Diary of a Wimpy

Kinney's popular Web comic, which began in 2004, makes its way to print as a laugh-out-loud "novel in cartoons", adapted from the series. Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year's worth of drama.

Kinney's popular Web comic, which began in 2004, makes its way to print as a laugh-out-loud "novel in cartoons", adapted from the series. Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year's worth of drama. Greg's mother forces him to keep a diary ("I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I specifically told her to get one that didn't say 'diary' on it"), and in it he loosely recounts each day's events, interspersed with his comic illustrations. Kinney has a gift for believable preteen dialogue and narration (e.g., "Don't expect me to be all 'Dear Diary' this and 'Dear Diary' that"), and the illustrations serve as a hilarious counterpoint to Greg's often deadpan voice.