Parents' Guide to Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure

Although it's lacking some charm and sophistication, kids will get a kick out of seeing familiar characters from the Wimpy Kid series in this story's unique fantasy hodgepodge. In Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure, main character Rowley tries to write a fantasy story while his best friend Greg meddles and gives bad advice. Greg wants more characters than just Roland, so Rowley adds the muscled sidekick Garg, and then everyone from pixies and wizards to Sherlock Holmes. Greg wants more danger, so the nervous Rowley, who hates conflict, adds as little as he can get away with -- swords turn enemies good rather than kill them. And the whole time Greg is trying to "cash in" on book promotion ideas, product tie-ins, and whatever will bring in a teen audience (vampires and werewolves, of course).

Kids will likely fall into two camps: Those who root for Rowley to finish the story the way he wants, with good messages and compassionate characters, and those who root for Greg to make the story "cooler" and more marketable. Or maybe they'll root for them both. Kids can sometimes feel that they're more world-savvy, like Greg, and, deep down, still want to have a sweet imagination, like Rowley.