Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a children's series about a middle school student named Gregory. This specific book, Hard Luck, is the diary entries mainly about his best friend having a girlfriend. Each book in this series is a series of diary entries that Gregory writes about what he is going through at the time. These books reveal a true-ish perspective of what it can be like to be in middle school. There are many struggles highlighted in this book that middle school students face every day. Although it is a diary of complaints and experiences, the author has a sense of humor, which makes this easy and enjoyable to read. I recommend this book to anyone who is going into junior high, who is currently in junior high, or even junior high teachers. ( )

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Great for early readers.

The story begins with Greg being really shocked and sad/angry to find that Abigail and Rowley are a couple. Greg always thought that he would be the one to have a girlfriend first and that Rowley would be the poor/lonely type of guy. Then Rowley starts to think that he is better than Greg, Rowley stops hanging out with Greg and Rowley starts to always procrastinate to him. Not to mention that Rowley used to scout for dog poop on the way to school and carry Greg’s backpack. Because of this Greg looks for a replacement which happens to be Fregley, who is a bit touched.

Sadly Fregley was a terrible replacement for Rowley, Greg stepped in some dog poop with his brand new shoes, and Fregley threw Greg’s books at a couple of wild kids who were after them, hoping that the chasers would stop to read the books. So Greg dumped Fregley and joined the yearbook club after school to avoid getting chased by a couple of the wild neanderthals.

On one trip to his Grandmother’s house for Easter, someone noticed that his great-grandmother’s wedding ring (which cost a fortune) was nowhere to be found. Then everyone found that Greg’s great-grandmother’s ring was probably hidden in an Easter egg last year. Everyone went on a wild hunt for it but no one found it.

Sadly, Abigail dumped Rowley because she wanted to make her ex jealous. So Abigail became a couple with her ex again and Rowley and Greg became best friends once more. Then on a visit to Greg’s grandmother’s house (again) he finds the egg and finds it in his house become he fears if anyone knew that he had found it, it’d tear the family apart. ( )

The diary of a wimpy kid has a great series of books that revolve around one boy going through middle school and talking about his experiences. This book is about how friends are not always forever but, in this book, the main character Greg loses his friend Rowley because he gets a girlfriend and their friendship starts to be more distant. Therefore, Greg is on a mission to find a new best friend. I would recommend this for older upper elementary grade students and kids that are going into middle school as this can give them some comic relief about middle school. An activity for this could be about friendship and learning that there are difficult situations that can end friendships and it be a good way to discuss it. ( )