Former (Dutch) teacher here! Diary of a wimpy kid is easy reading for a lot of kids and I always found that the really engrossing books could help them move on to their actual reading level. For my students who liked comic mischief in class, I could always get them hooked to reading with The Saga of Darren Shan.

Don’t let the ‘horror’ genre fool you: the story is dark and funny. Based on the books you named I think your kid might love it!