The Library Geek

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is the second book in what is a series of books on the journal notes of 7th grade student Gregory Heffley. The books are filled journal entries with stick figure drawings and was first serialized at Funbrain. Authored by Jeff Kinney, the first book came out in 2007 and entered the New York TImes bestseller list. In some sense, Kinney is the model for Gregory Heffley as he is also a middle child with an older younger brother and was not much of an athlete growing up. Kinney’s ambition was to be a cartoonist, but was not successful early on, he would shift to web maintenance and design and in one of the sites he designed, Funbrain, he serialized a compilation of his doodling from 1998 in what we now know as Greg Heffley’s journal. The story of Greg was a hit with kids and according to the author’s site the online version of the wimpy kid’s diary had 80 million hits so far, attracting 70,000 kids daily. The first book is titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the third in the series is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, and the next one that will come out October 2009, is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. Another book is expected in 2010.

The audiobook version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules have 2 sound discs and plays for two hours and fifteen minutes. The book is voice acted by Ramon de Ocampo and he did a fantastic job of giving personality to the characters voices from their speech patterns right down to showing emotions. I was curious about this audiobook when I saw it on the library catalog as I have seen the books before but have not read them. The books intended audience are primarily the same age as the books protagonist is, but I wanted to see if it will appeal to someone way older, like me. Anyway, I was looking for something to listen to that is light and humorous as the last three audiobooks I listened are of a darker theme and tone. And I say, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules did not disappoint. I enjoyed it immensely, the characters sounded real and the situations Greg ends up in were funny. The jokes are a bit juvenile, or something that will probably appeal to its target audience, but not in anyway offensive. I won’t ruin the audiobook by giving out a summary of what Greg’s experiences with his family and friends in this installment are, suffice it to say that you will hear about Greg’s dealings with his older brother Rodrick, his 3 year old brother Manny, his best friend Rowley, and others. I totally recommend this audiobook and suggest it for the whole family. I also recommend this as a great way to pique interest among kids who might not be into reading that much. I am sure that after listening to Greg Heffley’s journal entries, these kids will be asking for more and might even ask for the actual book.