Why, you ask, would an incarcerated or detained teen be interested in carrying around a book with the words “wimpy kid” on the cover? Well, that same question crossed my mind when I first began working at Passages, and I mistakenly didn’t order these books for the library because I didn’t think there would be any demand for them. I was so wrong. As students steadily began to ask me about them, I added the series to my order list and they haven’t stopped flying off the shelves since.
In the first book, the main character of the series, Greg, is a fairly geeky middle schooler who thinks pretty highly of himself -- according to him (it is his journal after all), his classmates are morons, his teachers are clueless, and he spends a lot of time trying to figure out the politics and social dynamics of middle school. He can behave like a bully himself, especially towards those lower on the social ladder, but readers can’t help but laugh at the many ridiculous situations he and his best friend Rowley find themselves in. Told in first person narrative with cartoonish illustrations and a handwritten-style font, both attributed to Greg, this book and the rest of the series is highly engaging and popular with a wide variety of students. Because they are now available in paperback, students in secure facilities can enjoy them soon! --Anja Kennedy
Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. New York: Amulet-Abrams, 2007. Print.
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