Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess

Greg Heffley's diary keeps its cartoons, its poor decisions and its complete absence of self-awareness in this entry from Jeff Kinney's long-running series. The format is unchanged and that is rather the point: handwritten-style text broken up by drawings on nearly every page, short scenes that build into a run of small disasters, and a narrator convinced the fault lies elsewhere. Reluctant readers tend to get through these quickly because the pictures carry the pace, and the 224-page volume sits squarely in the middle-grade range. Key points at a glance: • A later instalment in the Wimpy Kid series • Cartoon drawings paired with diary-style entries • Short scenes that suit stop-start reading • 224 pages aimed at readers aged eight to twelve A reliable choice for middle-grade readers and reluctant readers alike, published by Puffin and stocked at Boipoka.