Diary of a Wimpy Kid

So I have been reading kids books lately. And TOTALLY loving them! :) I have also been reading grown up books (City of Bones, the Mortal Instruments series) and religious books (Book of Mormon), but I think I'm enjoying 'kid books' better than any of the scary, romance-y, adult reading material I've been reading or have read in a while (yep, Twilight series, that means you too!) SO, I know you are dying to know... Which one is my favorite right now? Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.


There are 4 books (plus one that tells you how to draw characters and stuff) in the series so far and I'm on book 4. I can read them start to finish in about an hour if I don't have the constant interuptions of "MOM! Brother is doing (insert your favorite annoyance here) to me!"

It started off simply - when I was at my (former, sad) neighbors house for about 5-10 minutes sitting with her sleeping baby so that she could run to the school to pick up her kids. The book was on the couch, so I picked it up and started flipping through it. It was kinda funny, so I decided to start reading it from the beginning. After about 12-15 pages in, I decided that I needed to hit the Library and find this funny kids book. Maybe I'd read it to my kids. Or I'd just read it for myself. :) Whichever. :)

I asked the Librarian in the kids area for the book and I didn't know the author. She smiled, told me the author is Jeff Kinney and said if I was lucky, the book would be in. She explained that they are REALLY popular right now. She took me over to where the books were and I was in luck! :) One copy of the first book was available. :) I read it that night. It was pretty darned funny. Made me smile. Made Jeremiah make fun of me. But whatever. :) If it makes me smile or makes me happy, I don't care if I'm made fun of.

SO I have been stalking the Juniors section at my local library (which is FABULOUS, by the way) and watching for book #2. I wasn't having any luck at all, so after a few weeks, I finally asked if I could be put on the wait list for it. The Librarian checked and said that actually, one book just got checked in. She would have it pulled for me in the next 5-10 minutes. :) YAY! So I read book #2 in a trip to Heber City. I came home, pulled open the library's website and requested to be on the wait list for book #3 and #4. I picked them up last night (yay, again!) and book #3 has been read. Again, totally funny. Probably my fav in the series so far.

So I totally cracked up when reading a part of book #3. Up to this point, I've read little snippets of the books to Jeremiah, but he just kinda smiles and goes back to what he's doing. But last night, Jeremiah came out to see what was so funny. I had tears in my eyes because it cracked me up. It mentioned one of my childhood / teenage obsessions.

SHEL SILVERSTEIN

I LOVE SHEL! I spent hard earned babysitting money on copying his poems (and illustrations) at the library and hung them up around my room. I kid you not. They are that awesome. Have you read 'Where the Sidewalk Ends' or 'A Light in the Attic' or 'The Giving Tree'? The man was a genius. Genius, I tell you! Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (#3), The Last Straw. :)

It talks about how the little brother keeps getting out of bed at night and how when he was little, his "Dad put a stop to it real quick." Here's a quote, then a few of the pages following.

"There was this book Dad used to read to me every night called "The Giving Tree." It was a really good book, but the back of it had a picture of the author, this guy named Shel Silverstein." --- now check out the next few pages---

You can click on the picture to make it bigger...

And here is the picture of Shel
from the back of "The Giving Tree"...

BBWWAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Okay, so maybe it's just me (and several other bloggers that I have found while looking for these pictures online) but that is awesomeness in it's truest form there, people. :)

Anyway, yeah, so you should read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It's awesome. And funny. And I can't wait to read the 4th one tomorrow while Archer is having his dental work done. (I'm a little sad I have to wait!)

Read these books. Buy these books. Buy and extra copy and give it to me for my birthday. Only 26 more shopping days left, people! :) BTW: I'm totally kidding - you don't have to buy the books for me for my birthday - you can just buy them for me for any random occasion! (haha, wink wink)

Loves!