Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 ( Bilingual Chinese-English )

Bilingual edition, Chinese – English.

Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year’s worth of drama in each of these books, adapted from Jeff Kinney’s famous web comic. Greg’s mother forces him to keep a diary and in it he loosely recounts each day’s events, interspersed with his comic illustrations.

Kinney has a gift for believable preteen dialogue and narration (e.g., “Don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that”), and the illustrations serve as a hilarious counterpoint to Greg’s often deadpan voice. Kinney ably skewers familiar aspects of junior high life, from dealing with the mysteries of what makes someone popular to the trauma of a “wrestling unit” in gym class. Ages 8-13.