Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the first book in the series. The book was released in April-May 2007, and was followed by Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Characters

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

September
A 5th or 6th grader named Greg Heffley is starting middle school. He states his diary by stating he won't be writing his feelings in the diary and calls it a journal. Greg writes that the only reason he agreed to get a journal was so when he becomes rich and famous, he'll give it to new reporters instead of answering questions. He then reveals it is his first day of middle school and warns the reader not to sit down anywhere willy nilly because the teacher may say these are your permanent seats like his first period. Stuck with Chris Hosey and Lionel James, Greg states he's going to sit with a bunch of girls, but ponders his decision and calls the girls complicated. He then says that Bryce Anderson is the most popular boy in his grade and he's around the 50th mark and tries to explain the popularity status to Rowley Jefferson, but thinks he's not listening. The next day, Greg heads to the basketball courts and notices the cheese and hopes that no one will start the Cheese Touch after Abe Hall left with the touch to California. Greg then recalls the beginning of the summer where his older brother, Rodrick Heffley pulled a prank. The next day, Greg is assigned to a reading group and wants to be put in the Easy one, modeling after Rodrick, but changes his mind. On the weekend, Greg heads to Rowley's house, but the earlier wants to chnage his friends to amp up his popularity. He is distracted by his little brother, Manny Heffley who never gets in trouble and is constantly spoiled by his parents. Greg says that Manny gave him a nickname, Bubby, because he couldn't say brother and can't stand it. The next day, Greg is kicked out of his house by Frank Heffley, and doesn't want to head to Rowley's house, because he is not a serious gamer and doesn't want to pass Fregley. Greg reveals Rodrick is in a band, Loded Diper, but that they're really awful. He tries to listen to a CD with a Parental Warning sticker, but is caught by Mrs. Craig at school and by his Dad at home. With no video games, Greg tries to entertain himself, but is relieved that Rodrick is in trouble after Manny brings one of his magazines to show-and-tell. Greg turns his attention back to school and decides to run for Treasurer to impress the girls, but his posters are confiscated by Vice Principal Roy and gives up on his political campaign.

October
Greg is excited for Halloween, calling it his and Frank's favorite holiday. He invites Rowley to the Crossland High School haunted house, but regrets his decision and chickens out in Chainsaw Alley. Greg comes up with an idea to make money and tells Rowley that they could build a haunted house in Rowley's basement and not mention it to his parents. The house is put to a stop by Mr. Jefferson and he grounds Rowley. Halloween finally arrives and Greg and Rowley are forced to trick-or-treat with Manny, Jeremy Mitchell, and Mr. Mitchell. The two finally break away and make up for lost time, but are attacked by teenagers. Greg threatens them with calling the cops and the kids enter Gramma's house. Mom tells them that it is a school night and they have to go back home. The two travel through the Snake Road and manage to make it to Greg's house in one piece, but are ambushed by Dad.

November
Greg becomes very dumb and interested in working out and gaining muscles because he is a scroney dork ,after being forced to pair up with Fregley during a wrestling unit in Phys Ed. He tries to convince his parents to buy a weight set, but his Mom says he has to prove himself. Greg decides to make his own weight set, but Rowely destroys it trying to escape. Greg decides to wing a Geography test, because he sits by a map with the answers, but Patty Farrell warns the teacher, causing Greg to fail. Greg swears revenge and gets his chance after Mom makes him sign up for the school play of the Wizard of Oz. He notices Patty earning the spot of Dorothy and decides to be a tree to peg her with apples. He gets the part but Mrs. Norton says they won't be hitting Patty with apples much to Greg's dismay. He then tries to get cut from the play, but fails.

December
Greg predicts that the play will be a disaster and whines that Mrs. Norton created a song for the trees. The big night arrives, but Rodney James gets stage fright, and it starts late. Greg hops onto the stage where Manny calls him Bubby. Luckily, Greg redirects the nickname to Archie Kelly. He decides to keep quiet when his song starts causing the other Trees to be quiet as well. Patty glares from the sidelines and Greg throws an apple at her, followed by the other trees and Toto. Patty's glasses break and the play is forced to shut down. Relieved by not having to worry about his nickname, Greg starts to create his Christmas wish list, but only wants a new video game Twisted Wizard. Christmas arrives and Manny recieves everything he wanted while Greg recieves a wolly sweater originally for his Giving Tree man. Greg gives Rowley a book of Lil' Cutie comics and he gives Greg a Big Wheel. Greg is then punished after playing with Manny on New Year's Eve and makes his resolution to never play with him again.

January
Greg makes up a game with the Big Wheel: knocking the rider off with a football, and successfully manages to knock Rowley off, but at the cost of breaking his arm. With Winter Break over, Rowley is babied by the girls so Greg tries the same motive, but fails. He signs up for Independent Study, but all the boys are kicked off due to a misunderstanding. Greg then decides to sign up for the Safety Patrol and recruits Rowley as well. They get assigned to walk kindergartners home every day at twelve much to Greg's delight.

February
Greg wakes to a pile of snow and calls Rowley for a shot at building the world's biggest snowman, and create the base only for the snow to stop. The two then agree on rolling the snowball down the street to teach the Whirley Street Kids a lesson. The following day, Greg destroys Manny's minituare snowmen and his snowball is destroyed by Dad, much to Rowley's fury. The two get in a fight, but are ambushed by the Whirley Street Kids. Back at school, Greg decides to team up with Rowley to create a comic strip for the school newspaper for a chance to get popular. The result is Zoo-Wee-Mama!, but Greg abandons the comic for Creighton the Cretin. Greg wins the contest, but his newspaper is changed heavily, earning him a punch.

March
Rowley is called to Mr. Winsky's office to discuss about his terroizing the kindergartners in front of Mrs. Irvine and is suspended from the Safety Patrol for the time being. Greg recalls the incident and remembers that he had terroized the kids while wearing Rowley's coat. Mom tries to figure out what's wrong and tells Greg to do the right thing which he decides is letting Rowley take the blame. Greg tells Rowley he terroized the kids, much to his anger. Greg says he did the right thing and earns ice cream taking into account to follow Mom's advice, but Rowley turns Greg in. Mr. Winsky says an anonymous source had said Greg was responsible and he was relieved from duty while Rowley gets a promotion. Greg decides to get revenge on Rowley, but instead kisses his butt so he could come along with him to Six Flags in June. However, Rowley rebuffs him to Greg's anger.

April
Greg notices Rowley has been hanging out with Collin Lee and notices the two going on a sleepover. To make him jealous, Greg decides to sleep over at Fregley's house, but regrets his decision after Fregeley chases him with a booger. Greg passes out, wakes up at two in the morning, and sneaks out of the house. Without Rowley, Greg spends time in Rodrick's room and decides to become popular by winning a spot on the Class Favorites page. He then decides to go for Class Clown.

May
To win, Greg decides to make fun of Mr. Worth's substitue, but it turns out to be his Mom. He drops the idea and reads the school newspaper, noticing that Zoo-Wee-Mama has replaced his comic. After school, Greg tells Rowley that he has to give him credit for an idea they came up together, but Rowley says he was the one who came up with the comic. Kids demand a fight, but before they coukd, a group of teenagers pull up and grab Greg and Rowley while the others run off. Greg recognizes the teenagers from Halloween night and starts to worry when he spots the Cheese nearby. The teenagers make Rowley eat the Cheese, but Greg says he's allergic to dairy to get out of it. The teenagers make Rowley finish off the Cheese and leave the two behind. The next day, the students wonder where the Cheese went and Greg lies that he threw it away. Greg then realizes that he has the Cheese Touch now as everyone runs away from him.

June
Greg and Rowley reconcile their friendship while Greg states having the Cheese Touch wasn't that bad. On the last day of school, he opens a yearbook and sees Rowley as the Class Clown. Greg throws away the yearbook and says Rowley can have Class Clown, but if he gets over his head, he's telling everyone who ate the Cheese.

Film Adaption
In 2010, the book was adapted into an animated/live action feature film. It was directed by Thor Freudenthal and was rated PG. They didn't want to have the movie same as the book, so they made a few differences. Example:The Muddy Hand was replaced by a foot in the first movie and they didn't make a reference to the Muddy Hand until Dog Days, when Fregley tells a story about it.

Trivia

 * The book is also known as Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons.
 * It was originally published on the Internet as a slightly different book at FunBrain.com.
 * The book was also a #1 New York Times bestseller.
 * This marks the first appearance of the characters.
 * This book has the most months covered, being ten.