"The Accidental Genius of Weasel High" by Rick Detorie

Larkin Pace needs a job to pay for the camcorder he wants, but the only one he can get is with stern/crazy old Mrs. Grubnik. Meanwhile he has to deal with a monster of a sister, and the bully Dalton Cooke trying to steal his girlfriend, Brooke -- which is doubly hard to deal with because Brooke doesn't quite realize she's his girlfriend...
No apologies -- I love graphic novels and I love books with comics in them. Despite that, I've never really grokked the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, mostly because I can't seem to comprehend them. Visually, I mean. Is this a comic or is this an illustrated book? Believe me, I'm very aware that the problem is mine, not Jeff Kinney's. Whatever my problem, though, Rick Detorie's The Accidental Genius of Weasel High blows right past it: his humor, his characters, even his use of comics and drawings with the writing, all come together in ways funny (laugh-out-loud funny), wry, and wacky.

You may recognize Detorie's art from the comic strip "One Big Happy," where his humor has walked the line of jokes both sweet and ribald, even for the comics page. Here, given the space and free reign, he really cuts loose with a story, yes sweet, but snarky and goofy and, at times, ribald. So, if you feel like you want a Wimpy Kid experience, but older (12+), or you want a smart read with some wicked funny art, or you want to spend some time with a down-on-his-luck kid who's lots of fun, then you can't go wrong with The Accidental Genius of Weasel High.