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We’ve been fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney since our oldest son William could first read “big boy” books. I remember laying with him in bed when he was in grade school, reading the books aloud to him. It was our special time at night, and I loved that we both felt an attachment to the Wimpy Kid series. As each of my younger sons got older, the “Wimpy Kid series” tradition graduated to them, too. Now that my oldest is in high school, it’s wonderful seeing my youngest son (who is in 6th grade) still loving the Wimpy Kid series!

When I first heard about the new book in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball, I knew my son Henry would be excited. But then – the best part… I heard what the book is about:

An unexpected inheritance gives Greg Heffley’s family a chance to make big changes to their house. But they soon find that home improvement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Once the walls come down, all sorts of problems start to crop up. Rotten wood, toxic mold, unwelcome critters, and something even more sinister all make Greg and his family wonder if the renovations are worth the trouble. When the dust finally settles, will the Heffleys be able to stay . . . or will they need to get out of town?

The reason I knew Henry would extra love this book was because I knew he would be able to relate to it. You see, we moved 3 years ago, and it was a very crazy, chaotic time for our family. We were living in our “old” house as we were getting it prepped for sale. There were SO MANY improvements to be made and not small ones, BIG ones.

We needed a new master bathroom.
We needed to repaint our living room.
We needed a new garage door.
We needed a new downstairs bathroom.
And (oh, yeah!) we needed a NEW KITCHEN.

We lived in our house as all these renovations were taking place, and it wasn’t easy, especially when we were putting in our kitchen. We thought it would be a fun family adventure, and we were a little wrong. It turned out to be a really crazy time for our family while everything was going up or being taken out! Not to mention, as everything started to come together and look like the house we always wanted it to be, it became tougher for the kids to want to leave.

Our story is a little different than the Heffleys’ story, but it’s still one and the same. We were definitely managing a hectic time in our life, but the whole process was a family experience! When the dust finally did settle, we sold our house and moved to a brand new town, which brought on a whole load of new experiences for my kids. They’d never moved before, but it was in middle school, so it was the easiest of times to move.

Thankfully, my sons and my daughter adjusted well and seamlessly. Our “new” house feels like home now, although my children have their own ideas on how to make our house even better! William wanted to create a gaming room. Alex wanted to turn the basement into a boys’ club with his buddies. Benjamin wanted to paint his bedroom red. Henry wanted to paint his room blue. And Victoria wanted to paint her bedroom yellow and pink and cotton candy purple.

Whenever my kids struggled to adjust to the new house and town, it was people like Jeff Kinney who kept them going and happy. It was his relatable characters and stories and fun world for them to disappear into during those new times a couple of years ago! Jeff Kinney is just a genius, and it’s no surprise that he’s a #1 USA Today, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and a six-time Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award winner for Favorite Book. Jeff has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. He is also the creator of Poptropica, which was named one of Time’s 50 Best Websites.

I know that Wrecking Ball will be a McClelland fave! I can’t wait to hear what Henry thinks about it, and I can’t wait to start the reading aloud tradition of the Wimpy Kid series with my 6-year-old daughter… which should be starting soon! GRAB your copy now in stores!