Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School, is go-to reading for ages 8 and up

Some constants about 10 year old kids are that they like pizza, cartoons, video games and hanging out with their friends. They’re also huge fans of the Wimpy Kid series. It’s a publishing juggernaut about the life of Greg Heffley, a tween/teen boy who is discovering life and trying to avoid his family.  “All my friends read it, they’ve read all of them” our 13 year old niece told us when I asked her about Wimpy Kid.  Now that we have a young reader in the house I’m realizing just how good-and impactful the Wimpy Kid books are for that age. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School is no exception, I read the book- it’s fabulous and the crowd at our school’s Scholastic book fair purchased every copy in stock.

It took me a moment to understand the book. There aren’t any discernible chapters or breaks between a change of locations or big numbers to let you know the subject is changing. The first part of Old School takes place during a week, so there are subject headers to let you know that it’s a new day, but that’s it. The book is also printed on faux notebook paper to give it the look of a teen’s diary, hence the main title of the book.

Written from Greg’s perspective, Old School starts out in September where his grandfather is moving in with the family and his mother is coordinating a drive to have people ‘unplug’ for a weekend. We meet Phew, a younger student as school who Greg tries to mentor but realizes that he’s much smarter than him. We also meet Roddick, his older brother, a highly organized troop of girl scouts, camp counselors and the urban legends that anyone who’s been to camp can understand.

Even as an adult the number of jokes that work in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School are staggering. I was laughing out loud at least once a page, chuckling twice a page and having memories that I can relate to throughout the book. Jeff Kinney drills down into what it’s like to be a 12 year old and manages to write it in a way that both adults and children can relate to.

Let’s be clear, the Wimpy Kid books are meant for middle school readers and up. Each paragraph has three sentences maximum before going on to the next one or being separated by a cartoon. They’re meant for that age, but anyone can enjoy them.

Case in point, at the recent book fair at our son’s elementary school. I was there on three occasions and there was a steady trail of kids buying that book every time. My wife asked if we should get it because our 6 year old was handling the book, eyeing the cartoons and making out what vocabulary he could. I told her that we had it, she needed to read it and he will love it. That night she started to read it and laughed out loud just like I did. We’re not going to let our kids know that we enjoy it though.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is their series of books. But parents can easily embrace giving them to anyone elementary aged or older. When he’s just a little bit older it will be his go-to series. Right now he’s mastering Captain Underpants, the next conquest is Wimpy Kid.