The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 5)

I wish there was a separate forum for reviewing Amazon’s customer service, because it’s really not fair for an author to collect ten one-star reviews on its release date because people are upset that Amazon failed to deliver the book to them on time. I suppose a best-selling author like Jeff Kinney will survive, but it’s still truly unfair to him. These reviews persist forever and they’re supposed to be about the book.

So, on to the book! “The Ugly Truth” was laugh-out loud funny. My middle-schooler called out from the next room many times to get my attention to read the funny parts out loud to me. After she finished, I read the whole book myself before she scooped it up again to share with friends at school.

It’s refreshing to finally see a comic character grow up because let’s face it, puberty isn’t pretty, but it is funny. Our Wimpy Kid Greg finally realizes that he is no longer a cute little kid. Now he’s finding out the top secrets about puberty (which Rowley hopes not to “catch”) in boys-only health class. Going to the harsh grown up dentist instead of the cuddly kids’ version, Greg ends up with not only the fear of gingivitis instilled in him, but even worse, HEADGEAR. My favorite scene was the school “lock-in” that went awry in so many ways. I won’t spoil the main silliness but the only way the teachers can think of to get the boys to settle down is to turn the heat off and air conditioning on so that they have to stay in their sleeping bags. Meanwhile, the girls are living the sweet life in the heated library media room.

Rowley and Greg were kept apart for much of the book, but their on-and-off friendship, and the attempts by Rowley’s parents to find a more mentoring “pal” to replace Greg, were understandable, and funny.

The extended Heffley family factors into the book, featuring Greg’s Uncle Gary as a much-married, possibly future version of Greg. Gary is half cautionary tale, half inspiration–in Greg’s mind, compared to Greg’s parents, Gary seems to be having much more fun.

I was disappointed that the Heffley boys couldn’t get it together enough for their Mom to keep up her renewed school studies…that was truly a bummer. Kinney includes a few digs at helicopter parents throughout the book. I hope in the next sequel their Mom will get to stay in school.

Kids will find this book hilarious, and as an adult reader I have to applaud the little details that Kinney comes up with, such as the health teacher’s unfeeling reaction to the girls who have lovingly cared for the eggs that they have to protect as though they were babies; and many small touches like Greg’s hope that inheriting a textbook from a cool kid will magically make him cool too.

As an author covering middle-school mayhem, he’s not just coasting–Jeff Kinney still has his touch!

This book was very exciting. Although when compared to the other books in the series, I do not think it is as good. I didn’t think the ending was acceptable; it kind of just ended. I think it should have gone on past where it ended. Although some things are bad about the book, more are good. While it is predictable, the humor is good and the idea of the book was intelligent. It is different from the others because Greg is going through new “changes.”

His ex-best friend, Rowley, who Greg thinks is childish and a loner; beats him to these changes. Near the end the two of them become best friends again. It was easy to guess this would happen. You’ll have to read it to find out how. So I’m saying it is a good book and I hope Jeff Kinney will add to the series shortly(CAN’T WAIT!) Hope this review helped your decision!

Let me start by saying, my just turned 9 year old does not like to read. He reads because he has to at school or because I tell him to. He doesn’t enjoy it. He bought this book yesterday at the book fair. He read during silent reading time at school. He read on the bus. He read all evening. I heard him laughing out loud a bunch of times. He finished it last night before he went to bed! He even asked to spend part of his birthday money on the first 4 books today at the book fair!! Finally books that make him actually WANT to read!

In The Ugly Truth, Jeff Kinney’s 5th Wimpy Kid book, protagonist Greg Heffley is facing the prospect of a new school year without the companionship of long time cohort Rowley, with whom he’s had a falling out. And it’s one of those times in life when it’s good to have someone at your side: adolescence. Greg is facing things like Advanced Health, which covers “top-secret stuff’, the “this egg is your baby” assignment and an overnight boy-girl lock-in at the school. Discussions about his future and more responsibilities at home are also on his plate and, perhaps worst of all, he’s facing the prospect of “The Talk” – an apparent rite of passage in his family – with his Gammie.

Kinney has mastered the form – drawings and text complement each other perfectly and fans will find plenty here to laugh at and even more to identify with. (Does anyone forget the “top-secret stuff” health classes? EVER?)

Success, apparently, breeds imitators – at the bookstore this morning The Ugly Truth sat on a shelf alongside a whole slew of books that looked almost exactly like it with titles like Big Nate, Dork Diaries and Tales from the Crypt. While they wait for the next Wimpy Kid book to be published (and the “Other Books by Jeff Kinney” page in the book promises more are forthcoming), fans might find something to read in one of those similar series. Those interested in branching out a little during the wait might look to The 39 Clues series (The 39 Clues Book 1:The Maze of Bones), Gary Paulsen’s works (The Hatchet, etc.) Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series or The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins.

Enjoy!

all my friends and i love these books, but we all think this one is the best, if a movie comes out of this book im want to be the first on to see it!!!!!!
and if there not i would be sooo mad i would e-mail them begging them to make a movie

all my friends and i love these books, but we all think this one is the best, if a movie comes out of this book im want to be the first on to see it!!!!!!
and if there not i would be sooo mad i would e-mail them begging them to make a movie

I bought this book for my nephew and he loved them all. I bought the entire series and he was finished reading them in a bout a week. He now wants to see the movie Great buy!

I am seven years old and I’ve read the whole Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I think The Ugly Truth is the best book of the series. This book is really good!!! It’s one of the best books I’ve read. It’s so good because it’s funny and it has no chapters, just days and months. I hope my review was helpful to you.

I really like the book The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney because it had a lot of funny comics. One of my favorite parts was The Lock In because it ended up with Greg and Rowley together when they weren’t even friends. My Mom was happy for me to get the book so I would read. She knows that these books are the only books I really read. I would recommend this to anybody who wants a good laugh and wants to read a book with a lot of pages but is easy to read.