some ways I found this consistency appealing.  But the consistency also made the book a little too predictable to hold my attention for too long.  I think if the book had been any longer I would have really struggled to stay interested enough to finish the book.    

Jeff Kinney is able to bring out a lot of youthfulness and playfulness through his story and his drawings.  The book moves fast and is a relatively light and easy read.  There are quite a few parts that are laugh-out-loud funny, which was a little embarrassing when I was reading it at McDonald's while my daughter played in the play area.

Overall, I am glad I read it but I am not 100% sure if I will read the next book in the series or not.  I am not opposed to continuing to read more of the series--but I am also not driven to run out and get the next book either.

Recommendations:
I have the movie at my house, so I plan to watch and see if it compliments the book:

The Book Addict Reviews: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Genre: Young Adult, Middle Grade, Friendship, Humor
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Goodreads | Website
Rating: 3 stars
Borrowed from the library.

In A Nutshell:
I liked the book and particularly liked the format of the book.  I am not sure that I liked the use of label of wimpy when in reality Greg seem to me to be an average middle school student. 

Review:
Greg Heffley is starting a journal--not a diary.  He is very clear that he will not be writing a "'Dear Diary' this and 'Dear Diary' that." (p.1).  Instead, Greg chronicles his life as a middle school student.  He is not the captain of the football team or class president.  He is just a normal kid who figures he ranks around 52nd or 53rd on the popularity list in his school.  But throughout the year, he tries a few different schemes to improve his popularity (bulking up, drawing cartoons for the school newspaper, or joining the safety patrol).  And then he writes about each of these schemes with cartoon drawings to compliment his writing. 

The format of this story really drew me in.  It felt authentic--as though it was actually written and drawn by a middle school student.  However, I did struggle with labeling Greg as a "wimpy kid."  According to dictionary.com, a wimp is a weak, ineffectual, timid person.  Greg is not a physically strong person.  But I do not know that I would describe Greg as a timid person.  He is willing to try new things.  He comes up with lots of new schemes--and actually tries them with ineffectual and admittedly hilarious results.  But I believe actually trying them takes him out of the wimpy category, and that label seems to have an unnecessary negative connotation when Greg really comes off more as an average middle school student than a "wimpy" one.

Recommendations:
I will plan to read the next in the series:

I also plan to watch the movies: