Clara’s Verdict
If there is one series I would recommend without hesitation to a parent looking to get a reluctant reader – or listener – interested in books, it is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Jeff Kinney has cracked something that very few children’s authors manage: a voice that children actually find funny, not a grown-up’s idea of what children should find funny. Greg Heffley’s particular brand of elaborate self-delusion, combined with his absolute confidence in his own judgment and his catastrophic track record in acting on it, is a comic premise that has sustained nine books and shows no sign of exhaustion here.
The Long Haul takes the family road trip as its central disaster scenario, which is both a brilliant structural choice – a self-contained journey with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and an inexhaustible supply of things that can go wrong – and a premise with a particular resonance for any child who has ever spent hours in the back seat of a car wishing they were anywhere else. Dan Russell has been Greg’s voice since the beginning, and that continuity matters enormously for a series built around a very specific character voice.
About the Audiobook
A family road trip is supposed to be a lot of fun – unless, of course, you’re the Heffleys. The journey starts off full of promise, then quickly takes several wrong turns. Gas station bathrooms, crazed seagulls, a fender bender, and a runaway pig – not exactly Greg Heffley’s idea of a good time. But even the worst road trip can turn into an adventure, and this is one the Heffleys won’t soon forget.
This is book 9 in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and like all the instalments it works on two levels simultaneously: as a straightforward comedy about a hapless family on holiday, and as a precise satire of a particular kind of suburban American family dynamics, filtered through Greg’s magnificently unreliable perspective. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is presented here in binaural audio – the full, glorious, spatial effect recommended when listening with headphones, which adds a dimension that younger listeners in particular tend to find engaging. The audiobook runs to 2 hours and 6 minutes. Published by Puffin.
The Narration
Dan Russell has been narrating Greg Heffley since the beginning of the series, and his performance here has the relaxed authority of long familiarity with a character he knows entirely. Greg’s particular voice – slightly aggrieved, permanently self-justifying, absolutely committed to the idea that he is the reasonable one in any situation – requires a narrator who can play the comedy straight, and Russell does exactly that. He also handles the broader cast of Heffley family members with enough distinctiveness to keep them separate without turning the production into a voices showcase. At just over two hours, this is a model of the form: compact, well-paced, and entirely suited to the short attention spans of its target audience without condescending to them.
What Readers Say
The 29 Audible ratings are dominated by enthusiastic responses from families with children who have been working through the series. One child reviewer (self-identified) wrote: “Really good and funny – if someone likes Lottie Brooks they might enjoy the Wimpy Kid books.” A parent reported simply: “11 year old loves these books.” Another noted “great fun for reluctant little readers,” which captures precisely the book’s value for families where reading for pleasure is a work in progress. One reviewer described the experience as “hilarious as always” – the “as always” being the key phrase, suggesting that series loyalty is well-maintained across the instalments. The audiobook holds a rating of 4.6 out of 5 on Audible.
The road trip structure also allows Kinney to do something he does rather well in the series: accumulate catastrophes in a way that would be exhausting in real life but is hilarious in fiction. Each new disaster builds on the previous one, each of Greg’s attempts to improve the situation makes things measurably worse, and the Heffley parents’ determined commitment to the idea that this is a valuable family experience despite all evidence to the contrary is a beautifully observed comedy of parental optimism. Younger listeners will laugh. Parents listening alongside them may do so with a slightly more complicated expression.
Who Should Listen?
Children aged roughly eight to twelve who have already encountered Greg Heffley through the series or the films – though new listeners can absolutely start here if book nine happens to be where they come in. The references to earlier adventures add pleasure without being prerequisites. Also: any adult who wants a genuinely funny two-hour listen without the complexity of grown-up fiction. The binaural audio is worth using headphones for. A reliable choice for long car journeys – though perhaps not if you are trying to keep the peace, as some children may recognise the Heffleys’ experience a little too closely for comfort. Available on Audible UK, Kobo, and Scribd.
