Dear Diary: Why is this a NYT Bestseller?

I don't get the appeal of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Having just finished the second title in Jeff Kinney's string of runaway bestsellers, I think the books sales may be driven by adults who don't read themselves. I'm talking about misinformed shoppers, who say at the bookstore or kiosk at the airport, "Oh, this is a bestseller and it's got pictures! My Johnny/Suzie would love that." Add one bad decision to another and pretty soon you've got a multi-book contract.

Sigh.

I don't mean to dog Mr. Kinney; obviously, some kids really do like his books. What I question is - why? where's the substance? the biting wit? the laugh-out-loud slapstick?

I see no real hook here, folks.

Main character Greg is likable enough, but he's not lovable. Older brother Rodrick is a pesky older sibling, but not even bad enough to waste a real diary page on, as far as I can tell. The illustrations/cartoons are good, but not great.

I usually like books for the Middle Grade/YA audience because, frankly, they're not just kids' stuff. They're real stories with pretty significant plots, storylines, and emotion. (They just happen to be a little shorter, a little more to the point, and in my opinion, lacking too-heavy description.)

Harry Potter, for example. Artemis Fowl, for another. The Twilight series. Reaching back a few years, remember Nancy Drew? Real stories. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series isn't as involved as a good comic book.

I know the New York Times probably won't reconsider its ranking based on my opinion, but I hope you will. Unless you've got a dedicated reluctant reader on your hands who won't read anything but this series, don't buy 'em. And for heaven's sake, when you do buy a book for your kid, open it and read a few pages first.

Grumblings aside, if your kid seems to love these literary candies, check out the Family Education reading guide, and interview with the series' author, here.

Teen Lit Ain't So Bad

"Don't judge a book by its cover" may be my pick for the "old sayings that aren't worth a damn" hall of fame. Two examples I'd cite are 'old' titles Seventeenth Summer and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, both sporting new covers that are fresh enough to pique the interest of today's tweens and teens. Of course, it's the story between the covers that holds their interest.

Lest I sound like I'm pining for the good old days (what? of the 1970s? please!) I have to ballyhoo a few teen titles I've enjoyed immensely this year.

Andrew Clements' Things Not Seen, Jerry Spinelli's The Library Card and Stargirl are on the list. Cynthia Lord's debut, Rules, is probably going to secure my favorite-book-of-the-year award. (That means it earns a permanent spot on my bookshelf. Not a spot with a lot of elbow room, I assure you, but a longtime resting spot, just the same.)

I've recently finished Joseph Bruchac's Darby Creek title The Way. I picked it up thinking it aimed at reluctant readers (judging by its cover, I'll admit) and I was right. Darby Creek, located in Central Ohio, is a press that focuses on books for reluctant readers, and The Way is a 2007 release that conforms to the style deemed appropriate: short (155 pages), with an action-packed plot and a likable, young narrator. In this case, the narrator is 15-year-old Cody LeBeau, who's been picked on in plenty of schools as his family has moved. Just as his family is falling apart, an uncle he didn't know he had appears to stay for awhile, and teach Cody some important techniques, and even more important philosophies, of martial arts. Cody uses them well - up to and including thwarting a planned act of terrible violence at his school.

It is a good story and it does keep up a nice, gotta-turn-to-the-next-page-pace, but - and I hate to cast stones at an author who has more than 100 books to his credit! - I felt Bruchac got way too didactic in several sections, particularly in the second half of the book. At those points, I didn't hear Cody's voice, I heard the author giving advice. Regardless, I'll keep it in mind for a few boys I know...

What do you like in Middle Grade or YA this year?

Do You Wonder about Boys?

I wonder about boys. I've wondered about them about them just about as long as I can remember, as a matter of fact - and then I had one.

My son's nearly four now, and I'll admit up front, his gender absolutely is NOT the root of all of my parenting puzzlements.

In spite of the fact I just finished reading Michael Gurians's The Wonder of Boys, I'm no expert now. But I am a little um, do I dare say, wiser?

Like Gurian's The Wonder of Girls, Boys is written in easy-to-digest terms while the book presents plenty of data.

One of the reasons I like the book (and Gurian's style in general) is that Boys does NOT go down the "men-are-from-Mars" road. Instead, the author has skillfully selected a few choice phrases that are in the general vernacular while neither talking down to or over the heads of the "typical" reader. Smart guy, that Gurian.

Speaking of smart, Gurian spends practically no time discussing IQ test or how-to-handle-gifted-children, and does not head into any lengthy discussions of "lost" boys.

That said, I especially enjoyed Gurian's coverage of "The Way Boys Feel: Feelings and the Brain," where he describes eight common ways boys process their feelings and emotion. Yes, one of them is "going into the cave." Several of them seem quite closely related, I'll admit - the action-release method and the physical-expression method, for example - still, I nit pick.

As in The Wonder of Girls, Gurian again addresses most of his information to mothers. (Sorry, dads.) There is, I'm glad to report, no talk of the "artful" mother in Boys.

Overall, I'm glad I read the book, and I may pick it up to re-read in the future. While I do NOT feel the book is a handbook or reference to keep on my own shelf, Gurian's obvious knowledge and presentation style are a nice combination, and too rare, in my opinion, in the overcrowded parenting/pop psychology market.

Two thumbs up.