Can you believe I've never actually read this all the way though? I've started it a few times, but it checks out to fast for me to ever finish it. I found an old classroom copy of mine lying around and read that.
It's fine. It's very funny in parts and I can see why kids love it. Roderick's shenanigan's especially kill me. Maybe because my brother and I weren't above torturing each other a little. I know some parents who disapprove because Greg is such a jerk and a "bad role model." But see, most kids I know totally get the joke. They know Greg is basically a slacker and that he never does the right thing. They like it for the same reason I used to like watching Seinfeld and feeling superior to Jerry and George and the guys while recognizing some of those same baser, selfish impulses in myself. They carried those impulses to the extreme and made it funny. That's what Kinney's doing with Greg Heffley.
Kids know Greg will never grow up and do the right thing. They also know that, at some point in the not-too-distant-future, they probably will.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid