SOMETHING TO READ

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” by Jeff Kinney; Abrams Books, $13.95.

“Wimpy Kid” fans can probably guess how Greg Heffley prefers to spend the summer: “In front of the TV, playing video games with the curtains closed and the lights turned off.”

In the fourth book of this bestselling series, Kinney offers Greg in the full obnoxious mode his fans know and love, although a few gags fall flat. (A school setting offers more funny possibilities; at one point Greg calls the cops about his own father and that just isn’t funny.)

Still, “Wimpy Kid” fans will enjoy the book. Greg and Rowley run up a huge tab for smoothies at Rowley’s dad’s country club, and then Greg has to spend the summer paying it off. He tries a lawn care business, but his only customer has to give him a ride and he realizes he doesn’t know how to start the mower. Greg gets his hair cut at his mother’s beauty salon and discovers a love of soap operas and gossip. He starts liking trips to the pool when he discovers cute Heather Hills is the lifeguard. The primitive cell phone Greg gets for his birthday is very funny. The Heffleys end up getting a dog, but the dog ownership situation, which would seem ready-made for comedy, isn’t really explored for laughs. Maybe Kinney is saving that for Book 5.

– Jean Westmoore

WACKY FACTS

Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson began designing the Great Seal of the United States in 1776.

The bald eagle has been the national bird of the U. S. since 1782.

The original Pledge of Allegiance was published in the Sept. 8, 1892 issue of The Youth’s Companion. After much dispute over authorship, in 1939 the United States Flag Association awarded credit to Francis Bellamy for writing it.

– Time for Kids Almanac 2007