(And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house-and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw-Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and-most serious-civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves-during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement. and his family are Asian-American, Gina and hers are African-American, and Caucasian-looking extraterrestrial Hilo nicely rounds out the graphic novel’s diversity.Ī wholeheartedly weird and wonderful tale of friendship, acceptance, and robots Winick has concocted a universally appealing tale with bright, expressive illustrations that gently reminds readers that in this era of overscheduling and insistence on perfection, sometimes just being true to yourself is important enough. may not have a list of skills he can tick off on his fingers, he learns something more important: not only is he loyal, he is brave. He recalls his name, Hilo, and how he came to Earth-and that there are dangerous robots that could annihilate the entire planet. Over time, the boy's memory starts to return. immediately befriends him, and the duo becomes a threesome when Gina moves back to town. meets a peculiar, sunny, towheaded boy who has apparently landed on Earth wearing nothing but silver underpants and recalling nothing of his previous life. He has two brothers and two sisters who have miles of accomplishments among them, and the only thing he considers himself adept at was a friendship with neighbor Gina…but she moved away three years ago. feels largely unexceptional until he meets a strange boy who falls from the sky and helps him realize his potential.ĭ.J. Hailing from a big family of overachievers, D.J.

Pedro and me judd winick