Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

Jeff Kinney was born in 1971 in Maryland and attended the University of Maryland in the early 1990s. It was there that Jeff ran a comic strip called “Igdoof” in the campus newspaper, and he knew he wanted to be a cartoonist. As he was unable to get his comic strip syndicated, in 1998 Jeff came up with the idea for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff worked on his book for almost eight years before showing it to a publisher in New York. The series started off online on Funbrain.com in 2004 and made its print debut in April of 2007. Jeff Kinney spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C., area and moved to New England in 1995. Jeff lives with his wife and two sons in Massachusetts, where they own a bookstore



Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the first book in an ongoing franchise. It is the story about a middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley who has trouble with family, friends, and his local middle school. He is very concerned about how popular he is at school, and he daydreams a lot about being rich and famous when he grows up. He tries to fit in at his school, but usually he does not succeed. Facing many challenges, Greg attempts to handle them very creatively, but unfortunately his antics often backfire on him.

Greg Heffley clarifies that "this is a JOURNAL, not a diary." Greg then discusses the Cheese at his school and "Cheese Touch,". Greg writes that his father likes to hide in the bushes on Halloween day and drench teenagers with a trash can of water. Greg fails a geography test after a girl named Patty Farrel catches him cheating. At home, Greg's mother forces him into auditioning for the school play (based on The Wizard of Oz). Greg lands the role as a tree, while Patty Farrel is cast as Dorothy, the protagonist of the novel. During the show's performance, Greg becomes too nervous to sing, confusing the other trees. Patty gets frustrated, and Greg starts throwing props at Patty. The other trees join in, and while Greg's mother is disappointed, Greg ends up enjoying the play due to him getting back at Patty. Greg notices that the school year is coming to a close and tries to get on the yearbook's Class Favorites page. He plans to go for "Class Clown," but his plans don't work out. The book concludes with Greg getting his yearbook, seeing Rowley on the "Class Clown" page, and throwing it in the garbage. Greg confronts Rowley for not even listing him as co-creator and hogging all the fame.

Other Characters are:

Rodrick Heffley, Greg's teenage brother who never miss a chance to be cruel to Greg, known for sleeping excessively in the morning and being part of a basement band. Rodrick will do anything to embarrass Greg and will even cause problems for Manny to make everyone's life miserable.

Manny Heffley is their "spoiled" little brother, a three-year-old toddler.

Rowley Jefferson is Greg's best friend always willing to do what Greg tells him, including dangerous stunts.


Today there are thirteen books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, viz. The second, Rodrick Rules, was released February 1, 2008, The Last Straw, the third book in the series, released on January 13, 2009;4th is Dog Days,released in October 12, 2009, 5th is The Ugly Truth released in November 9, 2010.The sixth book, Cabin Fever, was released November 15, 2011. The seventh book, The Third Wheel, was released on November 13, 2012. The eighth book, Hard Luck, was released on November 5, 2013, in the United States and on November 6 in the United Kingdom. The ninth book, The Long Haul, was released on November 4, 2014, in the US and November 5, 2014, in the UK. The tenth book, Old School, was released globally on November 3, 2015. The eleventh book, Double Down, was published on November 1, 2016. The twelfth book, The Getaway, was published on November 7, 2017, followed by the thirteenth, The Meltdown, on October 30, 2018.

and four additional books: The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book, The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Special Cheesiest Edition.

These books never get boring and are a quick read.

Today, I got hold of the 'Old school'. The Tenth Book in the series - (First Book to finish reading in 2020 - As the year began, was reading the The Power of Now, and the book in hand is This Land is our land; but the one to finish first is this - started just today and finished in an hour)

Life was better in the old days, or was it?

How mother's say it is good not to use mobiles at least for 48 hours, and they knew people around, but Greg wonder, why in the black and white photos the see no one smiling?

As per his father, today's parents are overprotective. His father gives time out as punishment to his grandfather, who by mistake - 'send all', and invite to a friend, all of him came at the same time, when the family was away and the old gang had a party

Modern life has its conveniences and Greg is'nt cut out for an old- fashioned world. With tensions building inside after grandpa's moving in and outside with camera's everywhere, it is a tough time for Greg.

Beaware if Silas Scratch.

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8th Jan 2020


The Last Straw, the third book in the series; is my 4th book for 2020.

Well this should have been the first; as it starts on a New Year day; and begins with "You know how you're supposed to come up with a list of 'resolutions' at the beginning of the year to try to make yourself a better person?

Greg feels that he don't need one because he is the best. So he makes a resolution to help others. He notices that people in his house have a lousy job sticking to their New Year's resolution.

Once kid's reach middle school grown-ups decide you are too old for toys, and gives books or cloths.

Greg's father wants Greg to change his wimpy ways, toughen up and enlist in other "manly" endeavors. When he threatens to send Greg to military academy, Greg realizes he has to shape up...or get shipped out.

Though the picture of 'Shel Siverstein, behind the book 'The giving tree' scared him, the book made him feel it was easy to write a book , and he attempted one on Polar bears. {Meanwhile I did listen to the story in You tube - can I include that as the 5th book of 2020? - The story follows the lives of a female apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving" and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, man, then elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life. This book has been described as "one of the most divisive books in children's literature"; the controversy stems from whether the relationship between the main characters should be interpreted as positive (selfless love) or negative ( abusive relationship). In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of herself, which he can transform into material items, such as money from her apples, a house from her branches, and a boat from her trunk. With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy". When only a stump remains for the tree; the boy now an old man just wanted a place to sit, and the tree was happy to provide that as well. Churches call it - The joy of giving.} Interesting was words banned in the house, and "no swearing" rules and how everytime someone said a bad word, they had to put a dollar in " swear jar".

Then there are the plays - soccer, in Tulip, When he goes out for a movie with dad and Rodrick; they meet Lenwood there who had been to spag Union Military Academy, working at the movie theater for spring break. Greg got worried, thinking, in case dad would have plans to send him as well to the military academy, seeing how happy he was that day. Next day, when his father told him about that - his worst worry was about to come true; he thought of bathrooms. He expresses his desire to join Boy scout, which would help him discontinue soccer, and avoid Military academy. He had Holly Hills in his mind, but could not impress her. After school, when they had been to a birthday party, Greg nearly saved his father from an action; it was an accidental, accident; but father thought it was faked to save him. He doesn't sent him to the Military Academy.

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5th Book of 2020 - Dog Days : 13th Jan 2020

As kids today, Greg would like to spend his summer holiday's in front of TV, playing video games, in dark - curtains closed and lights off. But his mom has different views. Want the curtains open for the lights to enter in, go out to the pool, going to the beach, take photos, Read books, go out for a trip, clean the lawn, earn money, sleep, want family 'togetherness' and a new-addition to the family - a real dog. For his birthday, though we wanted a mobile, was sure he would not get one, so thought of asking for leather recliner; but ended up buying a angelfish of different colour. This was to make up for the upset by Uncles dog on birthday, who ate up half the cake. When they go out for a family trip, the fish die. Seeing him sad, dad got a dog, named him Sweetie, but things did not go well. They decide to give the dog to their grandparents. A misunderstanding creep up. So mother gets a base ball ticket for father-son bonding, that too in the third row, from front, which would have cost a fortune. But again, there is another misunderstanding, and police intervention. Father was in no mood to go and so it was cancelled. Greg then learns of a video game tournament, which goes in favor of Rowley, and here too he has a bad luck. Greg's first comic comes printed named "Li'l Cutie". Mom makes the photo album 'Best summer Ever' ready, and that is when Greg realise summer break is pretty much over. He things, when making photo album, the one taking pictures gets to tell the story, and that is not an accurate record of what happens.