Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down

Jeff Kinney

The Wimpy Kid franchise celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, yet somehow author Jeff Kinney manages to deliver fresh chuckles. In this installment, unlucky middle schooler Greg Heffley wants to show his parents he can be responsible, but he must first accept their guidance and discipline. Of course he often doesn’t, leading to a series of laugh-out-loud escapades. The book doesn’t glorify defiance, though, and Greg repeatedly pays the consequences of his self-centeredness. Maybe in the next book he’ll finally learn, but here’s hoping he doesn’t grow up too fast.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: BFF

Amy Reeder & Brandon Montclare

As a ponytail-wearing, science-loving genius, Lunella Lafayette, aka “Moon Girl,” has a lot of appeal for young readers. But in her first story, Marvel Comics pairs her with a recycled, uninspiring character from an obscure 1970s series. Moon Girl doesn’t need the Devil Dinosaur as a sidekick; she’s got enough grit and genius to stand on her own two roller skates. Comic-loving boys and girls might enjoy the drawings of a 9-year-old riding a stomping dinosaur through New York City, but likely won’t understand what the characters are trying to accomplish. Parents, beware: Like many Marvel stories (especially X-Men), this one preaches evolution as gospel.

Cleopatra in Space: Secret of the Time Tablets

Mike Maihack

Imagine an ancient Egyptian princess travels to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … The plot of Secret of the Time Tablets borrows heavily from the story of Luke Skywalker and his friends, right down to the shocking unmasking of a robotlike villain at the end. The story has few details about ancient civilizations but plenty about ray guns and spaceships. The artwork is refreshingly simple and appropriate for younger audiences. Maihack, a professing Christian, seems to be out to provide youngsters with a fun adventure and relatable characters, which he does, though not as well as George Lucas.

Secret Coders: Paths & Portals

Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes

The Secret Coders series teaches students to think and code like a real computer programmer. The comic-strip illustrations show ordinary kids using the computer language Logo and having fun doing it. In this attempt to make coding seem like an adventure, Yang has given the characters rebellious tendencies that make them disrespectful to adults at times. But with the right adult oversight, this series could be a great tool for teaching elementary and middle-school students the basics of programming. As a bonus, the Secret Coders website has hands-on coding lessons.

AFTERWORD

Raina Telgemeier launched her best-selling, semi-autobiographical trilogy in 2010 with Smile (Graphix). For grade-school girls, owning the teal paperback with a smiley face emblazoned on the cover became almost as essential as having scented lip gloss or bedazzling sneakers. Telgemeier’s book offers charming, vibrant depictions of real life, capturing in detail the anxiety and uncertainty of adolescence through normal experiences like family road trips and orthodontist appointments—but her stories fail to assign meaning and purpose to those experiences. Characters learn that life can be cruel, and momentary happiness is the best we can hope for.

In Ghosts (Graphix, 2016), she takes that message to a macabre extreme, exploring how a young girl with cystic fibrosis looks forward to living on as an apparition after her death. Telgemeier says the book helped her process her own losses. The result is an empty message with a brightly colored sugar coating: junk food for young minds. —L.L.