Utter five little words - Diary of a Wimpy Kid - to anyone aged six to 12 years of age and you will probably be met with ecstatic shrieks, screams and giggles. The hybrid comic/confessional journal series by Jeff Kinney is a massive hit and the sixth instalment will be released Nov. 1.
While kids wait with baited breath for the as-yet-untitled new Wimpy book, these similarly hilarious titles should help keep them satisfied.
Younger Wimpy fans in Grades 2 and 3 will love the Frankie Pickle series by Eric Wight. Franklin Lorenzo Piccolini (Frankie Pickle for short) has an overactive imagination and often finds himself slipping into elaborate, action-packed fantasies. In Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom, Frankie imagines himself as a young Indiana Jones when faced with the seemingly insurmountable task of cleaning his room. Like the Wimpy Kid books, Wight's series features both comics and traditional blocks of text.
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things is the first in another laugh-out-loud series by Lenore Look. Second-grader Alvin Ho is frightened of everything and carries around a personal disaster kit wherever he goes. The fourth book in the series, Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals and Other Fatal Circumstances, is due out in September.
The Ellie McDoodle series by Ruth McNally Barshaw and the Popularity Papers series by Amy Ignatow feature lively, insightful girl protagonists. Eleven-year-old Ellie McDoodle is an aspiring artist and uses a sketchbook instead of a journal to record her witty observations of everyday life. Readers in Grades 3 to 5 will respond to Ellie's love of drawing, animals, the outdoors and her disdain for her icky cousin. The Popularity Papers series chronicles two friends in Grade 5 who yearn to work their way up the social ladder. Ignatow does an amazing job at making the series feel authentic, including full-colour notes, drawings and web chats between the two girls. This is one of the smartest series I've read in a long time.
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger is a quirky, completely original read about a middle-schooler named Tommy. Tommy keeps a casebook about Dwight, a weird kid in class who claims that an origami Yoda can predict the future. Surprisingly, Dwight's origami Yoda is able to prophesize with alarming accuracy and the novel includes all of Tommy's casework - notes, drawings and interviews - as he tries to solve the mystery.
Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything by Steve Cotler is another one-off read that will have great appeal. The book takes place after Cheesie's fifth grade graduation and popular children's author Gordon Korman has praised the new character as "a true original."
Die-hard Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans will also likely love the Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce. The Big Nate character is from a popular syndicated newspaper comic strip and is now appearing in his own book series. Big Nate is a self-professed renaissance man who holds the school record for getting detention, and the humour is just as clever as the Wimpy books and reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes. The third book in the series, Big Nate on a Roll, will be published in August.
There are also a slew of imitation titles that, while not the highest quality books, will likely appeal to Wimpy Kid devotees who refuse to read anything else. The Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renee Russell will appeal to girls with its candy-coloured covers while The Loser List by H.N. Kowitt is an undeniable knock-off of Kinney's series. For a macabre twist, there's Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid, a parody from the Tales From the Crypt graphic novel series.
Whether the young people in your life are Wimpy Kid fans, public librarians are always eager to help kids and teens find great summer reads.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Shannon Ozirny works at Port Moody Public Library.
