For fans of "A Wimpy Kid"

If you enjoy the continuing Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, here are some other books you might like about young underdogs and their struggles. Find copies of these books on World Catalog and Amazon by using the search boxes here on BookBag.

The Dodgeball Chronicles, by Frank Cammuso (Graphix) Graphic Novel. Arthur (aka Artie, aka "Wartie") King is the new kid at Camelot Middle School, and his first day isn't starting out well. After he's mysteriously able to open a rusted-shut locker that no one else has ever budged, he gets on a bully's bad side (as well as the principal's), has a pop quiz in Mr. Merlyn's science class, and ends up challenged to a dodgeball game with incredibly high stakes. Loosely based on the legends of King Arthur, this fast-paced and funny 1st entry in the Knights of the Lunch Table series is a good bet for fans of underdogs like Diary of a Wimpy Kid's Greg Heffley.

Busted! by Betty Hicks (Square Fish) Fiction. Stuart Ellis' super-strict mom has so many rules that he can hardly keep from breaking some of them, and he's lost so many privileges that the only thing left for his mom to take away is soccer. Desperate to stay on the team, Stuart asks his friend Mack for help. She suggests finding a boyfriend for Stuart's mom to divert her attention...but Mack didn't have the soccer coach in mind. That was Stuart's idea, and this painfully funny story (with plenty of bonus on-the-field sports action) details the many ways it goes wrong.

Schooled, by Gordon Korman (Hyperion) Fiction. Imagine being raised on a hippie commune with no TV, video games, cell phones, or iPods. Now imagine that, after being homeschooled your entire life, you are suddenly and unexpectedly sent to middle school. That's just what happens to Capricorn -- Cap for short -- when his grandmother, Rain, falls out of a plum tree and is hospitalized. Cap's naiveté (for example, he's never handled money) and funky style make him a target for the school's in-crowd, who are determined to humiliate him. Cap's a different sort of wimpy kid than Greg Heffley, but he could easily share some of Greg's fans.

Lawn Boy, by Gary Paulsen (Wendy Lamb Books) Fiction. The narrator of this hilarious story starts out the summer "12 years old and broke," but when his Grandma gives him his late grandfather's riding mower, he decides to earn some money mowing lawns. Before long, "Lawn Boy" has a growing clientele which includes an ex-hippie stockbroker named Arnold, who offers to invest the cost of Lawn Boy's services for him in lieu of cash payment. Soon Lawn Boy's enterprise is booming, his investments have flourished until he's worth a cool half-million ... and a local thug wants to take over his business. Lawn Boy is sarcastic, utterly ridiculous -- and a fun, quick read.