***additional thoughts have been added at the bottom. It’s about potty training, so that may affect your wanting to come back and read it if you have already read this one…or prevent you from reading it the first time😁***
I doubt I am the intended reader/listener for this series, yet, I found my thoughts not wandering too much while listening to book 2, and for that I am quite grateful.
Boys are weird. Okay, everyone is probably weird in their own way. Weird is a poor word choice because sometimes it can be good, sometimes awesome, but also it can be not good and not awesome. I am going with an in the middle weird in regards to Greg Heffley. His older brother is a bit of a douche canoe. My parents never wrote my papers or did my science fair projects while I laid on the couch. Helped me, yes, did for me, no. I probably would have had better grades in science if they had done them for me 😂.
I purposely was ‘sick’ the day we were to dissect frogs in biology. I think that was the only time I remember faking sick in highschool.
And little brother, Manny? Is that his name? Might have made that up. Mom sends him to spy, not even spy, but knowingly be present, on his brother when he has a sleepover? Come on mom. The entire time? Really? Greg has an unusual way of thinking about things sometimes, or maybe not, I was never a middle school aged boy, or a boy at any age for that matter, so I don’t have any personal experience. But he isn’t plotting super horrible devious things or watching, well okay I don’t know what age horror movies is appropriate for, I suppose it depends on the movie and the individual kid etc. And they didn’t get to watch it anyways because of little brother who might be named Manny.
mom and dad. Not saying they are bad parents at all. But I do wonder what the heck they are thinking sometimes!! 😂.
Entertainment value is definitely there for me. So I shall continue on with the series.
10/24/25 addition:
another thought just came to me…the dad being pissed at his brother for the potty monster thing and setting Manny’s (I confirmed that is the youngest boys name) potty training back. I would have been livid. I lived through three potty training experiences and they are no walk in the park. And with boys, the pee you end up cleaning up even when they are potty trained. I don’t miss that. Not going to lie. Sharing a bathroom with boys was not ideal. Unless I wanted to use the basement toilet which probably did have a monster in it😂. I did make some awesome potty sticker charts to hang on the bathroom door though. But then picking out the sticker to add to the chart could be a process in itself sometimes! I still get the diaper changing song I made up stuck in my head every now and then. Sung in a fake Italian (I think) accent. But hey, whatever worked to keep the kid from squirming. My 3 month old niece has no idea what fun is in store for her if I ever get stuck changing her diaper!
Rating and review posted: 10/23/25
Whoops…I had meant to give this book 3.5⭐️’s rounded up to 4 because of all the happy thoughts of the boys’ it brings to mind, but I see I only had 3⭐️’s given to it. Correcting that now!: 10/24/25
Update on potty training thoughts added: 10/24/25