Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Rodrick Rules

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules is a funny diary for 9 year olds about the older brother who knows your most embarrassing secret.

What happens

Greg Heffley is back at middle school after a pretty lousy summer. Something REALLY embarrassing happened to him during it, and only his big brother Rodrick knows what. So Greg can never tell on Rodrick for anything, or the whole world finds out.

It's the second book in the series, and Rodrick is a brilliant pain. He drums in a heavy-metal band called Löded Diper (yes, that's the spelling). They practise in the basement every weekend, and Dad is NOT a fan.

Then Mum and Dad go away for the night and leave the boys in charge. Who could have guessed Rodrick would throw a party? Greg spends it locked in the basement, then has to help hide the evidence before his parents get home.

There's plenty going on at school too. Greg's joke about a friend being invisible gets the whole class in on it. Mum invents her own play money for chores. And Rodrick is sure the Winter Talent Show will make his band famous.

Being inside Greg's head is the fun of it. He's always the one who's been hard done by, even when he started the trouble himself (he's quite proud of some of it). Your reader will see what's really going on long before he does.

Nearly every page is Greg's handwritten diary on lined paper, and almost all of them have a cartoon. A lot of the jokes are in the pictures and the speech bubbles, and the important words are in big capitals. The entries are short and dated by the day, so it's easy to stop and start. A keen reader could race through it in a sitting or two. If you've got a child who finds a page of solid text a bit much, this one's very kind.

It's an American book, so it's Mom, middle school and Thanksgiving, but the jokes travel fine.

What to read next

If your reader wants more Heffleys, Dog Days comes a little later in the series (The Last Straw sits in between). It's Greg's summer holiday this time, Rodrick's band is still going, and Greg would really like a dog.