100 Books in One Year: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
Cannonball Read / Mr. Vlach
Book Reviews | March 5, 2009 | Comments (8)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is the third book in the Wimpy Kid series. If you are unaware, the series is told from the point of view of middle schooler Greg Heffley. He begins keeping a diary after his mom buys him a blank one, and the book is written in this format, with text that looks like handwriting and doodled illustrations. The plot consists of Greg getting himself into stupid situations, then trying to take the easy way out, usually getting him into more trouble.
Last Straw begins with a new year. Greg starts thinking about resolutions, but comes to the conclusion that he is the best person he knows and therefore doesn’t need to make any resolutions. Instead, he makes them for the other members of his family. One example of this is that he decides that his mom needs to make less noise when she chews her potato chips.
The book continues with other hilarious endeavors. For example, Greg tries playing soccer, with disastrous results. Later in the book, Greg’s dad sees what military school has done to a teenage former nemesis of his, and decides that it would be great for Greg, so Greg has to work to thwart this plan. Other things that made me laugh out loud (without giving away too much) involve a well-known children’s author and a bingo game full of old ladies.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw was highly enjoyable to read, and is also enjoyable for kids. The humor is much more sophisticated than books like Captain Underpants because while Greg’s situations are often ridiculous, they are also grounded in reality and do not just rely on toilet humor. The simple stick figure like drawings also add a lot to the story. This book is another success in the series, and I anticipate Wimpy Kid #4.
Rating: *****
This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. Details are here and the growing number of participants and their blogs are here. And check here for more of Mr. Vlach’s reviews.
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Comments
Posted by: Cara at March 5, 2009 9:54 AM
A friend of mine works at a really awesome alternative middle school and read the first book in this series to her class. Their reaction, rather than sympathizing with the kid's stressful adolescent existence, was to feel bad for him that he had to keep things from his parents and that he couldn't work things out with the bullies at school. I loved that. Somewhere in Maine there are well-adjusted preteens, everyone.