Cabin Fever, the sixth instalment of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, is the first of the series that I read and enjoyed it so much that I am all set to read the other ones too. Humour is the strength of the book.

Reading the book is like reading the diary of Greg Heffley, a very lazy boy who usually sees nothing wrong in his behaviour and everything that goes wrong is someone else’s fault. The pages seem like the lined papers of a diary, with interesting sketches on most pages, making it seem that you are actually reading someone’s private diary. And what you get to read in it is what makes you enjoy it because of the casual style of narration, or we can say confessions because it’s a diary, by a teen.

It’s Christmas and Greg is stressed by the fact that he has to behave well if he wants Santa to get him something nice. And his mom has told him that a doll acts as Santa’s scout to keep a watch on everyone and report back to him. Now that is very worrying for a guy who loves to imagine that the whole world is out to get him.

Things turn to worst when he and Rowley put up posters for their Christmas bazaar at the school and it leaves marks on it when it gets spoilt by rain. Now Greg is sure that he would be soon arrested for this, but what is his fault in this? Thankfully the snow comes down really heavy to shut down all places, so this school matter gets forgotten in the fact that most people are snowed in! But the real fun, or shall we say problem, now starts when Greg and family, except Dad, have to stay in the house and a power failure also takes place, so no TV, computer or games!

Let us not talk about the rest of the plot as it won’t be fun when one reads it, but let me tell you something, Greg isn’t a model boy to admire because of the many flaws in his personality, so this book, and the others in the series, are just to be read, enjoyed and learn some lessons from. — Ahzam Ahmed