Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel is the 7th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It was released on November 13, 2021. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel succeeds Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever and precedes Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck.

Main characters

 * Greg Heffley
 * Rowley Jefferson
 * Gary Heffley
 * Frank Heffley
 * Manny Heffley
 * Susan Heffley
 * Rodrick Heffley

January
Greg talks about his baby days and explains (probably from his imagination) that before being born, he was in a dark place swimming and napping anytime he wanted, until being woken up by classical music that his mother Susan would send through "parental speakers". Susan would also tell Greg about her life through the speakers too and Frank would also tell him about his day at work. Greg then got tired of it and got out three weeks early. Then he explains how everything he got was a hand down from his elder brother Rodrick. Susan used to not let Greg crawl a lot and that resulted in Greg being way behind his playmates in the physical stuff. Greg finally learned to walk, but was in preschool by the time and was still quite behind his classmates. His classmates could do things like use zippers and buttons and many other things Greg was unable to, so he tried to slow them down by giving them wrong information. However, the teacher thought he wasn't learning well and called Susan and told her. Susan made him skip a grade to kindergarten, but he was scared there so he went back again.

Greg then explains whatever Susan did for Greg would not work for Manny as she uses a different technique. Manny's social skills are a bit bad, he also watches The Snurples, a show in which the characters have their own gibberish language and he also made imaginary friends escape danger, have fun and get extra dessert. Greg's mother starts a Family Night thing where they go out or play games rather than watch TV, Greg then talks about the family restaurant, Corny's. Greg is doing house chores until he heard a knock and finds his Uncle Gary at the door. Uncle Gary had bought some Boston counter shirts after loaning some of Frank's money, but the shirts have a typo and he needed a place to stay in. Living with Gary is bad for the Heffleys, his nightmares make Manny shift his bed away from the wall and whenever Rodrick is kicked out of bed in the morning, he has to sleep on the up part of the couch.

Greg explains how Gary has been trying to get a job, but whenever he gets one, he quits after a few days. One of Greg's teachers, Mrs. Moretta announces in Phys Ed that the ballroom dancing unit is starting and people should find a partner by writing their names in slips and submitting them. Greg explains he will be fine with pairing with anyone except for Ruby Bird, a girl in Greg's school who has a bad habit of biting people and was suspended for biting Mr. Underwood in the elbow. On the partner announcement day, in Greg's favour Ruby is paired with Fregley, but Greg and four other kids were partnerless. The teacher paired them up with each other.

An assembly by Vice Principal Roy and Mrs. Birch announces new members for the Student Council. Greg cannot sign up due to him having three detentions, but sees Rowley could be perfect. Rowley signs up to be Social Chairperson. The winner of the President's voting is Eugene Ellis who promised to replace the school's toilet paper with quilted toilet paper the teachers use. At Greg's house in his room, Uncle Gary played a future game when you are an adult, but Uncle Gary buys scratch tickets.

February
Javan Hill found that Pillow Soft Ultra toilet paper was being used by the teachers, not the kids. So Eugene went to the lounge and showed Mrs. Birch. The school introduces a program where students can bring in their own toilet paper. However, the plan backfired when some of the boys started a toilet paper fight in the cafeteria. The school then set a rule that kids are only allowed to have five squares of toilet paper, much to Greg's dismay because he brought in twenty rolls. Now that the staff is checking peoples' bags and lockers to see if they had more than five, Greg decided to have his own bathroom stall to keep all of the toilet paper, but that backfired when people founded out that Greg was hoarding toilet paper. After this whole toilet paper experience, students learned that they are going to raise money of their own if they want something.

The Student Council brainstormed ideas for a fundraiser, but most of the boys in the council decided on a mixed motocross/wrestling event. The fundraising community was formed, and, in the end, the Valentine's Day Dance becomes a school fundraiser. Greg tries to find a date, but it starts to fail. A pantsing fever starts in the school which is quickly stopped by Roy, but a kid under the bleachers quickly pantses him and escapes. Now he (or she) is dubbed as the Mad Pantser. Greg found a leather jacket of his Dad's, but in school, it is confiscated by his mother who said it was not a winter coat. Abigail Brown's boyfriend breaks up with her, and after that Greg and Rowley decide to go with her for the school dance. Greg heads to Rowley's house but he sees two bumps on his chin that looked like mosquito bites, but he realizes it's chickenpox. He tries to cover it up since chickenpox has been contagious in school.

Greg goes with Rowley and Abigail to Spriggo's. The host at Spriggo's tells him that gentlemen have to wear sports jackets. Greg has to wear a smelly sports suit which makes them go to Corny's due to the dessert bar, however, Rowley and Abigail order special desserts which makes Greg fib that it's Rowley's birthday to make him get a free cake. At the dance, the theme is Midnight In Paris but old people take one half of the hall for their meeting. Later Uncle Gary tries to sell the Botson T-shirts, but people want their money back after seeing the typo. Greg sees pimples on Abigail which he thinks is chickenpox. Later they head home, Greg realizes the "chickenpox" on Abigail was actually a pimple. He doesn't think Abigail saw it that way, because she wasn't chatty with him on the way home.

In the end, Uncle Gary moves out after he wins $40,000 on a scratch card which he wasted a lot of the Heffleys money on to buy scratch cards. Greg ends up getting chickenpox, but he gets to take a bath in peace, but the experience isn't like how he lived before he was born and when he opens his eyes, the towel next to the bathroom was gone. Greg says either someone's messing with him, or either Johnny Cheddar is at it again.

Background
In writing the book, Jeff Kinney based it on "a kid’s initial feeling of 'betrayal' when his childhood friend chooses a love interest over him." He continued, "You feel broken up with. You’ve put a ton of time into this friendship, you think you know them better than anybody else, and suddenly they're changing into a different person."

Errors

 * This is the second book to have an error in the length of a month. February had 5 weeks instead of 4. The first was Dog Days' June.
 * On Page 102, when Greg states the "motocross/wrestling event somehow morphed into a VALENTINE'S DAY DANCE", the capital "V" in "Valentine's" looks slightly different from other capital V's in the books.
 * On Page 172, Abigail appears to be taller than average when she touches the sixth line unlike the other scenes that appeared are even mid or low five lines or high four lines.
 * These mistakes are usually not uncommon and happen in many other books.
 * Rodrick is shown much skinnier than he is in other books.