Jeff Kinney’s first book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, hit the bookshops in 2007 and was a global sensation, with 15 books in the series so far. Readers aged 7 to 12 years just cannot get enough of Jeff Kinney’s imaginative writing and drawing. In addition to Greg Heffley (also known as Wimpy Kid), Kinney created a character named Rowley Jefferson, who is Greg’s best friend.
Scare yourself silly with Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories, the third book in Kinney’s Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid series. Grab a flashlight, crawl under the covers, and dive into the twisted, unexpectedly hilarious world of Rowley Jefferson’s imagination.
You’ll meet zombies, vampires, ghosts, and more in these comically terrifying tales. Rowley’s spooky stories might leave you laughing, but beware – you could end up sleeping with the lights on!
I was pleasantly surprised to see how much these spooky stories were imbued with inspiration and humour – but I guess the ‘awesome friendly’ in the book’s title says it all. For instance, the first story is about a boy named Rowan who goes through a significant visible change. While Rowan dreams of a normal life, it would come at the price of hiding who he really was from the rest of the world. But ultimately, Rowan wants to embrace who he is, regardless of what others think.
This is a strong opening to the book, setting up how these spooky-friendly stories can motivate young readers aged 7+. However, Jeff Kinney is a trailblazer at giving outcasts a platform to embrace their differences and stand up for themselves. This is shown in the Wimpy Kid series with Greg, who charmed readers through his simultaneous awkwardness and hopefulness, and now with Rowley, who is filled with sensitivity and humour.
While you don’t need to have read the other two books in the series to understand Rowley’s storytelling in this book, I can highly recommend the rest of the Awesome Friendly books for a lot more fun, mayhem and humour.
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