Take the subtitle of this book seriously: It is mostly a do-it-yourself book rather than funny stories like the ones in Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Diary of a Wimpy Kid). Sixteen pages of colored cartoons are the only funny stories in the book that are similar to the earlier two books. Some funny illustrations surround the diary's questions. The idea is to create a journal that a youngster will look back on some day, a sort of written time capsule.

If you insist on buying this, you've been warned. It's not what you think it is . . . and it's not a very good value.

When I was 9-12 years old, that was the last thing I would have wanted. As an adult, I'm always annoyed by "books" that mostly blank pages of lined paper (with little cartoons in one corner). I can buy lined paper much cheaper in other forms.

With those warnings in mind, some youngsters will be glad if they answer some of these questions and later look back on what they wrote. I would warn those who think about doing that not to write anything that they wouldn't want parents, siblings, and friends to see at the moment. Some of the questions are ripe for creating vast embarrassment for a youngster.

The book starts off in confusing fashion on a page entitled "What're you gonna do with this thing?" At the bottom, it says "Whatever you do, just make sure you don't write down your 'feelings' in here. Because one thing's for sure: This is NOT a diary."

Contrary to that statement is the book's title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In addition, less than halfway through the book there's a section preceding all those pages of lined paper that says "What's Your Story?" which contains these directions:

"Use the rest of the book to keep a daily journal, write a novel, draw comic strips, or tell your life story."

Those directions immediately follow a page that says: "Diary of a _____"

Is a diary by another name any less a diary?

The fill-in-the-blank parts of the book contain lots of questions designed to elicit current likes and dislikes (video games, songs, books, movies, animals, colors, and houses), your predictions for the future, and potentially embarrassing facts. There is also a lot of emphasis on creating comic strips by providing unfinished panels to be completed and then followed by empty panels. You also have a chance to draw some maps as well. More fun is to describe things that you would like to do in the future (such as the first laws you would pass as president).

Diary of a Whimpy kid Do It Yourself Book. My kids love all the books and I think this will be really fun for him since he likes making up his own comics.

This book was wonderful. My grandson of 8 yrs old opened it and didn't put it down for 2 hours. He wrote his own stories and took great care with his penmanship, it was great!!

My son LOVES this book since I bought it for him he can't put it down & can't wait to get a new one!! I think it really brings out the creative thinking in kids, he has always loved reading but never liked writing much, this book is a great combination of both!! He is only 8 and has no problem with this but he is a high achiever in reading also.

How often, as adults, do we look back at our childhood and become nostalgic? This "journal" will serve to remind our children/grandchildren of many, many things that they documented at the time they filled out this wonderful book. I not only bought one for each of my three grandchildren, but my forty year old son and myself!

My son who is 8 looooves these books! He can't get enough of them. Unfortunately we have to wait for the next one till Jan and they have not made many of these books he has all of them and read them all very quickly. It keeps his attention from cover to cover and doesn't put it down till he read the whole book. He absolutely loved the do it yourself book he had a ball filling in all his details. I would definitely recommend this book.

My boys, ages 8 and 12, love the wimpy kid books. I just bought the Do-it-yourself book for my 8-year-old, who is not a big reader, and he has spent hours working on this book. It is a great way to encourage kids like him to open a book!

My 9-yo is a voracious reader and loved Kinney's two "Wimpy Kid" books. When he asked me for this at our school book-fair a few days ago, I was really against it because I figured he'd read what was there and that would be it. But for $5 for the paperback, even a slight chance he would write in it was worth it.

This is a boy who is almost done with the Harry Potter series - reading is not a problem. But getting him to WANT to put pencil to paper is a challenge, and that translates into a lot of painful school nights getting homework done.

Turns out the secret to getting a kid who hates to write to get some practice is a good running start and fart jokes. He's picked it up every day, and though he struggles with his penmanship and getting ideas out of his head, he has really used this! I don't think he'll be journaling regularly any time soon, but I think even the past few days of comic strip writing and other activities has been well worth the 5 bucks.

Kinney is a genius!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been one of the most innovative books in child literature with its diary format and a mix of text and comics. Greg, the main character echoes sentiments of any middle schooler and even strikes a familiar chord with older and adult readers as his dilemmas with bullies and teachers seem familiar. The best part is that the books are a faster read than most chapter books so even the reluctant readers will find them easy to read. The books are also laugh out loud funny with their middle school humor which makes kids read them again and again.

This DIY book is the addition to this series. It is meant for fans of the series who have already read the first 2 books Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and want to explore more till the third book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) comes out next year. This is not just a book like the others but also a journal which a kid can fill out with his/her own writing, illustrations and comics.

The first 90 pages of the book are created to spark a kid's interest and imagination by providing inspiration for writing and drawing. One of these pages asks you to draw a plan of your "dream house", another asks you to list "5 things nobody knows about you", yet another asks about "The worst nightmare you ever had" or "Rules for your family" and so on. In addition, there are a number of pages with unfinished comics that invite you to create your own. The rest of the book has plain lined pages with a small sketch of a character from the book at the bottom that a kid can use to create his/her own diary.

Overall, it is a good buy for kids who have already read the series as it encourages them to create their own diary. The Wimpy Kid Diaries have worked magic with some reluctant readers and got them to read, now this DIY journal has the potential spark their interest in telling their own stories through words and comics.

My son loved all of the Wimpy Kid books and when we saw this was available we snatched it up! He has spent many happy hours writing his own stories, jokes and drawing pictures in his Do-it-Yourself Book. If your child doesn't enjoy writing this is a great way to get them to write that they will love!

I have four sons ranging from 12 to 5. The older three love this series. I get a kick out of it as well. We had to buy three of these books so they could each have their own to write in. My 5 year old can't read or write yet or I would have purchased 4.

This is the series that got my 8 year old son to want to read on his own - that is worth 10 stars to me! When we purchased this book, I thought he would just skip over the pages where you are asked to write and be done within one evening. No so, my son did not take his nose out of the book for over two straight hours after purchasing it. He was dilegntly writing and drawing as well as reading. I can't wait to sneak a peak and see what he wrote. To me it is a wonderful keepsake book that I'll keep when he has children of his own and can read all the wonderful adventures and ideas he had at 8 years old. The author prompts something most books don't, being creative and using your own imagination. HIGHLY recommend this one!!!

My 9 year old loved the first two Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. On a recent trip to the bookstore, he chose the Do-It-Yourself Book as his book for the week. At first, I said no, because I thought it was a rip-off that more than half of the book is just lined pages! He convinced me in the end, and he has loved the book. Not as much as the first two, but he has spent many hours reading it and writing in it. I know we will keep this book and show it to his kids one day --- won't that be fun!

Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney scores again with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book. My 8 year old literally did not put this book down until he had filled in all the pages of worksheets such as Design Your Dream House and Rules for Your Family. Besides the worksheets, there are lots of pages of Kinney's comics and plenty of pages for your budding cartoonist to write his or her own cartoons. I admit I was skeptical of this book at first. I figured Kinney and his publishers were cashing in on the Wimpy Kid brand without having to go to the trouble of producing another book, but this is actually a creative and fun way to encourage your child to exercise his own writing and cartooning skills.

I am a substitute teacher and aspiring teacher and am always looking for children's books that I can use to build my classroom library. I saw the book on the teacher's desk that I was subbing for and flipped through it. I would have never guessed that I would spend nutrition and lunch engaged in it and hoping to finish it by the end of the day. As a book itself, it is a wonderful book to explore. As a children's book, WOW! I find the reading level to be fairly easy, but the book does not dumb down any content. The actual format of the book helps children who might not be able to digest the comprehension of a regular chapter book , comprehend the story better in smaller sections than with a typical chapter book where the sections might be a tad long.Not appropriate as a read-aloud book to younger students, but a good find for individual reading.I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series!

Our grandsons immediately began looking through their books and within a minute were looking for something to write with! Be sure to have your child read the first two books before buying this one! Much more fun!

My daughter got this book for her birthday. My son who had the other Wimpy kids books and wanted one of his own. Although the stories do have some toilet humor, they are pretty funny. This books requires some creativity in that you need to make your own comic. It sort of reminds me of Mad Libs when I was young. I learned how to create a story by filling in the blanks.

This really motivated my son to write, because he is such a Wimpy Kid fan. It's a great idea for helping kids to develop their reading and writing skills, especially ones who don't normally like to do those sorts of things.

I ordered this book for my 10 year old son and he loves it. There are so many different things to do, including the diary. He mainly enjoys the madlibs but who doesnt. Great buy, I would recommend to any parent who has a child with a vivid imagination.

My son got the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for his 11th Birthday. He loved it and he is not big on reading! I have since bought him the whole collection and he reads everynight!

My lovely granddaughter read the first two Wimpy Kid books and enjoyed them immensely so we ordered this one and she absolutely loves it. There are so many ideas, suggestions, things to think about and things to do with this book, to make it the child's own creation. Can't go wrong. We've also pre-ordered the next one, can't wait!

My son first discovered the Wimpy Kid books when he was in 1st grade. He loved the first two, and when we saw there was a new one, he wanted it right away. (Before he even opened it, he saw on the back cover that another new one was coming out, and he got even more excited). This book is more of the same (which is a good thing), and it adds a lot of blank areas within the story where it encourages readers to use their imagination and add to the author's story.

My son starting reading this book in the store, and didn't put it down until he had finished it. The last half of the book is just lined pages for the reader to write their own stories. I am going to encourage my son to write in it a little every day.

I can strongly recommend this book to parents of children not only in middle school, but elementary school too.