maureenbutir

　　許多人的中學生活是悲慘的，特別是男孩子——正要轉大人的青春期身材跟聲音，跟女生之間相處的尷尬，與父母的衝突，在學校被同儕排擠的痛苦……每件事情好像都在跟自己作對。被教育要做個「男子漢」、不可以懦弱愛哭的男學生，也沒有好對象可以傾訴這些苦澀的感受跟不適應。

　　Diary of a Wimpy Kid的主角——沒膽的怪咖Greg Heffley，就是一個身處於尷尬青春期的國中男生。他寫日記時，在第一句話就強調這不是所謂的dairy，而是JOURNAL。他的日記裡不會有所謂的"dear diary this" and "dear dairy that"，他一點都不想被別人認為很娘。 （或許他認為所謂dairy是女孩子的東西。JOURNAL就像星艦迷航記(Star Trek)的艦長，每天要寫日誌那樣，是一件很Man的事吧）

　　為了強調他不娘這件事情，Greg還強調，寫日記根本不是他想做的事情，完全是媽媽的意思，因為媽媽要他在寫日記跟少做一件家事兩者間擇一，他只好選擇寫日記啦，這樣他就可以少做一件他討厭做的家事了—譬如刷馬桶。不過這件事情可不能讓他哥哥知道……

　　Greg的生活冒險與學校經歷是由美國漫畫家Jeff Kinney所創作出來的，Diary of a Wimpy Kid漫畫系列在2004年開始在Funbrain.com這個專為兒童與老師設計的網站中連載，由於故事內容貼近生活、用語幽默、加上線條簡單的趣味圖像風格，受到廣大青少年讀者的歡迎，成書之後狂掃各大書店暢銷榜，銷量已經超過百萬本，作者還打算出版一系列共五本書，目前已經出版三本、加上一本"Do-It Yourself"的DIY主題書。

　　看這個Wimpy Kid的漫畫日記，不但幽默好笑又精彩，貼近美國文化的用語對話，還可以讓學到實用的英文會話！

　　Boys don't keep diaries-or do they?

　　The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to

　　It's a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you're ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.

　　In book one of this debut series, Greg is happy to have Rowley, his sidekick, along for the ride. But when Rowley's star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend's newfound popularity to his own advantage, kicking off a chain of events that will test their friendship in hilarious fashion.

　　Author/illustrator Jeff Kinney recalls the growing pains of school life and introduces a new kind of hero who epitomizes the challenges of being a kid. As Greg says in his diary, "Just don't expect me to be all 'Dear Diary' this and 'Dear Diary' that." Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley says he won't do and what he actually does are two very different things.

　　Since its launch in May 2004 on Funbrain.com, the Web version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been viewed by 20 million unique online readers. This year, it is averaging 70,000 readers a day.