Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #4) , bd

ABRAMS BOOKS - Kinney Jeff Kinney

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228 pages

English

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It's summer vacation, the weather's great, and all the kids are having fun outside. So where's Greg Heffley? Inside his house, playing video games with the shades drawn. Greg, a self-confessed "indoor person," is living out his ultimate summer fantasy: no responsibilities and no rules. But Greg's mom has a different vision for an ideal summer . . . one packed with outdoor activities and "family togetherness." Whose vision will win out? Or will a new addition to the Heffley family change everything? F&P level: T

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	30 octobre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781613122464
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	7 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0674€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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OTHER BOOKS BY JEFF KINNEY
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel
The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary
by Jeff Kinney
PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kinney, Jeff.
Diary of a wimpy kid : dog days / by Jeff Kinney.
p. cm. Summary: In the latest diary of middle-schooler Greg Heffley, he records his attempts to spend his summer vacation sensibly indoors playing video games and watching television, despite his mother s other ideas. ISBN 978-0-8109-8391-5 (Harry N. Abrams) [1. Summer-Fiction. 2. Diaries-Fiction. 3. Humorous stories.] I. Title. II. Title: Diary of a wimpy kid four. PZ7.K6232Di 2009 [Fic]-dc22 2009024953
Wimpy Kid text and illustrations copyright 2009 Wimpy Kid, Inc. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID , WIMPY KID , and the Greg Heffley design are trademarks of Wimpy Kid, Inc. All rights reserved.
Book design by Jeff Kinney Cover design by Chad W. Beckerman and Jeff Kinney
Published in 2009 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.abramsbooks.com
TO JONATHAN

JUNE
Friday For me, summer vacation is basically a three-month guilt trip.
Just because the weatherÕs nice, everyone expects you to be outside all day ÒfrolickingÓ or whatever. And if you donÕt spend every second outdoors, people think thereÕs something wrong with you. But the truth is, IÕve always been more of an indoor person.
The way I like to spend my summer vacation is in front of the TV , playing video games with the curtains closed and the lights turned off.
Unfortunately, MomÕs idea of the perfect summer vacation is different from mine.
Mom says itÕs not ÒnaturalÓ for a kid to stay indoors when itÕs sunny out. I tell her that IÕm just trying to protect my skin so I donÕt look all wrinkly when IÕm old like her, but she doesnÕt want to hear it.
Mom keeps trying to get me to do something outside, like go to the pool. But I spent the first part of the summer at my friend RowleyÕs pool, and that didnÕt work out so good.
2
RowleyÕs family belongs to a country club, and when school let out for the summer, we were going there every single day.
Then we made the mistake of inviting this girl named Trista who just moved into our neighborhood. I thought it would be really nice of us to share our country club lifestyle with her. But five seconds after we got to the pool, she met some lifeguard and forgot all about the guys who invited her there.
3
The lesson I learned is that some people wonÕt think twice about using you, especially when thereÕs a country club involved.
Me and Rowley were better off without a girl hanging around, anyway. WeÕre both bachelors at the moment, and during the summer itÕs better to be unattached.
A few days ago I noticed the quality of service at the country club was starting to go down a little. Like sometimes the temperature in the sauna was a few degrees too hot, and one time the poolside waiter forgot to put one of those little umbrellas in my fruit smoothie.
4
I reported all my complaints to RowleyÕs dad. But for some reason Mr. Jefferson never passed them on to the clubhouse manager.
Which is kind of weird. If it was me who was paying for a country club membership, IÕd want to make sure I was getting my moneyÕs worth.
Anyway, a little while later Rowley told me he wasnÕt allowed to invite me to his pool anymore, which is fine with ME . IÕm much happier inside my air-conditioned house, where I donÕt have to check my soda can for bees every time I go to take a sip.
5
Saturday Like I said, Mom keeps trying to get me to go to the pool with her and my little brother, Manny, but the thing is, my family belongs to the TOWN pool, not the country club. And once youÕve tasted the country club life, itÕs hard to go back to being an ordinary Joe at the town pool.
Besides, last year I swore to myself that I would never go back to that place again. At the town pool you have to go through the locker room before you can go swimming, and that means walking through the shower area, where grown men are soaping down right out in the open.
6
The first time I walked through the menÕs locker room at the town pool was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.
IÕm probably lucky I didnÕt go blind. Seriously, I donÕt see why Mom and Dad bother to try and protect me from horror movies and stuff like that if theyÕre gonna expose me to something about a thousand times worse.
I really wish Mom would stop asking me to go to the town pool, because every time she does, it puts images in my mind that IÕve been trying hard to forget.
7
Sunday Well, now IÕm DEFINITELY staying indoors for the rest of the summer. Mom had a Òhouse meetingÓ last night and said money is tight this year and we canÕt afford to go to the beach, which means no family vacation.
THAT really stinks. I was actually looking FORWARD to going to the beach this summer. Not because I like the ocean and the sand and all of that, because I donÕt. I realized a long time ago that all the worldÕs fish and turtles and whales go to the bathroom right there in the ocean. And I seem to be the only person whoÕs bothered by this.
8
My brother Rodrick likes to tease me because he thinks IÕm afraid of the waves. But IÕm telling you, thatÕs not it at all.
Anyway, I was looking forward to going to the beach because IÕm finally tall enough to go on the Cranium Shaker, which is this really awesome ride thatÕs on the boardwalk. RodrickÕs been on the Cranium Shaker at least a hundred times, and he says you canÕt call yourself a man until you ride it.
9
Mom said maybe if we Òsave our penniesÓ we can go back to the beach next year. Then she said weÕd still do a lot of fun stuff as a family and one day we Õ ll look back on this as the Òbest summer ever.Ó
Well, now I only have two things to look forward to this summer. One is my birthday, and the other is when the last ÒLi Õ l CutieÓ comic runs in the paper. I donÕt know if I ever mentioned this before, but ÒLi Õ l CutieÓ is the worst comic ever. To give you an idea of what IÕm talking about, hereÕs what ran in the paper today Ñ
10
But hereÕs the thing: Even though I hate ÒLi Õ l Cutie,Ó I canÕt stop myself from reading it, and Dad canÕt, either. I guess we just like seeing how bad it is.
ÒLi Õ l CutieÓ has been around for at least thirty years, and itÕs written by this guy named Bob Post. IÕve heard Li Õ l Cutie is based on BobÕs son when he was a little kid.
11
But I guess now that the real Li Õ l Cutie is all grown up, his dadÕs having trouble coming up with new material.
A couple of weeks ago the newspaper announced that Bob Post is retiring and the final ÒLi Õ l CutieÓ is gonna be printed in August. Ever since then me and Dad have been counting down the days until the last comic runs.
When the last ÒLi Õ l CutieÓ comes out, me and Dad will have to throw a party, because something like that deserves a serious celebration.
12
Monday Even though me and Dad see eye to eye on ÒLi Õ l Cutie,Ó there are still a lot of things we butt heads over. The big issue between us right now is my sleep schedule. During the summer I like to stay up all night watching TV or playing video games and then sleep through the morning. But Dad gets kind of crabby if IÕm still in bed when he gets home from work.
Lately, DadÕs been calling me at noon to make sure IÕm not still asleep. So I keep a phone by my bed and use my best wide-awake voice when he calls.
I think DadÕs jealous because he has to go to work while the rest of us get to kick back and take it easy every day.
13
But if heÕs gonna be all grumpy about it, he should just become a teacher or a snowplow driver or have one of those jobs where you get to take summers off.
MomÕs not really helping improve DadÕs mood, either. She calls him at work about five times a day with updates on everything thatÕs going on around the house.
Tuesday Dad got Mom a new camera for MotherÕs Day, and lately sheÕs been taking lots of pictures. I think itÕs because she feels guilty about not keeping up on the family photo albums.
14
When my older brother, Rodrick, was a baby, Mom was totally on top of things.
Once I came along I guess Mom got busy, so from that point on there are a lot of gaps in our official family history.
15
IÕve learned that photo albums arenÕt an accurate record of what happened in your life, anyway. Last year when we were at the beach, Mom bought a bunch of fancy seashells at a gift shop, and later on I saw her bury them in the sand for Manny to Òdiscover.Ó
16
Well, I wish I didnÕt see that, because it made me re-evaluate my whole childhood.
Today Mom said I was looking Òshaggy,Ó so she told me she was taking me to get a haircut.
17
But I never wouldÕve agreed to get my hair cut if I knew that Mom was taking me to Bombshells Beauty Salon, which is where Mom and Gramma get THEIR hair cut.
I have to say, th