Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007)

Half handwritten diary, half cartoon, it gives a learner two ways into every page: when a sentence loses you, the drawing beside it usually explains the joke. Greg Heffley's voice is casual and current, so you pick up the slang and everyday phrases that textbooks skip. The series is published in 75 languages, and it runs to many books, so if the first one clicks you have a long run of similar reading ahead. Greg's self-serving logic is funny at any age.