There is no perfect way to take in the dog days of summer than sitting in an air conditioned theatre with everyone’s favourite wimpy kid, Greg Heffley.  With the seventh book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel, releasing this November, fans of Jeff Kinney’s bestselling Wimpy Kid Series will get an early fix when the third movie based on the book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days hits theatres this weekend.

The third book is the perfect summer read.  Taking place during Greg’s summer vacation, he hopes for a summer indoors playing video games with the shades drawn, but his mom has other plans – plans that include family togetherness in the great outdoors.  And from the look of the trailer, I would say that the adaptation sticks to the original story.  Given Kinney’s involvement with the movies so far, I think that the vibe of these movies stays true to the books.  Kinney is so interested in this process that he’s written a movie diary, updating it each time a new movie gets made.

While the Wimpy Kid series has inspired many other authors to get their geek on, I think that there is something else that Kinney’s Greg gives readers – a clear understanding of that weird in-between stage that characterizes those middle school years. Where you aren’t a little kid anymore and you aren’t a teenager and are so completely self-conscious about things and everything just feels wrong. Truly, those are the dork years, aren’t they?

That is why I’ve enjoyed these movies and the books, because under the goofy comics and physical comedy, Kinney gets into the heart of those weird middle school years.