Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney

Will Greg ever learn? Apparently not, as this seventh installment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series starts with Greg in the womb, and his mother trying to do everything she can to ensure that Greg is born intelligent. Having to listen to his parent's disgusting affection for each other, he decides he needs to get out of the womb early, thus ensuring that all attempts at intelligence have failed. Fast forward to the present, the essence of the story (as you know, these DOAWK plots are really all over the place) is that Greg tries to use his best friend Rowley to get a date with a girl (OMG, Greg is interested in girls!). He helps get Rowley elected to their school's social committee, where Rowley is planning the annual Valentine's dance. Rowley finds out that Abigail Brown's date dumped her, and is now available. Not able to ask himself, Greg gets Rowley to ask her to go to the dance with both boys as a group, figuring she will want to drop Rowley, giving him the in to ask her out on a date. Of course, once at the dance, Greg is his own worst enemy, and chaos ensues.

I often get asked, why I love these books. It's simple. They are honest, funny, and timeless in the way Greg is just one of those oblivious boys who means well, but just doesn't know any better. There are part's of him in all of us, which is why kids (and some of us adults) just eat it up. Go to this for a quick, light, entertaining read. Battle of the Books 2014.

Reed Reads Score: 4