Cheap Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 4)

My son has been buying the Wimpy Kid stories, starting with the Second (Rodrick's Rules) and now the fourth, Dog Days. Sooner or later he'll get the first. As usual, the chapters are short and funny, and can be enjoyed in short pieces. Or course, it's never really convincing that it's a kid writing all of this - seems more like a hipster with a sense of humor, but never mind, it's good fun, even when it's a bit embarrassing. Check out a description of Greg's trip to the pool:

"At the town pool you have to go through the locker room before you can go swimming, and that means walking through the shower areas, where grown men are soaping down right out in the open. The first time I walked through the men's locker room at the town pool was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. (Cue picture of hairy men showering, with certain areas blocked by a strategically-placed table) I'm probably luck Id idn't go blind. Seriously, I don't see why Mom and Dad bother to try to protect me from horror movies and stuff like that if they're gonna expose me to something about a thousand times worse. I really wish Mom would stop asking me to go to the town pool because, every time she does, it puts images in my mind that I've been trying hard to forget."

Besides this part, the book had a few other laugh-out-loud parts (the naming of the family dog is pretty funny, even if the dog chapter is a bit irritating/uncomfortable). The book is full of great illustrations, in particular the "hisssss" drawing that appears on the back cover as well as the beginning of the book. The book covers the start of Greg's summer, when he tries to be a hermit because life is lame, but he quickly gets out. He also gets traumatised by watching "Hello, You're Dead" with the story of the "muddy hand" that goes around killing people (is this some sort of Oliver Stone thing?). There's also the Reading Is Fun club that Greg's mum tries to organise, then some sort of nonsense around Greg working off $83 that he owes Rowley's dad for having ordered up too many fruit smoothies at the country club. Ooops! Greg's venality gets a bit over the top as he tries to start a landscaping business with Rowley with no experience or equipment. Sure, why not.

Other funny episodes include Greg blaming society for his laziness (there's some logic there), birthday greed, weird "friends" (FREGLEY!! "Wanna hear about my 'hygiene issues'?"), a crazy dog-eaten birthday cake, a messed up cell phone, a pirana, delusions of grandeur, a visit to the water park, one or two "Löded Diper" stories, Greg's sad attempt to write a comic strip, silly poolside adventures, a trip to the beach with Rowley's family, a lame episode with a girl bike, goofy pranks that go wrong, and a silly urban camping story.

One of the undercurrents of the book is the satirization of other comic strips, such as "Li'l Cutie" and "Precious Poochie." Greg's relationship with his father is an awkward point in the story (and, as we see in the Father's Day episode, his dad's relationship with his own dad is no better), but this is the glue that holds them together, and it's quite amusing/touching in an unusual way. Besides "Li'l Cutie", there are other recurring themes, such as the beauty parlour that Greg goes to to catch up on his gossip, Rodrick's beach babe photo, and also the thing about mum now carrying a camera (isn't that all mums do these days - surveillance?).

Unfortunately, Rodrick is not a major character in this book. But that's okay, because he gets plenty of screen time in Rodrick's Rules.Get more detail about Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 4).