The humor translates well because the situations are visual. You don’t need to know English to understand the horror of a seagull stealing Rodrick’s fries or Greg’s dad getting lost because the GPS voice is in a language nobody understands. El Diario de Greg 9: ¡Carretera y manta! is a high-octane entry in the series. It abandons the school setting and delivers 100% pure slapstick chaos. The book is shorter than others, but the pacing is breakneck—you turn the page expecting the next disaster, and Kinney never disappoints.

Published in 2014, The Long Haul taps into a universal childhood experience: the family vacation gone horribly wrong. Unlike previous books where Greg’s schemes were often self-contained, this adventure is a chain reaction of disasters, proving that sometimes the best way to understand a character is to take them completely out of their comfort zone. The story begins with a classic Heffley twist. After watching a cheesy family video of other parents having fun on a road trip, Greg’s mom, Susan, decides the family needs to spend "quality time" together. Her solution? A cross-country road trip to a water park called "Island of Adventure," without any video games, tablets, or screens.

Greg, of course, is horrified. But he agrees under the false pretense that he can secretly follow the "Leisure Towers" (a gaming convention) happening at the same time.