Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

I guess I just don't get boys' humor, and I never will. Of course, since I didn't "get" the humor of the Three Stooges, it's understandable that I don't appreciate the humor of Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Greg Huffley kept a journal all through his first year in middle school. Now, as he starts the second year, he has a secret from his summer vacation. Unfortunately, his older brother, Rodrick, knows what really happened to Greg over the summer. And, as an older brother, for months he holds it over Greg's head as a threat. In Greg's journal and cartoons, the reader sees four months of middle school, and the disaster that is a middle schooler's life.

On an intellectual level, I understand why this book, and the previous one, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, were bestsellers. Greg Huffley, the narrator, is a middle child, in middle school, who has problems with his Mom, his older brother, and his little brother. Cartoons appear on every page. And, the humor is perfect for a male audience of boys ages nine to twelve. There's a boy name Peter Uteger. Naturally, the other boys call him P.U. Rodrick's band is called Loded Diper. Rodrick puts fake throw-up on people's cars, and, there are even fart cartoons.

What can I say? It's probably the perfect book to keep boys of that age reading. Give them Captain Underpants books first, and then move them on to Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. Just don't expect us "girls" to get the jokes.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney. Amulet Books, ©2008. ISBN 9780810994737 (hardcover), 224p.