Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney is the 4th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series that is very popular with elementary aged kids. That includes my son Andrew who is about to turn 11. He has read the whole series twice and this is definitely one of his favorite series. I've shared here before when I read and reviewed the other 3 books in the series that my son begged me to read the books and lined them up on my nightstand. How could a mom say no?! Well, I have to say that I understand why kids like the humor in these books but as an adult I can honestly say that I am tiring of them. It could be that Greg who is in middle school continues to experience the same lessons in different ways but doesn't seem to learn much about the lessons of life.

In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Greg is on summer vacation and is writing his experiences down in another diary but this summer, he prefers to stay indoors playing video games. His mother tries to find ways to coax him outside to the pool which he hates or on various family and outdoor adventures. There is usually a problem along the way and Greg gets into trouble. Greg often includes his friend Rowley in his antics and doesn't always treat him with the most respect and Rowleys parents don't like that. The comics accompany each story add a nice touch and are the highlight of the series for most kids. I did enjoy Greg's excursion to the beauty salon where his mother drops him off for a haircut and he gets involved in the ladies gossip, gets to read gossip magazines and wants to go back again.

As a parent, I would like to see Greg learn more from his actions and show more maturity and emotional growth as he gets older. As a kid, they love that he gets away with things and gets himself into hysterically funny situations that he can't get himself out of.

My son Andrew's thoughts: "I like that these books are funny and Greg has a good personality....he is kind of cool because he does funny stuff. I can't wait until the next book comes out!"

• The first book in the series is: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, you can read my review here.
• The second book is: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick rules, you can read my review here.
• Another book in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do- it-yourself Book(an interactive journal).
• The third book is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, you can read my review here.

*Thanks to Abrams Books for providing me with a copy of the book for review. I am an Amazon Associate.

Review: Herbert's Wormhole by Peter Nelson & Rohitash Rao

We received an advanced reading copy of Herbert's Wormhole by Peter Nelson & Rohitash Rao from Harper Collins First Look for Children. This book was released on May 5, 2009. This is a children's book for ages 9-12.

My son, Andrew, is 10 years old and he read this book and loved it. Even though it was missing some key elements such as many of the cartoons and several chapters were missing. That says a lot if he loved the book and it was missing so much and this is "A Novel in Cartoons". Andrew wanted to write his own review and I'm very proud of the wonderful job he did. You would make him very happy if you could leave a few comments for him.

Andrew's Review:

Herbert's Wormhole is about a boy traveling to the future. I loved the book and I hope that you do too. At the beginning, a boy named Alex a wanted a video game called Alien Slayer 2. So his parents gave in and bought it for him. Unfortunately, right after his parents bought Alien Slayer 2 Alien Slayer 3-D came out. In Alien Slayer 3-D it comes with all these cool swords and suits. He promised his parents that once he's finished with the game he will play out side for the rest of the summer. When he finished the game his mom sewed him a shirt that said I Love Slaying Aliens!

So, he put on the shirt and kept it on. His parents said they had a surprise for him outside. So he went out side and saw a jungle gym. He thought it was sorta babyish because he was going into 6th grade. Then his mom said he has to play with this kid named Herbert. Herbert is Alex's age and uses all these science words. Herbert has no friends. So Alex went inside Herbert's house to see if Hebert could play with him on his new jungle gym. When Alex walked in Herbert's room Alex was mad because Hebert got Alien Slayer 3-D and Herbert was taking it apart and making adjustments to two of the suits. For some reason Herbert and Alex had the suits on. Alex was playing on the jungle gym and Herbert was trying to walk through the fence. Suddenly, Alex accidentally hit a switch on the suit and Alex was getting sucked through the slide. Herbert was shouting at him to turn it off but it was to late. After they got sucked up by the slide they somehow ended up one hundred years later where G'daliens are friends with humans because they saved earth for them. Can Herbert and Alex get back to their normal time period or will they be stuck with G'daliens & not return home? Find out what will happen to them when you buy the book! G'day mates!