I had no idea that there was such parental controversy with the Wimpy Kid series. When Anna voiced an interest in the books, I’ll admit I scoffed at them. To me, their childish print and pictures really dumbed down where the kids should be, reading-wise. But I was judging a book by its cover and a quick glance inside. That was this past spring, and I really didn’t give Wimpy Kid another thought until recently.
When you have a reluctant reader in your house and she is avidly reading something, you take notice. I mean, this is a child who is required to do a certain amount of reading each week for school and there’s a lot of “leveraging of privileges” and pouting in order to get her to do her half hour of reading per day. So, when I saw Anna voluntarily sitting for an hour each day to read these books, I decided I needed to read them myself.
Greg Heffley is not exactly one of my favorite literary characters, but I can definitely understand his appeal to kids. He’s lazy, pessimistic, and egocentric. But he’s also unpopular, dorky, and awkward. Basically, he’s a normal, everyday middle schooler. Yeah, he talks about how girls are hot and how his friend Rowley is kinda dumb and he’s only friends with him because he feels sorry for him, but he also gets abused by his older brother, girls make fun of him (“if you can’t run fast, girls just aren’t interested in you”—how very middle school), and the other boys in middle school have matured faster than him. He thinks and acts just like a typical boy in middle school.
The book is a diary, er, journal. Greg is very adamant about that; having a diary could get you beat up! So, the book is essentially Greg’s feelings about what’s going on in his life. He’s not a perfect kid; he’s not going to teach a lesson, except maybe how to be honest and open in a personal journal. Wimpy Kid is an outlet for a middle schooler, which is why so many kids love the books. Even as an adult reading it, it’s pretty hilarious. In middle school it’s all about ego and how other kids view you, so Greg is mortified when his dorky friend asks if he wants to come over and play instead of “hang out,” and he’s self-conscious about his scrawniness and wants to start working out to bulk up. I also thought it was very interesting when he talks about not wanting to be in the gifted program at school and how he tried to flunk his tests so he wouldn’t be with the “smart” kids. Kids at that age want to be considered cool and popular. They just want to fit in. All they’re doing is trying to find their place in the world, or more importantly, their middle-school social world, and these books allow them to commiserate and laugh with one of their peers.
Some parents out there feel that the language or context in this book series is inappropriate for their children. In my opinion, this could mean one of a few things: 1) The parents making these claims have either not read the books or only read the first few pages, 2) They do not have a reluctant reader in the house, or 3) They have never really taken the time to listen to their children: how they talk, act, and conduct themselves. The reality is: Greg is a stereotypical middle schooler. One chat-room discussion I came upon had a parent suggesting that if kids want to read about angst, they should do it with a classic like The Catcher in the Rye. What?! What 4th, 5th, or 6th grader can identify with The Catcher in the Rye, besides the obvious point of it being a teen or adult classic.
What it comes down to is this: There will always be that book that parents find fault with. Captain Underpants was one of them, as was Harry Potter. It seems that if a book is popular and you have tons of kids reading it, it will automatically be nitpicked until the cows come home. But it should really be celebrated because kids are actually reading! Why not read the books while your kids are reading them and then have a discussion about them? You might find that what you didn’t like about the books (in the case of Wimpy Kid, perhaps it's Greg’s bad attitude or the way he treats people sometimes), your child didn’t like either—after all, children learn values from their parents. And we’re talking about kids that are almost teenagers; they should be encouraged to form—and voice—their own opinions. You’ve probably raised them very well; allow yourself to revel in that satisfaction during your discussion of the books. Happy Reading.
