By Jeff Kinney
A middle-schooler's fake diary, packed with cartoons, narrated by a child who's gloriously the worst.
Greg Heffley is stuck in the middle of middle school and certain he's destined for greatness, if only everyone would notice. His mom made him keep this journal (don't call it a diary), and he fills it with his schemes, his complaints, and the ongoing horror of the Cheese Touch — a moldy slice on the blacktop that gives you cooties if it touches you.
There's a drawing every few lines, so the page never looks like a wall of text and a child's eye always has somewhere easy to land. The narrator is the whole draw: Greg is self-serving and a little bit awful in a way that makes children feel wonderfully in on the joke. And behind it sits a series a dozen books deep, which is the real prize for a child who finally finds one they'll finish.