Cabin Fever

November 14, 2011
The timing of the release of the sixth book in Kinneyâs bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is pretty much perfect, given that itâs set in the weeks leading up to Christmas. (Diehard fans, though, will have burned through it long before Thanksgiving dinner is served.) Kinney keeps to the formula that has worked so well for him, as Greg Heffley recounts, in diary entries and cartoons, his episodic misadventures at home and at school, mixing the timely (bullying, energy drink addiction, a creepy Elf on the Shelfâstyle doll called âSantaâs Scoutâ) with the timeless (school fundraisers, get-rich moneymaking schemes, sibling rivalry). Readers expecting an overarching focus on a snowed-in Heffley clan, based on the bookâs concept, will have to wait a bit: the big storm doesnât hit until pretty late in the game. But itâs unlikely that anyone will mindâGreg is as entertainingly self-serving as ever, and Kinney continues to excel at finding the innate humor in broadly relatable situations, from the futility of junk-food crackdowns to a toddlerâs ability to exert control over an entire family. Ages 8â12.

May 1, 2012

Gr 4-7-Greg Heffley is back in his latest diary in which he's stressing over the whole holiday season-the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add to that the school focus on bullies, a family that means well, and a Net Kritterz virtual pet that requires time, skill, and money to keep happy. When Greg and his friend Rowley try to have their own holiday bazaar, they are accused of vandalizing the school. When a surprise blizzard hits, they are snowed in, minus Dad who's stuck at the office. They make it through a flooded basement and freezing temperatures inside, and Greg braves the blizzard to deliver items to the Toy Drive and ends up becoming a hero. Ramon de Ocampo narrates Jeff Kinney's latest entry (Amulet, 2011) in the series, bringing Greg to life with a boyish whine and interjecting the angst of the seventh grader. Listeners will relate to Greg's predicaments.-Melanie S. Wible, Gwinnett Co. Public Schools, Lawrenceville, GA

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