Diary of a Wimpy Kid : The Long Haul

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A family road trip is supposed to be a lot of fun . . . unless, of course, you're the Heffleys. The journey starts off full of promise, then quickly takes several wrong turns. Gas station bathrooms, crazed seagulls, a fender bender, and a runaway pig--not exactly Greg Heffley's idea of a good time. But even the worst road trip can turn into an adventure--and this is one the Heffleys won't soon forget.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Could a Heffley family vacation ever be anything but a series of escalating tribulations that would test Job's resolve? In this ninth Diary of a Wimpy Kid outing, Kinney detours from the more episodic nature of the earlier books to trace the family's doomed-from-the-start road trip, spurred by Greg's mother's subscription to Family Frolic ("There must be something wrong with our family," Greg muses, "because we can never measure up to the ones in the magazine"). Kinney maintains his knack for getting the details of family life just right (naturally, the only available lounge chair at a wildly overcrowded waterpark is the one with several broken straps). But between the inadvertent acquisition of a pet pig, an attack by a flock of seagulls, Greg getting medical attention at the vet, and baby brother Manny managing to knock the parked family car into drive, there's more out-and-out absurdity in this installment than in previous books. Readers won't care, though, and their own family vacations will look downright blissful by comparison. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sylvie Rabineau, RWSG Literary Agency. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

School's out for the summer, but Greg Heffley's dreams of air conditioning and video games vanish in the first page of this latest installment in the iconic series. This time, Greg's overexcited mother shepherds Greg, his reluctant father, and his two brothers into an overstuffed minivan for the road trip to end all road trips. What starts as picture-perfect family fun soon turns into a comedy of errors involving, among other things, car trouble, rival road-trippers, and a pig. Long-suffering Greg has plenty of new material with this Choose Your Own Adventure style of vacation (The problem is, I never seem to make the choices that get me to a happy ending), and, as always, his angst will be easily relatable to his audience. Once again, the dry, deprecating tone of the text and the cartoonish illustrations will provide endless entertainment for newcomers and devoted series fans alike. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Demand for this best-selling series has only risen over the course of eight books, and with three movies out and a television special on the way, it shows no signs of letting up soon.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Greg and family embark on an epic road trip in this ninth installment. Mom has visions of an enriching, educational experience--and it's an experience, all right. There are sketchy motels, a baby pig, some trapped and freaked-out seagulls, and lots of family togetherness. "Greg's" crude drawings are a good match for his wry narration. Fans will want to go along for the ride. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

You'd think that if anyone would know better, it would be Greg Heffley's mother.But no. When she reads an article in Family Frolic magazine about wholesome family road trips, she insists on taking one right now. What ensues is the kind of totally over-the-top mayhem that the Wimpy Kid's fans have come to expectand more. The family packs too much stuff to fit into the car, so they decide to tow Dad's utterly unseaworthy boat as extra cargo space. Mom insists on educational enrichment (learn-to-speak-Spanish CDs, lame-o car games), "real food" (brown-bag "Mommy Meals" instead of fast food) and "authentic" fun (a country fair with no rides but a guess-the-pig's-weight contest in which the prize is the pig; baby Manny wins). They spend the night in the absolute quintessence of a cruddy motel. Two slapstick driving sequences are both Hollywood-ready and extremely funny, especially in Kinney's accompanying cartoons; Greg's free-associative riff on humorless do-gooders who seek to censor such potty-humor classics as a wink-and-a-nod-disguised Captain Underpants will find an appreciative audience. By taking the Heffleys on the road, Kinney both gives himself an almost universally familiar experience to lampoon and places Greg in the rather unusual position of being almost entirely justified in his misanthropy, which is downright refreshing. Every kidand every parentwho's ever suffered through a family road trip will feel as one with Greg. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.