Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down is the eleventh book in the series. It was released on 1. It succeeds Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School and is succeeded by Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway.

Main characters

 * Greg Heffley
 * Susan Heffley
 * Frank Heffley
 * Rowley Jefferson

Plot
Greg Heffley believes that his life is being broadcast on TV and that his deceased relatives are watching over him from Heaven. When a school book fair starts, he writes about how Susan, his mother, wants him to be more creative. Greg buys various trinkets, and Susan makes him return them and buy books, so he chooses the Spineticklers series. One book gives him the plan to freeze himself and be thawed out in a hundred years.

As Halloween approaches, Susan sends Rodrick to buy decorations, and he buys a noisy plastic witch that scares Greg. Greg then talks about the geese that have flocked to the neighborhood, and then his family's pet pig. Greg wants Halloween candy, so he joins the school's Balloon Brigade, the prize being a jar of candy corn. He then suspects that his Spineticklers books are giving him nightmares and that adults are trying to get them banned.

Greg's balloon is received by Maddox Selsam, a teen who is not allowed to play video games and has bad social skills. Susan thinks Maddox is a good role model for Greg and sets them up on a playdate, ending with Maddox accusing Greg of having stolen a LEGO brick. After, Susan goes back to college to finish her master's degree. Greg turns in his balloon and gets the candy corn, which is eaten by the pig.

Susan is disappointed in Greg for his "pattern of deception" about the supposedly stolen LEGO brick, reminding Greg of lies he has told and has been told. Susan enjoys college and tries to get Greg and Rodrick interested, although Greg still plans to be a video game tester or a garbage collector. Susan takes Greg to the college campus and he helps a girl study for her psychology test but is disappointed when he learns that she already has a boyfriend.

Greg hears about Mariana Mendoza's Halloween party and wants to attend, but hears that she is only inviting people who are in the school band. To get invited, he takes up playing the French horn. He then learns that Mariana is inviting only the woodwind section and decides to go with Rowley, who plays the flute, like a two-headed monster. Susan attends the party as well and sets up party games, which Greg ends up enjoying. He leaves the party early when Rowley needs to go to the bathroom.

Greg gives up on playing the French horn, but his father, Frank, refuses to let him leave the band. At the Fall Concert, he and Rowley are locked in the band room. Greg rips his pants and has Rowley colour his underwear with marker, at which point Frank comes in and accuses them of "goofing off," grounding Greg. Greg gets hungry and looks for candy, finding a bag of chocolate chips. He calls Rowley, and while going to get paper towels to clean up the now-melted chocolate chips, Greg finds bags of gummy worms and gets the idea to make a horror movie with them.

Greg writes the script for the movie, titled Night of the Night Crawlers, and has Rowley storyboard it. Greg records the scenes, with Rowley being the only actor in the movie, and spreads gummy worms outside for a scene in which a man looks outside to see the nightcrawlers in his yard. He finds the pig eating his gummy worms, and Rowley notices the geese outside, so they plan to get Rodrick's wolf mask out of the basement. The electronic witch is activated, and Rowley runs out of the house in fear and climbs up a tree, then Frank arrives home.

A few weeks later, Greg writes that Rowley has gotten famous and been on the news and talk shows. Greg is upset that Rowley hasn't given any credit to him for coming up with the idea for the movie, and writes that he would never "make a fool out of himself to get a cheap laugh from the people watching at home."

Cultural references

 * Greg believing that his TV show is a parody of the film . Jeff Kinney has compared his own experiences of being a famous author to The Truman Show.
 * Spineticklers is a parody of the ' series. Greg's comment on the Spineticklers knock-offs references various Goosebumps-style books published in the 1990s, such as ', ', and '
 * Parents trying to ban the Underpants Bandits books references the controversy surrounding the  series, with the author Mik Davies being a parody of . Greg requests that the Underpants Bandits series have more "bodily function" humour, and Captain Underpants was challenged for high amounts of toilet humour.
 * A girl dressed like from the  franchise appears at the Halloween party.
 * Maddox enjoys playing with bricks.

International edits

 * Spanish translation:
 * Greg says that Johnny is "a clown" instead of "a show-off."
 * In a flashback, Greg says that Nana smells like cabbage instead of asparagus.
 * The turtle in the "My Turtle Fred" poem is named Berta, and the rhyme is with "Berta" and "muerta" instead of "Fred" and "dead."

Errors

 * On page 64, the word "roast" in "roast beef" is duplicated, making it "roast roast beef." This error was fixed in reprints.
 * This error is referenced on page 69 of The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter, as a card on a table reads, "Today's special: Roast roast beef."
 * In the book, Greg says his Nana worked as a waitress. However, in the preview, he says she worked as a nurse.
 * On the top of page 49, the characters appear too short.
 * On page 94, Mrs. Selsam's leg is in a humanly impossible position, and her skirt is shown as only covering that one leg.