Trust & Obey

This book just released this year and I decided it could be fun to sit down and read it! It is the thirteenth novel in Jeff Kinney’s hit series Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I thought it was pretty great!

If you’re unfamiliar with Kinney’s series, it is based around Greg Heffley and it’s told from his perspective as he navigates the awkwardness of middle school. He deals with his brothers, trying to make and keep friends, and the pressures of getting older all in a humorous way. He not only tells us about his life with words but with pictures too which makes this even more fantastic!

In this book, we begin with how Greg and the other Heffleys are stuck in Grandma’s basement and it’s been rough to say the least. Greg feels like he’s losing his mind being stuck with his parents and two brothers, Roderick and Manny. His mom claims that this will be a good time to have some family bonding time. However, her tune begins to change as the days drag on. After hours of puppet shows with Manny, creeping around his dad during video meetings, and sharing a bed with Roderick, Greg begins to beg for a vacation. It doesn’t take long for his parents to get on board with it, but it’s not exactly what he was imagining as a relaxing get away.

As a whole, I would say this is a great read with lots of laughs and relatable moments for kids in middle school especially. Even though I was homeschooled, I still relate to the awkwardness and irritability of that age and the feeling that you just want to be your own person. The book also has tons of relatable elements to the current pandemic situation. You have Greg and his family stuck in their Grandma’s basement for an undisclosed amount of time, there’s a looting situation, and a lot more 2020 themed events that go down!

This book was decently clean (obviously “clean” is a subjective term). There was mainly humor relating to farts, poop, and “crap” but other than that it wasn’t too bad! As a middle schooler, these novels made me laugh but they weren’t inappropriate. The first book, however, did have a section where Manny brought his older brother’s bikini magazine to Show and Tell. However, Roderick did suffer the consequences by writing something along the lines of “I will respect women” multiple times in front of his mom. I haven’t read all of the books, but for the general feel of the series I think it’s safe to say that’s about as risque as it could get. There are repercussions for the characters which I do think is important! Some kids will do bad things but it doesn’t mean that they can get out clean.

As a whole, this book and the rest of the series are some great reads! I would highly recommend them to parents trying to find their kids something light and entertaining to read. There’s comedy, a good storyline, shorter chapters, and fun characters. The comic style also adds quite the allure to kids of all ages (including me)!