Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney: A Book Review of big shot & No Brainer
As a general rule I am not a big fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I find the narrator, Greg Heffley to be a self entitled little brat with a bad attitude that really gets up my nose. The only reason I read these books to start with was because I had a young foster brother who absolutely loved them and we would send each other our favourite books to read, and he sent me almost the entire set over time. Recently I had two more Wimpy Kid books cross my path and I was quite surprised with both of them, for different reasons.
# 16 Big Shot
Considering this is a Wimpy Kid book, I was quite surprised, as it really doesn’t seem to follow the same groove as the previous books. For a start, Greg’s ‘best friend’ Rowley is not featured in it at all, so Greg wasn’t there berating, belittling and bullying him, which is all he seems to do in the previous books.
I was reminded of the sports day we would have back when I was inn primary school (Only a few decades ago now. Holy heck! When did THAT happen?) The hoping to never be put in the game, wishing it would just be over with and that niggling feeling of also wanting to know what it would feel like to win and dreaming of being the ‘hero’ of the game.
I enjoyed this book a lot more than any of the previous ones. This is the first Wimpy Kid book I’d actually recommend to young readers.
# 18 No Brainer
I know none of these books are exactly realistic, but this one seriously derailed from the usual track of the previous books in the series. It really is a lot higher up on the nonsense scale. It reads more like a 13-Storey Treehouse meets David Walliams in a bouncy castle. It just didn’t have the same ‘vibes’ as previous books in the series. For a minute there I thought the author had finally found a tactic that worked, but then he goes and tangles it all up again. It seems as though Jeff Kinney has lost his train of thought and now he’s merely winging it.
In saying that, Greg Heffley doesn’t come across as self-entitled or manipulative as he was in the earlier books in the series. He’s a lot more respectful of the people around him, which is a part of growing up I suppose, so it shows that Greg’s character is not motionless throughout the series.
It’s still not a book I’d have high on my recommendation list, but it’s still better for a tween / youngster to read this than to not read at all.