HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg Heffley Went Hollywood
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Amulet Books, revised in 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1-4197-0642-4
Related website: www.amuletbooks.com (publisher)
Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Reading level: Ages 8 and up
Rating: 3 stars (FAIR)
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
Disclosure: Any books donated for review purposes are in turn donated to a library. No other compensation has been received for the reviews posted on Home School Book Review.
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Kinney, Jeff. The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg Heffley Went Hollywood (originally published in 2010, revised in 2012, by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams, 115 W. 18th St., New York City, NY 10011). First there was the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, said to be a realistic fiction novel, by Jeff Kinney, which appeared on FunBrain.com in 2004 and was released in hardcover on April 1, 2007. Next, there have been several sequels, including Rodrick Rules (2008), The Last Straw (2009), Dog Days (2009), The Ugly Truth (2010), the only one that I have read, and Cabin Fever (2011). The seventh, The Third Wheel, is scheduled for release on November 13, 2012. Then there was a Diary of a Wimpy Kid film that was released by 20th Century Fox on March 19, 2010. After that, there were two more movies, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, based on book two of the Wimpy Kid series in 2011, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days based on books three and four in 2012.
Now, there is a tie-in book, written by Kinney, called The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary. It was originally published in 2010 and included film stills, script pages, storyboards, preliminary concept drawings, some new illustrations, and also behind the scenes information to chronicle in a humorous way the making of the film. The latest edition gives the story of all three movies. It begins with some background information about the original book, explains how it was made into a film, and then tells about the two movie sequels. Though the books, which chronicle in diary form how Greg Heffley relates to his dad Frank Heffley, his mom Susan Heffley, his older brother Rodrick, his little brother Manny, his best friend Rowley Jefferson, other kids at school, and people in the neighborhood, have been highly praised and very popular, I must be honest and say that they do not hit my hot button at all. However, those who do like the Wimpy Kids books and movies will undoubtedly enjoy this companion to the series and find it interesting.
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