Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck is the eighth book in the reading Wimpy Kid series, following The Third Wheel, and 14th overall. After finishing the seventh book, Jeff Kinney announced that he was working on the eighth book. On 8 August, 2013, the cover's color, title and a synopsis were revealed, and the book was released on November 5th, 2013.

Main Characters

 * Greg Heffley
 * Rowley Jefferson (main antagonist)
 * Rodrick Heffley
 * Abigail Brown
 * Manny Heffley
 * Frank Heffley
 * Susan Heffley

March
Greg is upset over losing Rowley as his best friend in the opening. His mother tells him that friends come and go. Since Rowley Jefferson and Abigail Brown became a couple at the end of The Third Wheel, the two friends have become more and more distant, very noticably even within nine and a half days. There were many things Greg and Rowley used to do together, such as blow bubbles with chocolate milk cartons, that they can't do now, because Abigail disapproves of. Greg doesn't like how Abigail is trying to shape Rowley, and even believe she is starting to use him. Greg states it gets to the point where Rowley isn't allowed his own opinions anymore, but is simply just following Abigail's. Many plans, such as a snowball fight on a nice day, haven't gone ahead, and when Greg confronts Rowley, he taunts Greg by telling him he's just jealous that he has a girlfriend. Also, Rowley is the only one who can bail Greg out of the fact his English teacher, Mr. Blakely, only accepts essays written in cursive, but also, usually, Rowley scouts ahead and checks for any dog poop whilst they are walking to school, but without Rowley, Greg is having to watch out for the poop himself and avoid a very nasty Rottweiler whilst walking to school. And then Abigail starts using Rowley to carry her books. Greg used to use Rowley to do the same thing.

Cover
The cover is lime green, and has eight balls raining depicted with Greg dodging them with a book (most likely his diary).



Trivia

 * This book was first announced in the final pages of The Third Wheel.
 * On 25 March 2013, Jeff Kinney revealed the book's teaser, which had Greg with an umbrella while  Magic Eight Balls fall around him.
 * On July 18, 2013, it was announced the cover would be revealed on August 8th, 2013.
 * Before the title of the book was revealed, there were several rumors about what the book would be called, including Life Stress, Flipped Out, Spring Bummer and a fake cover called "School Dilemma".
 * This is the second book with the word "Diary"  not being yellow, the first was Dog Days.
 * The word "of a Wimpy Kid" is not blue or red like the other books, instead it's orange.
 * It was rumored for a while that the book would be the final one in the series, until jeff kinney said that it wouldn't be.
 * This is the second time that Rowley is the main antagonist, the first time being in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A novel in cartoons.IMG_5803.png