book review on diary of a wimpy kid hard luck

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Diary of a wimpy kid: hard luck.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 7 Reviews
• Kids Say 23 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Extra helping of potty humor in 8th installment.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Hard Luck is the eighth regular installment in the Wimpy Kid graphic novel series. Reluctant readers are huge fans of this bestselling series, which parents either tolerate because they're thrilled their kid's reading or dislike because the main character, Greg, is always…

Why Age 8+?

"Jerk," "bunch of baloney."

Greg draws pictures of getting knocked to the ground by one bully and being chas

Any Positive Content?

It's a mixed bag of messages. Hard Luck is heavy on the potty humor, for one. Wh

Oh, Greg. He's always doing something a little bit rotten, like using a Magic Ei

No talk in this installment about how Greg's keeping this diary and how it helps

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Greg draws pictures of getting knocked to the ground by one bully and being chased by scary neighborhood kids and a dog. One of Greg's wild toddler cousins goes to the emergency room for stitches, and another finds a razor and shaves with it. Mentions of a great-grandmother's death in the past.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

It's a mixed bag of messages. Hard Luck is heavy on the potty humor, for one. When Greg gets treated to ice cream for good grades and his brother with bad grades gets ice cream, too, Greg says, "It taught me that even if you try your best, someone is just gonna mooch off your hard work." But then, after relying on a Magic Eight Ball to tell him what to do, he realizes that "the BIG decisions are up to me," and one of those is showing compassion toward a friend.

Positive Role Models

Oh, Greg. He's always doing something a little bit rotten, like using a Magic Eight Ball for a test or altering school yearbook photos of kids he doesn't like. That's where the humor lies. Luckily, he's got a mom who keeps him in line, and he's not willing to do anything too reprehensible; he thinks about buying an old science fair project but changes his mind. He's a boy growing into his conscience, and it's clearly taking some real time and effort.

Educational Value

No talk in this installment about how Greg's keeping this diary and how it helps him. But he does join the yearbook committee and learn how to manipulate pictures on his computer -- in an unflattering way, of course -- but it may encourage kids to get creative with fun photo software.

Parents need to know that Hard Luck is the eighth regular installment in the Wimpy Kid graphic novel series. Reluctant readers are huge fans of this bestselling series, which parents either tolerate because they're thrilled their kid's reading or dislike because the main character, Greg, is always doing something a little bit rotten. Here Greg uses a Magic Eight Ball for a test, alters school yearbook photos in unflattering ways, and lets his grades slip because he's lost all his books and doesn't tell anyone. He's clearly a boy growing into his conscience -- slowly -- but he does the right thing when it really counts, like deciding not to buy another kid's science fair project and showing compassion to a friend at the right time. Violence is pretty low with a few pushy bullies. It's all the potty humor that stands out in this one. Pants are pulled down a few times showing stick cartoon legs in small underwear; Greg's sitting on the toilet a few times, as well. Then there's poor Dad, who has a dog pass gas in his face. Ewww.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

• Parents say (7)
• Kids say (23)

Based on 7 parent reviews

Underdog back in Book filled with potty humor.

Christina's review, what's the story.

Poor Greg. His one good friend, Rowley, has done the unthinkable. He's actually gotten a girlfriend. Now who will walk to school with him and carry his books while watching out for dog messes on the sidewalk? Greg will just have to find himself another sidekick. The only boy desperate enough to take him up on the offer is his bizarre neighbor Fregley, who drops all Greg's books on their first trip to school while running away from the scary Mingo brothers. And then it's Easter, and mom's quarreling sisters and daredevil cousins come to visit. When Greg finds a Magic Eight Ball, he thinks things are finally looking up. It helps him with all kinds of decisions, like which club to join to stay away from the Mingo brothers after school. But he's let his grades slip -- he has no books to study with -- and his science fair project is due next week. What's a Wimpy Kid to do?

Is It Any Good?

Hard Luck doesn't hold together as well as the other installments. Here's the true test of whether HARD LUCK is up your alley: Does the picture of Greg's dad getting tooted on by Grandma's dog send you into hysterical laughter, or do your eyes immediately roll skyward? If this prompts you to stop reading this review, the book is not for you. Is Jeff Kinney running out of gas/ideas? The quarreling-relatives storyline is a real low point; kids don't care about that stuff.

But there are always little redeeming moments, like all the things Greg finds in his mom's closet. Moms will like this mom with her parenting books and backup stuffed animals and the way she lays down the law to get Greg to bring up his grades but types his paper for him after he turns things around. Maybe that will sink in a little with kids once they're done laughing at the tooting dog.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the mega popularity of the Wimpy Kid series. What do kids love about it?

What do kids think of Greg? What do parents? Does he do anything in Hard Luck that you couldn't believe? Why do characters like Greg always seem as if they have one bad day after another?

Do you keep a journal? If so, how often do you write or draw in it? How can a journal be helpful?

Book Details

• Author : Jeff Kinney
• Illustrator : Jeff Kinney
• Genre : Humor
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Amulet Books
• Publication date : November 5, 2013
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
• Number of pages : 224
• Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
• Last updated : July 12, 2017

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From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 8

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2013

By the end of the book, Greg may have taken a microscopic step or two toward becoming a decent human being, but as usual,...

In this eighth outing for Wimpy Kid Greg Heffley, he copes with the aftereffects of having unwittingly matched up best friend Rowley with Abigail in his previous outing ( The Third Wheel , 2012).

Readers who have experienced the ebbs and flows of middle school friendships might be inclined to feel sorry for Greg, except that all his reasons for his new unhappiness are so characteristically selfish. With Rowley gaga over Abigail, Greg now has to walk to school alone, losing his dog-poop scout and pack horse, for instance. Readers will have to squint between the lines for evidence of real emotion. As always, Kinney gets in a dig or two at the idiocies of modern education, snarking at ball-game bans in the name of safety and lame efforts to reduce bullying. Also as always, the plot meanders, taking Greg and readers from the middle school ecosystem to Easter at Gramma’s for a look at extended-family anthropology before tackling science-fair stress. Greg’s reliance on a Magic 8 Ball for all decision-making is good for some yuks, as is his discovery of a secret shelf of parenting books in the back of his mom’s closet: Tellingly, amid such titles as Making Them Love Reading , Taming Your Defiant Child and Parenting Picky Eaters is Raising Decent Human Beings .

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4197-1132-9

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: April 21, 2014

GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

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More In The Series

BOOK REVIEW

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

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PERSPECTIVES

WRECKING BALL

From the diary of a wimpy kid series , vol. 14.

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3

Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019

GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

SEEN & HEARD

STEALING HOME

by J. Torres ; illustrated by David Namisato ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 2021

An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.

Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.

Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0

Page Count: 112

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

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by J. Torres ; illustrated by Sean Dove

by J. Torres ; illustrated by Aurélie Grand

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Sunday 1 December 2013

Review: hard luck (diary of a wimpy kid).

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Book Review

Hard luck — “diary of a wimpy kid” series.

• Jeff Kinney

Readability Age Range

• Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS

Year Published

Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine . It is the eighth book in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series.

Plot Summary

Middle schooler Greg Heffley is having a tough time since his best friend, Rowley, got a girlfriend. Now Rowley’s not around to carry Greg’s books or help Greg avoid landmines left by a dog on their route to school. Greg’s well-meaning mother tries to offer advice for making new friends, but she has no idea what it’s like to be a boy Greg’s age. Greg decides to take the strange neighbor, Fregley, under his wing. He hopes he can train Fregley to do all the things Rowley used to and be the perfect sidekick.

Greg writes about colorful family members and gatherings in which relatives fight over and hunt for the recently deceased MeeMaw’s wedding ring. While sleeping on his brother’s floor so his cousins can have his room, he discovers a Magic 8 Ball and starts consulting it for all of his life decisions. He gets in trouble when he uses it to come up with answers on a test at school. As the principal talks to Mom, he mentions that Greg is doing poorly in every subject and will require summer school if he doesn’t work harder. This threat propels Greg to improve his grades significantly.

Greg finds Mom’s parenting books in her closet and learns about reverse psychology. He decides to use it on his parents to convince them to give him a phone. He tells them he’s not ready for that kind of responsibility, and they take the bait by giving him Mom’s old cell phone. He accidentally drops the phone in the toilet, rendering it useless.

The 8 Ball tells Greg to join the yearbook staff, so he starts taking pictures for the publication. When he needs a good science fair project to improve his grades, he considers buying an old one on the school’s black market. He backs out at the last minute, realizing he doesn’t want to get involved with shady kids like those selling the recycled projects.

When Greg’s 8 Ball breaks, he throws it into Gramma’s backyard. Then Rowley’s girlfriend breaks up with him, and Greg needs help deciding if they should be friends again. As he goes to look for the 8 Ball, he finds an old Easter egg containing MeeMaw’s wedding ring. He hides it in Mom’s closet and decides — without the 8 Ball’s help — to be friends with Rowley again.

Christian Beliefs

Greg’s family goes to church at Christmas and Easter. He likes Christmas better because he doesn’t have to stay in his church clothes all day as he does at Easter.

Other Belief Systems

Greg’s Aunt Audra believes in crystal balls and horoscopes. She won’t do anything without consulting her psychic. Mom gets upset when she learns Aunt Audra took Greg with her to a psychic. Mom says it’s a bunch of hocus pocus and a waste of money. In light of this, Greg thinks it’s ironic that Mom always credits Gramma with having ESP. Greg mentions having bought a rabbit’s foot on a trip, only to get food poisoning and sprain his ankle. He promptly got rid of it. He says horoscopes he sometimes reads in the paper and fortunes in fortune cookies are useless. At a family gathering, relatives go through MeeMaw’s photo albums because Aunt Audra’s psychic said MeeMaw’s wedding ring was there. Greg is convinced his brother’s Magic 8 Ball can provide the answers he needs in life.

Authority Roles

Mom tries to help Greg make new friends and improve his grades. She stays up late one night to type up his science fair project. She has a closet full of parenting books to help her raise her sons. She emphasizes the value of family, even though she and her sisters don’t get along well. At family gatherings, greedy relatives fight over and hunt for valuables belonging to Greg’s deceased great-grandma.

Profanity & Violence

Sexual content, discussion topics.

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Cheating: Greg pays Rowley in peanut butter crackers to do his cursive homework. A handful of kids at Greg’s school run a black market operation where they sell old reports and science projects. Greg starts to buy one of these science projects but changes his mind.

Bathroom humor: Greg talks a lot about poop, like how Rowley used to help him avoid stepping in it or how the boys spent all day watching people avoid a pile of it at a Fourth of July celebration. One of his illustrations shows a dog crouching in preparation to poop. Greg and his brother make the sound of passing gas in front of Gramma’s dog to make the dog perk up and sniff his own rear end. Greg is sitting on the toilet playing with the phone when one of his aunts calls in to video chat.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck Summary & Study Guide

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck Summary & Study Guide Description

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck tells the story of Greg Heffley, a middle school boy who can't seem to catch a break. Greg's luck begins to go downhill when his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, starts spending all his time with his new girlfriend, Abigail Brown. From there, Greg sees everything else as spiraling downward and it isn't until he starts making decisions for himself that Greg begins to see his luck change.

The main reason for this series of diary entries is because Greg's best friend Rowley has a girlfriend and is spending all his time with her. Aside from being a tad bit jealous and confused that Rowley has the girlfriend and not him, Greg is frustrated that he is left alone to face his walk to and from school by himself, carry his books by himself, blow chocolate milk bubbles by himself, and play with the snowballs he and Rowley froze for a later date, also by himself. The frustration Greg expresses is not only with not being able to spend time with Rowley playing and having fun, but also at being left to do things like look out for dog poop. Greg doesn't consider any of the boys at his lunch table his friend, so when Rowley and Abigail leave the table for the Couples Table, while Greg might still put up with the table's games such as French Fry Friday and Five-Second Rule, he doesn't have anyone to talk to, play with, or walk home with.

Greg decides to take on a boy named Fregley to see if he can mold Fregley into the kind of friend he wants. Greg teaches Fregley how to do what Rowley used to do: scout for dog poop so Greg doesn't step in it, carry his books, and play Five-Second Rule at the lunch table. Greg tries to turn Fregley into his funny sidekick, but his plan backfires when Fregley becomes so popular that Greg is crowded out.

With everything going on at school, Greg was looking forward to Spring break so that he could relax at home. However, his mom drops a bomb on the entire family: her family - Greg's aunts and cousins - are coming into town for Easter. Greg goes into great detail about his family, naming and describing many members of the family and the different reasons why they all drive him crazy. When Easter does finally come, there is even more family than he expected, since many of the extended family members came into town for the holiday. The family starts off getting along but ends up in a big to-do over Meemaw's missing diamond ring. Greg is relieved when his dad asks Aunt Gretchen and her twin boys to leave after only two days, since one of the boys called the cops when there was no more ketchup in the refrigerator. The shining moment during Greg's extended family's visit is when Greg finds a Magic 8 Ball under Rodrick's bed. He begins using the Magic 8 Ball to make all of his decisions that can be answered with a yes/no answer.

At school, Greg continues to use his Magic 8 Ball, though it is to his detriment. Greg uses the Magic 8 Ball to answer questions on a Social Studies test and is accused of cheating. When he lands in the Vice Principal's office, Vice Principal Roy lets Greg know that if he doesn't pull up his grades in the next couple weeks, he will have to attend summer school. Greg is willing to do anything he can to avoid that situation, so he buckles down and works hard to finish all of his missing homework assignments. The biggest task Greg has to complete in order to ensure he doesn't go to summer school is the Science Fair project. Greg considers purchasing an old project from kids who are wrongfully selling them, but decides against it. Greg stays late at school and stays up until 11:30 p.m. the night before the project is due in order to complete it.

A further development at school is that Greg gets the job as Yearbook photographer. He enjoys the position since it pays $5 for every photo used in the Yearbook, though he struggles to juggle his regular school work with the demand of taking candid photographs of his classmates. Greg has fun editing photos, however the way he edits them makes others look silly or even stupid. Ultimately, Greg resigns from the position after having to take a Cutest Couple photo of Rowley and Abigail.

One week after the photo shoot involving Rowley and Abigail, the two split up because Abigail decides to go back to her ex-boyfriend. Though it takes him a couple days, Greg reaches out to Rowley and the two become friends again. Though Greg began to take responsibility for his actions and see his luck change as soon as he started trying harder at school, it's after he regains his friendship with Rowley that Greg is once again a truly happy middle school boy.

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