![]() ![]() Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale.Since its debut in 2007, the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series has become a publishing phenomenon with more than 50 million books in print. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts-most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive-they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.Ĭatrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.ĭad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth-a degenerative breathing condition. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house-and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw-Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and-most serious-civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves-during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. ![]() Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement. With the power cut off and food supplies running low, things are looking desperate… Unfortunately, the humor inherent in this scenario is stifled by Kinney's having given over so much of the set up (more than two thirds of the book) to digressive, stand-up–comic rants that what could provoke manic hysteria elicits only chuckles, if that. Then the blizzard starts, and Greg, brothers Rodrick and Manny and their mother are snowed in. Predictably, Greg's jury-rigged get-rich-quick scheme in service of his Net Kritterz pet goes awry, resulting in his conviction that at any moment he will be arrested. Before getting to the sub-titular main event, Kinney lampoons school anti-bullying efforts, our modern obsession with safety and Internet games that entice players to spend real money on fake consumer goods. Here, Greg struggles to get from Thanksgiving to Christmas without attracting Santa's attention. It certainly delivers what series fans have grown to expect: "hand-lettered" text on lined, faux-journal pages and cartoon vignettes depicting the opinions and misadventures of antihero and diarist Greg Heffley. In a world where "Wimpy Kid–like" has become a shorthand to describe a certain type of book, what is there to say about the sixth volume in the groundbreaking series? ![]()
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