Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure
By Carrie R. Wheadon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Rowley gets creative in Wimpy Kid spin-off tale.
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What's the Story?
In ROWLEY JEFFERSON'S AWESOME FRIENDLY ADVENTURE, Rowley writes a fantasy adventure story about a boy named Roland. Roland goes on a quest to save his mom from an evil wizard, even though he's scared. Rowley finishes the first chapter and shows his best friend, Greg, who suggests lots of changes based on book marketing possibilities. So Rowley adds a bodybuilder sidekick named Garg and introduces more fantasy characters, conflict, danger, and romance. After every chapter, Greg advises additional changes to increase the chance of movie, action figure, and product tie-ins, while Rowley tries to keep the story his own.
Is It Any Good?
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.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Greg's obsession with marketing Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure. Do you think authors think about tie-in merchandise while they write their books?
Is Greg right that stories need fighting and conflict to make them interesting? Do you like tales that are full of danger better?
How does Rowley demonstrate integrity by following his own vision for his story? How does his main character, Roland, show compassion for others?
Book Details
- Author: Jeff Kinney
- Illustrator: Jeff Kinney
- Genre: Graphic Novel
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Book Characters , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Character Strengths: Compassion , Integrity
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Amulet Books
- Publication date: August 4, 2020
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 224
- Available on: Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: April 4, 2023
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