Double Down

Everyone's favorite middle-schooler, Greg Heffley, continues to get himself into trouble (mild) and concoct schemes (generally candy-related) in his eleventh outing in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. As Halloween looms near, its spooky, sugary influence can be felt in most of his diary's entries. The Spineticklers series is all the rage at school, but Greg's obsession with the Goosebumps-like books leads to peculiar nightmares. What's more, mean geese are stalking his neighborhood's streets, and there's a chance his family's Halloween decorations are bewitched. These things aren't bothering Greg too much, though, as he's focused on winning a jar of candy corn in a school competition and getting an invite to Mariana Mendoza's Halloween party. Laugh-out-loud moments abound, as fans of the series have come to expect, whether tucked into Kinney's signature doodles (such as Greg's disastrous attempt at playing the French horn); slapstick scenes; or Greg's imaginative, stream-of-conscience observations. Though Greg's clever ideas backfire more often than not, this just fuels the fun. Readers are definitely in for a treat with Kinney's latest.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2016 Booklist

Everyone's favorite middle-schooler, Greg Heffley, continues to get himself into trouble (mild) and concoct schemes (generally candy-related) in his eleventh outing in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. As Halloween looms near, its spooky, sugary influence can be felt in most of his diary's entries. The Spineticklers series is all the rage at school, but Greg's obsession with the Goosebumps-like books leads to peculiar nightmares. What's more, mean geese are stalking his neighborhood's streets, and there's a chance his family's Halloween decorations are bewitched. These things aren't bothering Greg too much, though, as he's focused on winning a jar of candy corn in a school competition and getting an invite to Mariana Mendoza's Halloween party. Laugh-out-loud moments abound, as fans of the series have come to expect, whether tucked into Kinney's signature doodles (such as Greg's disastrous attempt at playing the French horn); slapstick scenes; or Greg's imaginative, stream-of-conscience observations. Though Greg's clever ideas backfire more often than not, this just fuels the fun. Readers are definitely in for a treat with Kinney's latest. Copyright 2016 Booklist Reviews.