Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Name: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Author: Jeff Kinney
ISBN: 9780241633250

by Jeff Kinney

Ages 8–12 Reading age 8 Novel Set in school funnywry

Greg's older brother knows the single most embarrassing thing that happened all summer, and is charging him to keep quiet about it.

A story about children and families, funny and wry in tone. We would put it with children of 8–12, and at a reading age of about 8 for reading alone.

Nothing flagged

We have not flagged any content in this one that a parent would usually want warning about.

Part of a series

This is book 2 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

Greg Heffley's older brother Rodrick knows about the single most embarrassing thing that happened to Greg all summer, and is using it to make his life miserable — so this diary is largely the story of that secret, plus the usual catalogue of middle-school disasters, dreadful band practice and doomed schemes. Jeff Kinney's format is the whole appeal: a hand-lettered diary threaded with cartoons, where the pictures carry half the jokes, so it flies by and feels nothing like hard work. Greg is gloriously, honestly self-serving — never the hero, often the author of his own downfall — which is exactly why children find him so funny. There is nothing to worry a reader here; the humour is squarely about the indignities of school and brothers. For an eight- to twelve-year-old, and especially a reluctant one, the wall-to-wall cartoons and easy laughs make this one of the most dependable ways to get a child turning pages.