Preston Platypus

Preston Platypus is a book series that appears in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball. Each book deals with a different real life topic, such as going to the dentist and handling the death of a relative. Susan has a shelf of Preston Platypus books, and reads them to Greg and Manny whenever they have to deal with something serious. Greg says that each Preston Platypus book is the same: "At first, Preston's worried about something, and then his mom tells him that things are gonna be OK, and she turns out to be right."

History
Susan reads Preston Platypus Says Good-bye to Manny after Great Aunt Reba dies. Greg recalls her having read the same book to him after Meemaw passed away. He thinks that the books do not help and just make him a "nervous wreck," such as when he read a book about Preston being sad about a dead tree needing to be chopped down. This made him not want his parents to cut down a dead tree in their yard, which later fell during a windstorm and destroyed their deck. Greg realized how repetitive the books are and wrote his own endings, one of which got him sent to a counselor.

When Greg has to tell Rowley that he is moving away, he reads Preston Platypus Says Farewell to a Friend to him, in which Preston is sad about his best friend Pelican Pete moving away. Greg then realizes how badly-written the book is, and is upset that it ends with Preston making new friends and forgetting about Pete, and that it is never shown if Pete is happy in his new neighborhood. Rowley enjoys the book and wants Greg to read him another, but Greg directly explains that he is moving.