prkcs.wordpress.com 1 st edition, hardcover 2007 Concept Analysis

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1 prkcs.wordpress.com 1 st edition, hardcover 2007 Concept Analysis Organizational Patterns Being a diary this book is divided into days and months. One could argue that the different months could be called chapters because the diary begins in September, when his mother gives it to him, and ends in May. In each month Greg writes the day of the week and then goes to describe what happened that day. Like any journal or diary writer, sometime Greg will skip a few days of writing, but he is mostly consistent. Greg is very creative so his personal and informal entries are always accompanied by cartoon drawings that illustrate what Greg has just described. The entries range from one big incident that happened at home or in school, or a few minor funny events that are worth noting. All the entries do relate to each other in the end, so if something is brought up, such as his brother s band Loded Diper, readers will be exposed to it later on in the book creating a coherent diary story. Issues related to this Study of Literature Theme Friendship-Greg decides to be best friends with Rowley when Rowley moves into his neighborhood and comes over with a book called How to Make Friends in New Places. Greg claims that they are only friends because he felt sorry for Rowley, but really Greg does not have too many friends. He likes Rowley because Greg can use all of his older brother s tricks on his new best friend. Friendship is a solid theme is this novel because Greg and Rowley go through some hilarious challenges that test their friendship and deals with the issue of how to make up with your friends.

2 Popularity- Greg tries so hard to be popular and when Rowley finds popularity, Greg tries to use it to his advantage. In his diary Greg even ranks students in order of their popularity placing him at #52 and Rowley at #150, which is why Greg is so surprised that Rowley becomes popular. Popularity is actually what causes Greg to be upset at Rowley because as his former sidekick, Rowley has climbed the social ladder and is liked by even girls! Loyalty- Going along with friendship and popularity is loyalty. There is something called the cheese touch. There is a moldy piece of cheese on the basketball court that was there the year before. If any student has touched the cheese they have the cheese touch and if that student touches someone else the cheese touch is left the former student and has now contaminated the newly touched person. A group of teenagers tried to get Rowley and Greg to fight, but ended up being bullies and making Rowley eat the cheese. The next day someone asked about the cheese, and Greg knew if he told everyone that Rowley ate it, he would be popular and Rowley would forever have the cheese touch. Instead, Greg said nothing, so he still had the cheese touch remaining loyal to his best friend. Family- Family is a central theme in this novel. Greg is the middle child and is constantly writing about the unfairness of his situation. His older brother can pick on him, but he can t pick on his younger brother because his younger brother is the favorite. This is a great book to discuss child-parent relationships, for Greg describes funny situations of how his parents punish, teach, and talk to their children differently. The novel also addresses crazy relatives who give awful presents such as a Uncle Charlie giving Greg a self portrait for Christmas. Diversity at school-being in junior high that time where every student is physically and mentally different from the other causes many funny scenes in the novel. Greg describes the students who are already shaving, the girls who are annoying because they like all the boys, and then the weird awkward boy who no one understands or likes. Students will be able to relate to Greg and the awkwardness of the different developmental stages they are going through. How we have all seen the nerd become popular because of changes from one summer, or have tried something new, like wrestling and failed horribly! Setting This novel has two main settings. The first is Greg s house. This setting is important because it gives readers most of the family happenings. Here, Greg s brother Rodrick has band practice, which causes tension between the family members. Greg s mom is proud that her non academic son has found something he is good at, while Greg s dad thinks it is weird that Rodrick is playing with a man who is a high school dropout and

3 too old for Loded Diper. Also, at home Greg shows how unfair his parents are, which helps reader relate to him because as an adolescent we have all felt the same way. The second main setting is Greg s school. Greg describes how hilarious events such as his mom making him join the school play which turns out horrible because Greg sees Rodrick filming the production and knowing Rodrick will make fun of Greg for singing, Greg decides to be silent causing the other boys to be silent creating a very awkward scene. Readers get Greg s perspective of school, but through his description we really understand that what Greg thinks is true really isn t. For example, Greg thinks he is more popular than he really is. Some other minor settings include Greg s grandma s house, playing outside in the yard or on the sidewalk, the neighborhood where the boys go trick-or-treating, and Rowley s house. Each setting is significant because something exciting happened there, which is why Greg writes about it, but all these places are typical settings a young boy would go. Point of View; Narrative Voice Diary of a Wimpy Kid is narrated by a young teenage boy is just beginning junior high. According to him, Greg is very truthful about what happened, but as readers we can see through Greg s biases and figure out what is really going on. Greg makes a big deal about events that are very important to him, which is funny because they seem very silly, but anyone who is or has been a young teenager laughs because we have all done and thought the same things. Greg simply narrates the daily events of school and family and how he feels about it, usually exaggerating, and his personality and description of everything is what is so funny. For example on the first page Greg begins his journal, First of all, let me get something straight: This is a JOURNAL, not a diary. I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I SPECIFICALLY told her to get one that didn t say diary on it. Great. All I need is for some jerk to catch me carrying this book around and get the wrong idea. The other thing I want to clear up right away is that this was MOM s idea, not mine. But if she thinks I m going to write down my feelings in here or whatever, she s crazy. So just don t expect me to be all Dear Diary this and Dear Diary that. Even though Greg says he will not be Dear Diary this and Dear Diary that he does exactly that. Greg may not write his feelings in a sappy way, but uses more of a dramatic style where everything is a huge deal. He also blames his mom as the reason for writing the diary, but it is obvious that Greg enjoys his journal because if he didn t he would not be writing in it almost every day.

4 Literary Terms Voice- Greg s voice is quite distinct because he portrays his life in such seriousness that it is funny. Things such as the cheese touch, building the world s largest snowman, and being on Safety Patrol solely for hot chocolate are not life altering events, but they are events that make up his life and the voice he uses to portrays them keeping, us as readers, very interested. Being a diary, Greg is honest and does not hold anything back, which is appropriate for this genre of writing. His personality comes through his diary and we find ourselves relating to him. Narration-Greg narrates his life through his diary and can be very honest with the events in his life because no one will be reading it, but him. Through this personal narration we learn that Greg is picked on by bullies and his older brother, wants to be popular, feels that his younger brother is the favorite, and is loyal to his friend. Although Greg never tells us these things, by the way he narrates and describes every situation we can infer. Affective Issues Related to the Work This book is very relatable to anyone who is going through middle school or who has already been through. Greg is constantly bullied by his older brother and his brother s friends, so students who have been bullied by a family member or someone at school can relate to Greg s feelings toward these people. Also students who have a younger sibling, like Greg, and feel like that sibling is favored and is able to get away with more. The novel addresses the parent-child relationship. Greg feels that his parents are unfair in their punishments and that parents do not understand what it is like to be in middle school. Greg s mom forces Greg to be part of the school play and he begs her not to because he will have to sing in front of the entire school, which will not be good for popularity. Students might be able to relate that parents seem unfair, won t listen to them, and can be embarrassing.

5 Popularity- Popularity is very relevant for middle school students as everyone is trying to fit in, make friends, and avoid embarrassing situations. Greg finds himself in many situations that drop his popularity ranking such as the cheese touch. Greg is always thinking of how he can be popular and tries to submit his cartoons into the school newspaper where he will become famously recognized, but is rejected or his cartoon is greatly modified (pg ). Friendship- Students may be affected by the friendship between Greg and Rowley and how Greg comes through for his friend by not telling everyone Rowley ate the cheese. Although telling others will make Rowley unpopular, and more like Greg, Greg chooses to be loyal. Greg goes through feelings of jealousy, being backstabbed, and used which can happen to students while in school. Gender- like Greg, students may have experiences with the opposite gender not understanding how they think, not liking them, or liking them and the awkwardness that can derive from such situations. Vocabulary The vocabulary in this novel is not difficult to understand, but is rather simple and informal. However, one aspect of vocabulary that could be discussed is onomatopoeia. In the cartoons Greg draws, instead of describing the sound he just writes it. For example when an apple hits a girl on the head he uses the world Clonk. Also what is interesting is when onomatopoeias are not used, instead of trying to create a panting sound Greg will just write pant pant pant, Grunt! Wheeze! Type type, instead of something like click click or my favorite he uses often is gasp sputter. On the same page two people are lifting weights and one person says, FPOOOO! and the other person is described saying, GASP SPUTTER. I think students can talk about the effect these different words have on them as readers. When given something such as Grunt! Wheeze! students can imagine in their own minds what that might sound like instead of the narrator telling them what it sounds like. Background Knowledge Very little background knowledge is needed to understand this book. Maybe there can be a discussion about why students change physically at different rates than others, but overall nothing within the book needs much elaboration. One important part about this novel that can be discussed is the function of a diary. What is the purpose of a diary? How do people write in their diaries and how often. What do people write in their diaries? And why does Greg draw pictures? Implications for Students of Diversity This book does not directly address multicultural students or students with disabilities. The diversity in the book comes from social diversity such as students who: want to be popular,

6 who are athletic, intelligent, awkward, have been held back, the class clown etc. Schools are a diverse social network and this book allows the issue of where do I fit in? gets addressed. However, to bring in other cultures there are some holidays and birthdays that are celebrated and students can show how their family celebrates Christmas or birthdays. Also, Greg has a strained relationship with his relatives because they are much older and do not connect with Greg, so students can talk about their relationship with distant relatives. The Central Question or Enduring Theme Basically this book deals with the issues of becoming an adolescent such as parent relationships, peer relationships, popularity, sibling interaction and friendships. Students will be able to relate to Greg as they go through many situations that Greg writes about. Research Issues/Project Ideas Journaling-The entire book is written as Greg s diary and students could create and write in their own diary or journal. We would discuss how Greg has made his journal unique to him, with pictures and comics, and how each student can find tools that will help them journal best. This journal can be a personal journal, where students write at home about whatever they want, or a teacher can give prompts related to the book in class for students to write. Onomatopoeia- Onomatopoeias are common throughout the entire novel and students can practice using them in a short piece of writing. As homework on the weekends have students choose an event that occurred, such as eating dinner, going to a soccer game, going to church, shopping etc and have them take close notes to the sounds they hear. When students come back to class have them create a small story of the event incorporating their onomatopoeias. Comic books- Greg loves drawing comics and even submits a few for the school newspaper. His love for drawing crosses over into his diary as he depicts many situations through comics and caricatures. Students can create their own comics as a way to journal or depict their life events. Robot- In the novel Greg and his class are given an assignment to build a robot or describe what the robot would look like the different things it would be able to do. This can be a fun assignment because students can do an actually assignment that Greg had to do!

7 Information Text Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules and Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Last Straw. These are two other books in the series of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Buy.com Buy.com Graphic novels- Graphic novels are similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid because they both tell a story through pictures. However, graphic novels do contain more graphics and are a more mature version of comic books. By giving a specific prompt, students can blog on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid blog and ask Jeff Kinney questions. It would also be interesting to read what other students have written from around the country. Jeff Kinney posts a lot of blogs such as his upcoming book tours, newspaper articles of his book, a newspaper clipping showing Diary of a Wimpy Kid as the #1 best seller and his future publications. This website has a full episode of Jeff Kinney explaining where Greg s weird words come from, his inspiration of the novel, hidden meanings in pictures, the legitimacy of comic books, and his writing process. These episode chapters would be good to strategically choose from as the novel is being taught.