I'm Alive I Swear! And REVIEW: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Hard Luck

*Brushes the dust off the blog.*

Oh, hello there!

Please excuse the lack of posting.  It proved to be a crazy semester.

Whenever I wasn't reading for my classes, I was reading for the Cybils YA fiction award.  I've been sharing all of my thoughts on the books with my fellow panelists.  Let me tell you, we have some wonderful contenders for the book award this year!

As the book judging winds down, I hope to focus in a little more on reading for the blog.

On to my first review in the post-crazy-semester haze:

Kinney, J.  (2013).  Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  Hard luck.  New York:  Amulet Books.

Appetizer:  In the eighth book of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Greg spends March and April dealing with the fact that his best friend, Rowley, is in a relationship (the boy-girl kind!), and no longer has a lot of time for Greg.  Left alone, Greg struggles to shape another friend into the best friend that Rowley had been to him.

He also must deal with an impending visit of relatives from his mom's side of the family (including one aunt who hates children, another whose children are monsters, and yet another who relies heavily on a psychic).  During the Easter visit, most of the relatives engage in a desperate hunt for a missing heirloom that has pitted sister against sister.

Frustrated with all of the difficulty little and big decisions he faces, Gregg turns to an old Magic Eight Ball for answers.  What could possibly go wrong?

As with other installments of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, I'm impressed by Kinney's ability to access issues that are currently huge in elementary and middle schools.  (In this case the positive reinforcement movement in anti-bullying campaigns and the "Find a Friend" station on the school playground come to mind.)

At this point, you should know what you're getting if you pick up a Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  Hard Luck maintains the selfish protagonist, humor, fun perspectives, and amusing drawings that readers have come to expect for the series.  Hard Luck isn't my favorite in the series, but it's still an enjoyable read.  It definitely made me chuckle out loud a few times in the cafe where I was reading.

This page was the main chuckle culprit:

You'll have to read the book to find out how Greg's Dad got in this situation.


Dinner Conversation:

Tasty Rating:  !!!