Diary of a Wimpy Kid – The Ugly Truth

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Ugly Truth is a very funny diary for 9 year olds about growing up and all the awkward bits that come with it.

What happens

It opens with Greg Heffley on his own. He and his best friend Rowley have had a big fight. So Greg is weighing up who could fill the gap (the options aren't great).

Then everything starts changing at once. Mum starts classes of her own, so Dad and the boys have to sort out their own dinners. Health class moves on to puberty. And Dad decides Greg is too old for his cosy children's dentist (and Rachel the hygienist, who he's TOTALLY in love with).

There's an egg he has to keep safe overnight for a grade. How hard can that be? There's also a school sleepover where the doors are locked all night, the heating goes off and Greg's team nearly gets sent home over a photo of an elbow.

It's literally like being inside Greg's head. He's always sure he's the sensible one. Then he tapes a fake note over a permission slip, or writes to the family's new cleaner pretending to be Mum, and you can see EXACTLY where it's heading long before he does. (Isabella's replies are the best bit.)

Every page is his diary, hand-lettered on lined paper with a cartoon on almost every one. The sentences are short and chatty. CAPITALS show you where he'd raise his voice. Lots of the jokes are in the drawings rather than the words. A reader who finds a page of solid text hard work will probably fly through this one.

It's worth knowing that growing up really is the theme. There's a puberty unit at school, a deodorant that turns up on Greg's bed and a much-dreaded "talk" from his 95-year-old great-grandmother. Nothing is explicit. The class gets zygotes and chromosomes and comes out more confused than ever. If you'd rather your reader wasn't giggling about this stuff just yet, it's one to know about. If they're already curious, they'll probably feel Greg gets it.

What to read next

It's the fifth Wimpy Kid book. If your reader hasn't had Greg's summer yet, Dog Days comes just before this one. It's the same Heffley family and the same Rowley, with a country club, an eighty-three dollar smoothie bill and a lawn business that starts without a mower.