Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This article is about the novel series. For the film series, see Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film series). For the first book of the series, see Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The logo of the series, appearing on the book covers, blogs, webcomic, and the films.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School
Author	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Realistic fiction
Publisher	Scholastic Publishing / Amulet Books / Puffin Books
Published	April 1, 2007 – present
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback) Audiobook E-book

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of fiction books written by the American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. All the main books are the journals of the main character, Greg Heffley. Befitting a child's diary, the books are filled with hand-written notes and simple drawings of Greg's daily adventures.

Since the release of the online version in May 2004, most of the books have garnered positive reviews and commercial success. For example, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was well-received from The Princeton Review, Gold Card Association, The Dallas News, The TRR Editors, The NW Press, and The JJ Printing Company. As of February 2008, it has been purchased one million times.

The first, second, and fourth installments have been adapted into films by 20th Century Fox.

The website Poptropica released islands in the theme of Diary of a Wimpy Kid called Wimpy Wonderland and Wimpy Boardwalk, both of which credit Kinney in an ambiguous contributor's role.

Background

In January 1998, Diary of a Wimpy Kid officially began, when Kinney brought up an idea about an middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley, whom wrote about his personal life. In May 2004, FunBrain and Kinney released an online version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The website made daily entries until June 2005. He worked on his book for almost eight years, before showing it to an publisher in New York.

In February 2006, during the New York Comic Con, Jeff signed an multi book deal with publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., to turn Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a print series.

The book became an instant hit, and the online version received about 20 million views as of 2009; many online readers requested a printed version. Kinney had agreed, and in April 2007, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published. To date, ten Wimpy Kid books have been released, plus two do-it-yourself books and three movie diaries. In April 2009, TIME named Kinney one of The World's Most Influential People.

Chronology

#	Title	Date	ISBN
1	Diary of a Wimpy Kid	April 1, 2007	978-0-8109-9313-6
The introduction to the series introduces the protagonist, Greg Heffley, his best friend Rowley, his middle school problems, Halloween, and the Cheese Touch.
2	Rodrick Rules	February 1, 2008	978-0-8109-9473-7
The second book in the series is about Greg's relationship with his older brother Rodrick, the Mom Bucks program, the high school party, and the talent show and the troubles faced by Greg because of Rodrick.
3	The Last Straw	January 13, 2009	978-0-8109-7068-7
The third book in the series is about the conflict between Greg and his crush, Holly Hills, the soccer team, Spag Union Military Academy, boy scouts, and Seth Snella's half-birthday party.
4	Dog Days	October 12, 2009	978-0-8109-8391-5
The fourth book in the series is about Greg's summer vacation, his mother and how she expects Greg to spend a sporty summer, and their new dog, Sweetie.
5	The Ugly Truth	November 9, 2010	978-0-8109-8491-2
The fifth book in the series is about Greg and Rowley's friendship, his great-grandmother Gammie, troubles of puberty, the school lock-in, and his Uncle Gary's fourth wedding.
6	Cabin Fever	November 15, 2011	978-1-4197-0223-5
The sixth book in the series is about Greg, Manny, the playground, accidental vandalism, Christmas, and a blizzard.
7	The Third Wheel	November 13, 2012	978-1-4197-0584-7
The seventh book in the series is about Greg's date with Abigail for the school dance, Uncle Gary, the restaurant, Valentine's Day, chicken pox, and his life story and the hitch about no one knowing who shall be lucky in love.
8	Hard Luck	November 5, 2013	978-1-4197-1132-9
The eighth book in the series is about Rowley and Abigail's relationship and Greg's and Rowley's, Fregley, the five second rule, a Magic 8-Ball, the Easter party, Meemaw's ring, the Mingo Kids, and his aunts.
9	The Long Haul	November 4, 2014	978-1-4197-1189-3
The ninth book in the series is about the Heffley family's extremely disastrous road trip, their new pet pig, the country fair, the motel, their continuous encounters with the Beardo family, and the family's suspicion that the Beardos have stolen their luggage and belongings.
10	Old School	November 3, 2015	978-1-4197-1701-7
The tenth book in the series is about Greg Heffley starting off a new year, and when he accidentally crashes the car, he is forced to leave to Hardscrabble Farms to get away from his Dad's possible anger. But will Greg survive with Silas Scratch around?

Supplementary books

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (published between Rodrick Rules and The Last Straw) is an activity book that features a blank section encouraging readers to keep their own journal in the style of the books.
• The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book: Extended Edition (published after Wimpy Kid Movie Diary 2 and before Cabin Fever) is the same book as the first Do-It-Yourself Book, but with extra 60 pages and 16 more full-color comics.
• The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary is a book about the making of the first film, which features stills and brand-new illustrations. Jeff Kinney dedicated the book to Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron, the stars of the movie.
• The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary 2: Rodrick Rules is the same informative book which has the features from the first film, but it also features stills from the second film, Rodrick Rules, more new illustrations, and informs readers how the second movie was made.
• The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary 3: Dog Days is the same book that covers how the first film and second film were made, but also stills from the third film, Dog Days and how this film was made.

Toys and games

Action figures include: a mini figure pack (with Greg, Rowley, and Fregley), a 6-inch Greg Heffley figure, a 6-inch holiday figure based on Cabin Fever, and a Greg and Rodrick plush doll.

Audiobooks

Ten audiobooks have been released for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. They are read by Ramon de Ocampo, presented by Recorded Books and distributed by Audible.com.

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (April 1, 2007)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (February 1, 2008)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (January 13, 2009)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (October 12, 2009)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (November 9, 2010)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (November 15, 2011)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel (November 13, 2012)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (November 5, 2013)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (November 4, 2014)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School (November 3, 2015)

Characters

• Greg Heffley is a wimpy student, who is best friends with Rowley Jefferson.
• Rowley Jefferson is Greg's childish best friend.
• Rodrick Heffley is Greg and Manny's older brother, who is rude, and the drummer in Löded Diper.
• Manny Heffley is Greg and Rodrick's younger brother, who is known to be a tattletale.
• Susan Heffley is Greg's mother. She often embarrasses Greg.
• Frank Heffley is Greg's father. He always wants Greg to do sports and "to become a man".
• Fregley is Greg's weird neighbor and classmate.
• Chirag Gupta is one of Greg's friends whom he once played a trick on, pretending to have been invisible.
• Holly Hills is Greg's crush, who once thought he was "Fregley".
• Heather Hills is Holly's sister, and was Greg and Rodrick's crush.

Achievements

Awards and honors

Award	Category	Result
#1 New York Times Best Seller (114 weeks)		Won
2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Book
2009 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards		Nominated
ALA Notable Book		Won
2010 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Book
2010 Most Favorite Book Around the World
2011 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Book
2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
2013 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards		Nominated
2014 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards		Won
2015 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
2016 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

Commercial success

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was well received from The Princeton Review, Gold Card Association, The Dallas News, The TRR Editors, The NW Press, and The JJ Printing Company. The New York Times, which ranks children's serials collectively on a "Series Books" bestseller list, has included the Wimpy Kid series for 64 weeks as of August 10, 2015. USA Today, which ranks best sellers based on sales alone regardless of genre or intended audience, has listed Diary of a Wimpy Kid in its top 150, peaking at number 8, for 141 weeks as of April 4, 2010.

As of the same date, Rodrick Rules has been on the list for 117 weeks (peaking at number 4), The Last Straw has been on the list for 65 weeks (peaking at number 1), Dog Days has been on the list for all 25 weeks of its publication (peaking at number 1), and The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary has been listed for all three weeks of its publication, peaking at number 2.

As of May 2010, more than 32 million Wimpy Kid books are in print in the U.S., and the books have been sold in more than 30 countries. In total, the series has sold over 150 million books. The series has also generated over $500 million in revenue.

Films

Main article: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film series)

Jeff Kinney announced that a film based on the first book would be produced by 20th Century Fox. The film was released on March 19, 2010, moved up from an April 2 release date. It was directed by Thor Freudenthal, who also directed Hotel for Dogs. The film starred Zachary Gordon as Greg, Robert Capron as Rowley (Greg's best friend), Steve Zahn as Frank (Greg's father), Rachael Harris as Susan (Greg's mother), Devon Bostick as Rodrick (Greg's older brother), Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny (Greg's younger brother), Chloë Grace Moretz as a new character named Angie, and Grayson Russell as Fregley.

There is a second film in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series that was released on March 25, 2011, which was based on the second book, Rodrick Rules, with Zachary Gordon returning as Greg Heffley. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was also filmed in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules also contains some scenes from The Last Straw.

The third film combines the third and fourth books, The Last Straw and Dog Days, taking stories from both, but mainly from Dog Days, from which it took its title. The decision to blend the two films was made to keep up with the ages of the actors. The film was released on August 3, 2012.

The likelihood of a fourth live action film is slim. Kinney has announced the possibility for an animated film to be based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever as the next installment. In an interview for the latest book Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney stated he is working with Fox on a half-hour special of Cabin Fever, which was to be aired in late 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Online book on FunBrain
• Official blog
• Official movie site