Homeschool Reading Corner: Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney

I think I spoke too soon when I got excited about my oldest reading. She got Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Ugly Truth for Christmas. We went to Missouri and this came along for her to read. To her credit, she is about 70 pages in to it. But she wasn't as excited about this one as the last one.

One day on my vacation, sitting in the living room of my aunt and uncle's house in Missouri while simultaneously watching Wild Hogs, I read this one.

To be honest, I didn't like it. Maybe it's the old fogey in me coming out, I don't know. But I thought Gregory was ungrateful, rude, and a horrible friend. He complains that he no longer has his best friend Rowley, and goes on to list all the reasons Rowley and he are just not compatible anymore. Apparently poor Rowley just doesn't benefit Gregory anymore. He's not of as much use to him.

I don't want my kids to think that things like that are ok. I don't want them to be friends with people simply because of the benefits of being aquainted with them. I want them to be friends with people because they want to. And I tell you, if my kids acted the way Gregory did in this book they would have been in a whole lot of trouble.

Maybe it's just because I don't put up with things like that. I know it's a middle grade book written about a middle schooler, so I can't exactly get too upset about it. But reading it made me worried about my oldest picking up negative things from the book. Namely behavior and attitude.

Honestly, I wouldn't be worried if she didn't finish this one.

I just wish I could find some other way for her to want to read. I am back to being stumped.

Homeschool Reading Corner: Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney

I personally have not read this story. But I did listen to my oldest read it for an hour. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a trip to the grocery store would result in finding a book my 8 year old would actually WANT to read. There I was, browsing in the book aisle, minding my own business. I turn around and see her sitting on the bottom shelf reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney.

I couldn't tell her no when she asked me if she could have it. She never asks for books she actually READS. You all just have no idea. And then, to add icing to the cake, just a day or two later we did PAWS for Reading at the library (a program where service dogs are brought in to the library and kids get to sign up for a slot to read to them). She brought this book and was able to read to Mosby (beautiful Australian Shepherd) for an hour. Usually, slots are only 15 minutes, but someone cancelled in every slot, and no one else wanted to read with the dog she was sitting with so... voila!

Listening to her read was great. And the parts that I did hear were funny. The illustrations were hilarious too. I think this particular book was easier for her to read because the writing is broken up so much by the pictures. It did a great job keeping her interested. And I was so excited.

I've definitely got to sign her up to do this again! It was wonderful! And I absolutely loved Mosby.