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Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a realistic fiction novel by Jeff Kinney. It is the first book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, based on a webcomic at Funbrain. A film of the same name was released on March 19, 2010. It stars Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley and Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson. The books focuses on Greg's life as he enters middle school and faces many hardships with his family.

Plot

The book opens with Greg Heffley saying how bad his life is with his family, and his best friend Rowley Jefferson, whom Greg worries about, and the moldy cheese on the playground, telling how once a kid named Darren Walsh touched it, and it started a link called the "Cheese Touch."

Greg faces many hardships, including Halloween. As Greg and Rowley go Trick-or-Treating, they anger some teenagers who chase them. They barely escape but manage to get to Greg's grandma's house, the teenagers see them inside and so Greg and Rowley taunt them. Not all goes to plan though and when they get home and Greg's dad, who was hassled by kids, throws water at them and the water soaks their candy.

The Wizard of Oz play is also a hardship for Greg, Patty Farell, who plays Dorothy, is coming on stage, and since Greg is a Tree, he thinks he can throw apples at her, but the director takes it out for health and safety. Mrs. Norton, the music director, tries to make the Trees sing an embarrassing song, but on the night nobody sings out of fear and the play is ruined.

Greg and Rowley's friendship is starting to fall apart. Greg invents a game where one person would throw a football to make the other fall off the Big Wheel, A gift Rowley got for Christmas, however when Rowley falls off ,he breaks his arm. Greg is jealous of the attention Rowley is getting. Rowley is also framed for scaring kindergardeners, when it was Greg wearing Rowley's hat. When Greg confesses, Greg is kicked out, and Rowley is promoted. Rowley also declares himself the owner of a comic strip, Zoo-Wee-Mama, that was created by Greg and Rowley, but Greg drops out to make his own comic strip. The two stop being friends.

Greg and Rowley get into a fight at the blacktop, when the teenagers from Halloween come, and grab Greg and Rowley. They make Rowley eat the cheese, and are to make Greg do it too, but Greg finds a way out. The students however notice the cheese is gone. Greg, being a good friend to Rowley, lies and says he threw it away, but this gives Greg the Cheese Touch. Greg and Rowley becomes friends again, and Greg begins to see the good advantages of having the Cheese Touch.

Background

Franchise

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the first book in a six book franchise. The sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was released February 1, 2008, and has been on the sellers list for 117 weeks (peaking at number 4). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw was released January 13, 2009, has been on the list for 65 weeks (peaking at number 1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days was released October 13, 2009. The book was peaking at #1 for all 25 weeks of publication, making Dog Days the #1 Best Selling Book of 2009. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth was released November 9, 2010. The upcoming sixth book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever will be released November 15, 2011.

Major themes

Jealousy

Some parts of the book focus on Greg's jealousy with Rowley getting attention. When Rowley turns in Zoo-Wee-Mama in for the school paper, none of it was changed by Mr. Ira, the editor of the school paper, however he completely changed Greg's comic. This makes Greg so mad, he stops being friends with Rowley, with also occurs at the end of the fourth book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

Development and reception

According to an author interview, the idea of Wimpy Kid came from "I wanted to write a story about the funny parts of growing up, and none of the serious parts. I had a pretty ordinary childhood, but lots of humorus stuff happened along the way. So, I decided to write a book about what it was really like to be a kid, or at least what it was like for me"

Wimpy Kid has sold in its top 150, peaking at number 8, for 141 weeks as of April 4, 2010.

Adaptations

The film was made by 20th Century Fox and directed by Thor Freudenthal. The movie stars Zachary Gordon as Greg, Robert Capron as Rowley, Steve Zahn as Greg's father, Rachael Harris as Greg's mother, Devon Bostick as Rodrick, Chloë Moretz as a new character named Angie, and Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny. The film was released on March 19, 2010.

References

1. The Book is in Stores, April 1, 2007
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney ::: About the Books
3. "The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale".
4. http://www.parade.com/news/2011/03/20-table-of-contents.html
5. Dixler, Elsa. "The New York Times Best Sellers: Children's Books". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
6. Kinney, Jeff (2009). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. Abrams Books. p. 217.
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney ::: Author Interview
8. http://diaryofawimpykidmovie.com

External links

• Official website
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid on FunBrain.com
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Channel One News Interview with Jeff Kinney on Channel One News
• The Wonderful World of Wimpy - Parade magazine An interview with Jeff Kinney in Parade Magazine

• 2007 books
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• Novels by Jeff Kinney
• American young adult novels
• Novels adapted into films