Top 10 Ways Big Nate is Better Than Diary of a Wimpy Kid
I prefer reading Big Nate books rather than Wimpy Kid books for a few reasons.Greg is condescending, uses people to get his way, and is pure arrogance at its finest. Nate, while kind of arrogant, is still respectful towards his friends and tries to be a good guy.
Nate can be a jerk at times, but he cares about his friends. Greg just uses his friends.
Nate can be a jerk sometimes but Greg is a pretty cool guy. But both of them are cool.
Greg is supposed to be in high school (I'm not getting into why I think that, figure it out yourself), but he's still in middle school, and there's no plot point where he gets held back. Big Nate didn't have continuity to start with, so it couldn't lose any in the first place.
Fair point on continuity, it is true neither have continuity, but Wimpy Kid had some for a bit, then lost it at book 7.
It seems like there's a new cast every book in Wimpy Kid, which also goes under "loss of continuity." Plus, everyone is awful in their own ways, and not a single character seems to be decent at all. Big Nate has its likable characters, and very few characters to hate.
Francis and Teddy are much more likable than Rowley and Rodick.
I've noticed in the newer Wimpy Kid books there seems to be a new story with every 10-20 pages. At least in Big Nate they can focus on just one main plot point each book.
If you read The Third Wheel, you'd probably agree. I read The Long Haul, it felt like reading the diary of a cartoon character rather than a realistic fiction book. And then there's Old School, arguably even less realistic. Big Nate actually feels like reading from the perspective of a 2000's preteen, and I felt like I could actually jump into that world.
There seems to be a bunch of random flashbacks to scenes Greg never mentioned in previous books. This would go under "better plots" but I decided to give this its own mention.
That's amazing
I feel kinda stupid saying it, but hey, I should. Nate is much better at drawing than Greg. It seems like everyone in Greg's world got mutated into weird alien looking creatures. Everyone in Nate's world just looks almost the same on paper.
Big Nate's humor is a lot more of sarcasm and a lot less slapstick than Wimpy Kid, and Nate definitely isn't as stupid as Greg. Plus, Big Nate books normally only focus on a single story, while Wimpy Kid books are beginning to just have jumbled plot points that seem to be out of the blue.
The novels came later, but the original comic strips date back to the 90's. Goes to show sometimes you just can't run out of ideas.
The chapter books are trash, but the comic books have actual humor!
Wimpy Kid books are just not really funny, they seem to aim way too much at slapstick. Big Nate has its combination of slapstick and other types of comedy.
I love both series, but this list was awesome. Good job!