Greg’s crumbling old middle school is on the verge of being shut down. But what if best bud Rowley doesn’t end up in the same school? Yipes! Something’s gotta be done.
Greg’s crumbling old middle school is on the verge of being shut down. But what if best bud Rowley doesn’t end up in the same school? Yipes! Something’s gotta be done.
Let’s face it, Greg Heffley’s time in middle school hasn’t been filled with a lot of woohoos. Most of the time, middle school hasn’t even earned a woo! (More like a boo.)
Truth be told, though, the crumbling old school itself has seen better days. The place is falling apart: from the lockers to the windows to the ceilings. Hey, one classroom has even been taken over by an infestation of bees. And nobody’s brave enough to do anything more than lock the door and hope for a good honey crop.
Of course, the school district has no money to fix anything. So there’s talk about boarding the whole kit and caboodle up and shipping the kids off to other area schools.
Which, to Greg’s mind, wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
I mean, it couldn’t be any worse, could it?
And who knows, maybe girls in the next school won’t treat him like a diseased leper.
But.
Then Greg learns that Rowley, his bestest bud, will be sent off to a different school than him. And suddenly Greg’s hopes for non-leperdom take a back seat. No Rowley? That can’t stand.
Maybe there’s some great idea that the school can use to bring in an influx of cash. Hey, they could sell monthly platinum passes to kids that gives them extra leg room in class and concierge access to the teacher’s lounge. Or they could rename the school and sell the rights to a local business. 1-800-Ded-Bugs Middle School seems very appropriate.
Whatever the case, Greg’s gotta put on his thinking cap. His world depends on it.
At one point, Greg’s mom wins a “Principal For a Day” school auction prize, and Greg gets to slip into the principal’s duties. But a number of less-than-fun responsibilities fall to him, such as solving a dispute between two teachers wanting ownership of a single school laptop. Greg remembers “a Sunday School lesson about a wise king.” He asks them to split the laptop down the middle.
Greg also muses about his lack of science knowledge, worrying that he might accidentally open a portal to a “demon realm.” He also says, “If you ask me, you shouldn’t go screwing around trying to bring the dead back to life. On top of it being wrong, it could also be pretty awkward.”
The school district decides to shut power off to certain wings of the school. And Greg notes that the only student who liked the idea was probably a vampire.
Kids, wanting better grades on a test, light candles and make offerings at the feet of a statue.
Other than his parents, who are loving and consistent in a humorous way, many of the other adults are either a bit odd or a bit mistrustful. One former school sponsor is sent to jail, for instance, for embezzling money from the school district.
And some of the teachers are less than great. Greg’s middle school Latin teacher (Latin in a middle school?!) turns out to know nothing about Latin. Instead, he teaches the kids a nonsense language (that Greg is surprisingly adept at). And a science teach gets so fed up with the students’ disinterest that he spices up his class by talking about the science behind gross things. But when students go to a state competition, the finals don’t “have a single question about farts or burps.”
Even the school principal is rather slipshod at his job and wants to see the school shut down. Greg also muses at length about the role of school in a kid’s life—touching on educational shortcomings; kids’ ability to absorb information; parental book protests; and (lightly and jokingly) touching on the idea of kids giving themselves new names. For instance, he notes that it wouldn’t be great if kids took on their video-game handles as names, such as: “Moldy_Toez_1989.”
The book also includes a number of toilet humor giggles, too. For instance, Gregory wonders if his actions as a child would inform any new name he chose, such as, “Gregory Bartholomew Poopypants.” We read quips about school urinals and smelly toilets. A toilet costume is suggested as a school mascot sponsored by a plumbing company. The school holds an assembly encouraging kids who spend too long in the bathroom to “get everything done in 60 seconds.” Etc.
The only derogatory name-calling pops up in the use of the word “jerk.”
There are a few thumping tumbles and bit of goofy roughhousing in the book’s comedy mix. A guy has his ear accidentally punctured by a stapler, for instance.
Greg does briefly attend another school, and a few of the girls look admiringly at him because he can read a clock (a rare skill in this less-than-studious-minded school).
Greg Heffley finds himself working through a number of school life issues in this latest book. Did any of them sound similar to your school? What do you think author Jeff Kinney was trying to say through Greg’s broad and silly struggles?
What is the importance of going to school? Will it make a difference in your life?
Early on, Greg worries that he isn’t absorbing as much as he should because he fills his brain with things that aren’t important, like “video game cheat codes and theme songs to old TV shows.” Do you think you sometimes do something similar? For that matter, do you think our brains can be over full?
Take a look at Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 18:15. What do you think these verses are telling us about learning?
Get free discussion question for books at focusonthefamily.com/magazine/thriving-family-book-discussion-questions.
Jeff Kinney looks at school and learning through an admittedly silly lens. But he raises some interesting questions about the choices we make. And despite plenty of bathroom humor, readers can learn things scattered throughout Greg Heffley’s goofy situations, too.
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Review by Bob Hoose
