Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
Life is not easy when you’re just a kid. Always expected to do what adults request of you or get punished.
Never allowed to speak up or be disrespectful especially if you want Santa to shine his guiding light on your Christmas Day.
Remember he can see you even when you are sleeping and he knows your every move even when you are awake. I’m beginning to think he has his own GPS in every kid, radar, or Lojack to track our movements and thoughts. Is there no privacy in this world?
Now, that is not all of the troubles I am going to relate to you in my latest book by Jeff Kinney. For some reason, he’s created me, Greg Heffley, like the kid who never ceases to have trouble following him even if he tries his best to avoid it.
Now for example I did offer to help mom with the groceries. Did that put me on Santa’s good list? How about the evil-looking doll that my mom found when she was just a kid? It seems to follow me wherever I go, even in the shower. But wait: this is nothing.
My troubles have just started to begin. What would you do if your mother saved a picture of you and your older brother in the tub? Would you want that on display for the world to see? How gross is that?
Next, putting up the Christmas decorations only to have to take them down when my youngest brother throws a fit because he was napping and did not get to hang his ornament first. Manny can be a real pain in you know what if you know what I mean.
Mom loves to use the Santa Card as her ace in the hole to get us to behave at least between Thanksgiving and Christmas. After that, she has no real way to reel us in. Next, let’s not forget the anti-bully campaign and poster contest in school.
However, Dennis is the resident bully since the rest are gone so you would think or might think that he is the star of the assembly and the posters to rid the school of him of course. So, what else will happen to me, Greg Heffley to make life even worse? Oh yeah: I have to deal with Mr. Nasty Pants and his reign of terror.
Just how I deal with it is the work of author Jeff Kinney and you will have to read that for yourself. Name-calling, teasing, hitting and all the fun stuff kids like to do to each other are all considered bullying and I will have no part of it.
But, now let’s get to the bulk of the story so you can learn what other things create havoc in my life and how I had to spent too much time with my family and develop as the title says: Cabin Fever.
This is the first book in the series that I am reviewing and I love the cartoon-like pictures, the expressions on the character’s faces and the way poor Greg feels sorry for himself thinks life has dealt him a bad hand, and never owns up to his own failings.
There are many kids that never realize that maybe it is their fault, or you need to see the light, or spending time with your family snowed in can be fun or in this case drive a kid crazy. Added to that one little brother that reminds me of my brother when we were younger. Wait until you hear what else Manny has in store to get even with his two older brothers. You have to laugh.
Greg continues now: My mother does not want me sitting in front of my computer playing video games all day long. I invited my friend Rowley over for what she calls human interaction or just talking to someone in person about anything.
Rowley does not mind watching me play games but she sent her into the basement hoping we would find something to amuse us. We found these books that are just like Madlibs where you read a passage and add words to a sentence without really knowing what the sentence says.
You ask the person parts of speech and then you read it back and it is hysterical. Of course let’s not forget Alfrendo the doll that kept me happy but I lost. Alfrendo was like my security blanket and for the life of me I can’t figure out where he went or why.
Rowley and Greg decide to play hide and seek in the woods and what Greg does to get out of going into the woods is priceless. Teaching his friend the ropes in Church and getting stuck going door to door after a snowstorm to make some money to buy video games, Greg is a typical kid that needs to remember that things do not come easily and you might have to work for what you want.
Shoveling snow did not work out but some of the situations described with the people he asked were hilarious. Asking for money to shovel driveways should have been profitable but one lady made him stay and talk to her for an hour and the next driveway, although he did clear got covered over with more snow.
Trying to be resourceful he used a sprinkler system to remove the snow got paid and wound up having to salt the man’s driveway after it turned into an ice skating rink. Poor Greg could not win as the author recounts many other times he had difficulties in the past. What else he got into that he should not have you have to read for yourself to appreciate it.
From school lunch menus that were changed to food substitutions and the lack of power drinks in the vending machines author Jeff Kinney covers just about everything kids complain about in school and at home. But, the big snowstorm has hit and what happens next will definitely explain the true meaning of Cabin Fever to the reader.
But, first Greg complains about not being able to hit his mom for money although she does give him twenty for presents at holiday time. An original comic book he thinks is worth forty dollars. Should he trade it in to buy holiday gifts? Wait and see what he learns when he takes it to the comic shop.
Poor Greg is not very enterprising and what he learns will definitely not endear his mother to him. But, she does bail in out in other ways and when they decide to create a video arcade for the holiday bazaar he comes up with some great ideas but the end result was not exactly what he would have expected as he creates his own newspaper to help promote the bazaar.
What he does is ingenious but the Vice Principal of his school is less than enthused when he hands them out.
School vandalism seemed to be running high and this is where Greg’s troubles really begin. Graffiti on the front of the school and sketch artists creating the pictures of the culprit that just might look familiar. What part did Greg and Rowley play? What did he do and would he get caught?
Three feet of snow saved his life from having to confess what he did to his father. Imagine beginning snowed in with your mom and two brothers and my Dad is the lucky one staying in a hotel. I would be happy with the events since I did not have to go to school but my little brother blew all of my tokens and whatever I won playing Net Kritterz.
But, there is more. Imagine this little kid figuring out my password so that I can’t play anymore and earn the points and the tokens back. What is to become of my virtual pet? A flood in the basement, Manny throwing tantrums, Greg playing brother, mother, and father to him, and Rodrick hiding out in the basement. Dad still at the hotel did not sound upset even when we told him what was happening with us.
What happens next you will have to learn for yourself as Greg, Manny, Rodrick, and their mom learn the true meaning of the words Cabin Fever, and one young man learns the meaning of even more.
Characters that are real life and a story that teaches children that sometimes you cannot take things for granted and you have to deal with adversity and things as they come. Written in diary form each day of Greg’s experiences recorded and past events remembered. Can’t wait to see what happens next when and if the snow clears.
Would you want to be stuck with nothing to do, low on food supplies, your two brothers, one upset mother who tries to entertain the troops, and nowhere to turn? Read about what happens when Santa makes an unusual gift presentation to Greg and his family.