Not being a hard-core fan of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series at first, I was excited to see Rowley have his own series. There's nothing super wrong with the first series featuring Greg Heffley. It gets kids reading, so definitely a perk. I'm just not a fan of morally gray characters, particularly when my autistic-ADHD child, who struggles with the concept of behavioral gray areas and most social cues and nuances, reads them. So I did what any good parent would do (NO, not ban them, smh). I turned Greg into a lesson, what not to become: a self-centered person who sees himself as superior to others and never learns from his mistakes. I've turned Greg's lessons into my son's. Only he doesn't have to live through Greg's apparently ineffective punishments.
Rowley, on the other hand, who Greg portrays as awful in a "nerdy" and immature sense, is a decent example of a kid who loves and respects his parents, not in a rebellious stage yet. The Dairy of a Friendly Awesome Kid series juxtaposed Greg's novels, creating sweet irony. It was enjoyable to see Rowley's views on Greg's behavior matching my own at times.
So, of course, we grabbed another two Rowley books. Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories was an instant favorite.
Blurb: "Grab a flashlight, crawl under the covers, and dive into the twisted, unexpectedly hilarious world of Rowley Jefferson’s imagination. You’ll meet zombies, vampires, ghosts, and much more in these comically terrifying tales.
Rowley’s spooky stories might leave you laughing, but beware—you could end up sleeping with the lights on!"
The stories start off with a good setup to be scary but derail for various different reasons--his morals, sidetracked, etc. But they always had a goofy, funny feel about them. My son found them hilarious and the illustrations "gross fun" as you can see on the cover. We have all the books from Greg and Rowley's series but we both hope that more is to come from Rowley and that one day Greg will uncharacteristically learn a lesson and take responsibility for his own actions. In fairness to Greg, I admit we started the series a tad too early at 7 years old since my son's social maturity was not ready for a middle school bad boy. Still, I'm rooting for more Rowley and his adorable stories and imagination. What genre of stories could be next? The kid wants to know.
I definitely recommend Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories and also his other two books.