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{{Spoiler}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules''}}
''This article is about the book. You may be looking for [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)|the movie]].''
{{Book infobox
{{Infobox
|image       = [[File:Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules cover.jpg|300px]]
|Box title = <font color="blue">Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules</font>
|caption     =  
|image = [[File:Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules cover.jpg|300px]]
|number      = 2
|caption = The book's official cover.
|release date = February 1, 2008
|Row 1 title = Author/Illustrator/Cover Artist
|author      = [[Jeff Kinney]]
|Row 1 info = [[Jeff Kinney]]
|illustrator  = Jeff Kinney
|Row 2 title = Publisher
|preceded by = ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]''
|Row 2 info = Abram Books (through Amulet Books) (US) Penguin Books (through Puffin Books) (US)
|succeeded by = ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw]]''
|Row 3 title = Release Date
|film        = ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)|Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules]]''
|Row 3 info = February 1st, 2008
|Row 4 title = Pages
|Row 4 info = 217
|Row 5 title = Preceded by
|Row 5 info = ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]''
|Row 6 title = Followed by
|Row 6 info = ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw]]''
|Row 7 title = Book Number
|Row 7 info = 2
|Row 8 title = Color
|Row 8 info = Blue
}}
}}
'''''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules''''' is the 2nd book in the [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series)|Diary of a Wimpy Kid series]]. It was released on February 1, 2008.
'''''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules''''' is the 2nd book in the [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series)|''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' series]]. It was released on February 1, 2008, and was adapted into [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)|a movie]], which premiered on March 25, 2011. ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules'' succeeds ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'' and precedes ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw]]''.


==Main Characters==
==Major characters==
'''Featured Characters:'''
*[[Rodrick Heffley]]
*[[Greg Heffley]]
*[[Greg Heffley]]
'''Supporting Characters:'''
*[[Frank Heffley]]
*[[Susan Heffley]]
*[[Manny Heffley]]
*[[Rowley Jefferson]]
*[[Rowley Jefferson]]
*[[Susan Heffley]] (Mom)
*[[Grandpa]]
*[[Frank Heffley]] (Dad)
 
'''Antagonists:'''
==Plot==
*[[Rodrick Heffley]] (Main Antagonist)
In September, Greg starts his new journal by talking about his summer, which included him being on a swim team, being ridiculed by teammates and riding home in the back of Rodrick's van with his band equipment, and an embarrassing secret that only he and Rodrick know about. With the school year starting, all of Greg's schoolmates run away from him, and he is confused until he remembers that he ended last year with the [[Cheese Touch]]. He is able to pass it off onto a new student named [[Jeremy Pindle]]. He remembers that his best friend [[Rowley Jefferson|Rowley]] went to South America over the summer, and then talks about how he is getting a pen pal in French class.
'''Other Characters:'''
*[[Manny Heffley]]
*[[Grandpa Heffley]]


==Synopsis==
Greg's mother, Susan, makes Rodrick pick up Greg from school, and they have an argument after getting home. Susan makes them draw pictures, both of which end up being insulting, with Greg once again remembering the embarrassing incident. Greg is then banned from going to Rowley's house when he insults Rowley's father using an easily-decipherable "secret language." A few days later, Greg notices that his father, Frank, has been taking him to the mall often, and then realizes that Frank wants to avoid [[Löded Diper]]'s, Rodrick's band's, performances. Manny breaks Greg's video game console by putting a cookie in it, and apologizes by giving him a tinfoil ball with toothpicks sticking out of it.
===September===
Greg starts his new journal by briefly explaining how his summer went, which included him being on a swim team and an embarrassing secret that only he and Rodrick know about. With the school year starting, all of Greg's schoolmates run away from him, which makes him confused until he realizes why: he still had the [[Cheese Touch]] from the previous school year (which he got during the last week) but had completely forgotten about it over the summer. Greg ends up passing it on to a new kid in his homeroom class named [[Jeremy Pindle]]. Greg states how his best friend, [[Rowley]], went to South America for the summer, and complains of Rowley's actions after his return. He then says that in French, he is getting a pen pal. Greg then writes how his Mom has been trying to get him and Rodrick to bond, but doesn't work out after she spots Rodrick pushing Greg. Greg states that Rodrick can treat him anyway he wants, because he knows the most embarrassing thing that happened to him over the summer and decides to dig some dirt of his own. Unluckily, she got the idea to use [[Mom Bucks]] for the two of which they could cash in for real dollars. The problem was: each Mom Buck was for a penny.


Meanwhile, his Dad works on a replica of the [[Civil War Battlefield|Civil War]], telling [[Manny]] and Rowley that the furnace room is off limits. Rowley starts telling Greg of his trip, but leaves after Greg starts talking about his life. Frank tries to sneak out to work on his replica, but he is caught by his Susan and forced to go to bed early with [[Manny]], who is scared of the "monster" in the furnance room. Following that, Frank decides to take Greg to the mall every Saturday to escape hearing any of [[Loded Diper]]'s practices and seeing [[Bill Walter]]. Returning home, Frank manages to get rid of teenagers crowding his driveway much to his wife's dismay. Greg then changes focus to Manny and how he broke one of his video game consoles. Manny tries to give him tinfoil with toothpicks to make up for Greg's loss, but Greg loses it. Greg states that he got his first pen pal letter from [[Mamadou Montpierre]], but decides to write in English instead of French.
Greg gets his first letter from his pen pal, [[Mamadou Montpierre]], in English instead of French. Rowley then comes over to Greg's house and accidentally sits on Manny's tinfoil ball, and Greg throws it away. He then says that Rodrick has an English paper due tomorrow, and he writes them on paper and hands them to Frank. Frank types and rewrites the paper with all the mistakes fixed, giving Rodrick a good grade. Greg then talks about his method of doing book reports: he picks a short story in ''[[Sherlock Sammy Does It Again]]'', and writes comments like "Sherlock Sammy is so smart, and I'll bet that's because he reads so many books."


He also states that Rowley ended up sitting on Manny's 'gift' and he throws it away. Meanwhile, Rodrick is forced to type his own paper by [[Susan]], but finally gets Frank to do it for him to his delight.
In October, [[Chirag Gupta]] comes back to school, and the students decide to pretend he is invisible before welcoming him back. This joke is nearly ruined by Rowley, and Greg is eventually called to [[Vice Principal Roy]]'s office to apologize, getting "the identity of the person we were playing the joke on" wrong. Greg apologizes to [[Sharif]] instead. Greg then wants to buy Rowley a present for his birthday, but Susan refuses. Greg explains that he was cheated out of his money when he watched over a dog named [[Princess]] and left the owners' house messy. Susan then creates a program called [[Mom Bucks]], giving Greg and Rodrick ten real dollars' worth of Mom Bucks each. At Rowley's party, he gets his own diary, which Greg is not happy about.


===October===
Susan, having been informed by [[Mr. Gupta]], is not happy at Greg because of the Invisible Chirag prank. She brings him to Chirag to apologize, although Chirag is just happy to have someone talking to him and plays video games with Greg. Susan is still mad and tells Greg that he cannot lie again or he will be grounded for a month, only for her to end the "honesty pledge" after she encourages Greg to lie to a PTA member.
Greg notices the arrival of his old friend, [[Chirag Gupta]], and is thrilled to see him back, but decides to pay a practical joke he got from his mom, the [[Invisible Chirag]]. The whole class gets in on the joke, but Chirag manages to find their weakness: Rowley. Greg does some quick-thinking and manages to keep the joke going. Chirag reports Greg to [[Vice Principal Roy]], but he gets the names mixed up, thinking the victim was a boy named [[Sharif]], allowing the prank to carry on. Rowley's birthday is coming up, so Greg tells his Mom to pay for a gift. Greg starts to complain the he doesn't have any money so Susan creates the [[Mom Bucks]] program as a way to get cash. Rowley's birthday party starts and he receives a diary, much to Greg's horror. On top of that, Chirag tells his [[Mr.Gupta|Dad]] about the joke and [[Mr. Gupta]] tells Susan.


[[Susan Heffley|Susan]] takes Greg to Rowley's house, who reveals the truth in no time flat and takes Greg to [[Chirag]] to apologize. Chirag decides to forgive him and so does Greg as they reconcile their friendship. Susan, however, is mad Greg lied to her and makes him be truthful, but allows him to stop after Greg proves himself. Career Day is at school and Greg notices Rowley talking about nursing with girls and decides to read his diary to see if they're talking about him, but in order to do that, he needs a key to open the diary. He cashes in half of his [[Mom Bucks]] to buy the same exact diary as Rowley's in order to get the key. Using the key, Greg opens Rowley's diary, but spots nothing except for recorded [[Dinoblazer Action Figure]] battles' that Rowley got on his birthday. On Saturday, [[Manny Heffley|Manny]] is taken to [[Gramma]]'s house and his Mom and Dad leave for the weekend. Rodrick calls his friends and tells them he's hosting a party. Greg decides to keep his mouth shut to experience the party because he has never seen a high school party, but [[Rodrick Heffley|Rodrick]] traps him in the basement. The following day, Rodrick blackmails Greg into helping him clean up the mess. The two switch the bathroom door as they see that someone has doodled one it right when their parents return.
On [[Career Day]], the class takes quizzes to see which job they will get when they grow up. Greg is surprised when he gets "Clerk," and Rowley gets "Nurse" and starts hanging out with other girls who got the same result. Greg is worried that Rowley is telling the girls about the second-most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to Greg: his butt smashed through the wall in Spanish class while he tried to stand on his head. Greg buys his own copy of Rowley's diary and uses the key to unlock it, only to see that it consists of Rowley making stories with his [[Dinoblazer Action Figure]]s.


Greg states that Rodrick is lucky Manny wasn't there as he is a huge tattletale and remarks how he is starting preschool. Greg then recalls how he thought in preschool he was going to marry ice cream due to a joke pulled by a classmate called [[Quinn]]. But his Mom explains the joke and he throws it back at the kid, but not to the same effect.
Rodrick has a party when his parents leave for a day. He locks Greg in the basement and blackmails him into cleaning up the mess at the end. In November, Greg then writes an "allegory" for English class titled [[Rory Screws Up]], inspired by seeing Rodrick try to fix his van. Greg goes up to Rowley's house, hearing that Rowley's parents have left for dinner and hoping that [[Heather Hills]] is Rowley's "babysitter," only to meet [[Leland]]. He plays [[Magick and Monsters]] and ends up enjoying it, telling Susan about the game. She decides to observe a round, and ends up joining in, enjoying the game. She buys Magick and Monsters books and tells Greg to play it with Rodrick, who ends the game instantly.
===November===
[[Greg Heffley|Greg]] starts the month being bugged by Rodrick until Frank notices that there is no lock on the bathroom door, but doesn't connect the evidence to Rodrick's relief. He then gets another letter from [[Mamadou Montpierre|Mamadou]], but finds it dumb they have to write letters instead of e-mails. A few nights later, Greg heads to Rowley's house and meets [[Leland]]. The two friends are soon addicted to [[Magick and Monsters]], but Susan becomes suspicious of their activities so she observes a game. She then buys a ton of books for Greg and Rodrick to play to further their bond and improve their skills, but Rodrick destroys Greg's characters in no time. Rodrick says that Greg's team has fallen in a hole, then the hole was filled with bombs and that is the end.


The school sends a letter to have parents get their students private music lessons after Music Education is cancelled to budget cuts. [[Susan Heffley|Susan]] has Rodrick give Greg and Rowley drum lessons for Mom Bucks, but it doesn't work out. At Rowley's house, Greg finds the play money Susan uses for her Mom Bucks and takes the whole stash and hides it in his bed. He tests out his new money by handing them to Susan, who accepts it without blinking and checking. Greg lies saying he'll buy a stamp for [[Mamadou Montpierre|Mamadou]], but after receiving a picture, he states he killed any chance of him writing back. The next day, Greg is in a hurry to write a paper for History and Rodrick tries to sell him a old paper, as he had the same assignment, but Greg refuses. However, he states that he was desperate, and he reluctantly hands him the money. However, he notices that it is of no use and flunks History.
Susan comes up with the idea for Rodrick to teach Greg how to drum. Greg gets Rowley to join, and their lessons end due to Rodrick being a lazy teacher. At Rowley's house, Greg sees money in a board game and recognizes it as being identical to Mom Bucks. He trades in a few of them to buy stamps, then says that he is not writing to Mamadou anymore after receiving a picture of him. Greg is desperate to finish his History assignment, and resorts to spending 20,000 Mom Bucks on one from Rodrick. After noticing how terrible Rodrick's poem is, he decides to not hand it in and fails History. Rodrick attempts to cash in all his Mom Bucks, and Susan cancels the program.


Rodrick then tries to cash his [[Mom Bucks]] in to get money for a used motorcycle, but [[Susan Heffley|Susan]] knows she never put that big of money into circulation and ends the Mom Bucks program. During Thanksgiving, Rodrick and Greg get in a fight over who has to greet [[Aunt Loretta]] first and then dine with the family.
In December, Frank finds a picture of Rodrick's party, and Rodrick and Greg get in trouble. They are sent to [[Grandpa]]'s apartment at [[Leisure Towers]], while Manny stays at [[Gramma]]'s. After eating [[watercress salad]] and playing [[Gutbusters]], Greg writes that he has learned a lesson about "covering for Rodrick." As the [[Winter Talent Show]] approaches, Greg writes a skit involving him, Rowley, and [[Holly Hills]] titled "[[The Boy Whose Family Thinks He's a Dog]]," and Rowley rejects the script. He then decides to do a magic act with a kid from his karate class named [[Scotty Douglas]]. Rodrick and his band are still practicing, and Frank ends Rodrick's grounding early as he hates the sound of their performances.
===December===
Susan sends [[Frank Heffley|Frank]] to pick up pictures from Thanksgiving, but he comes back with a picture from Rodrick's party. They severely punish Rodrick. Because Greg knew about it, and didn't say anything about it, Susan says he was rodrick's accomplice and give him a two-week video game ban. Knowing the brothers can't be trusted, Susan and Frank drop the two at the [[Leisure towers]] where Grandpa lives. Greg learns his lesson and decides to never cover for Rodrick again. Susan and Frank gets Rodrick to start working on his science project himself and he manages to come up with one. The school announces a big [[Winter Talent Show]] which gets Rowley and Rodrick excited. Going crazy, Frank ends Rodrick's punishment two weeks early just so his band practices someplace else. Greg invites Rowley for a sleep over, but injures him in front of Manny. Manny squeals on him and Susan makes Greg replace Scotty Douglas for Rowley's magic act. The two fail to make it into the talent show (the only act to do so) while Rodrick completes his project early to squeeze more band practices in.


Unfortunately, Rodrick's science teacher states Rodrick's project didn't use the "scentific method" with a hypothesis and a conclusion and all that. [[Frank Heffley|Frank]] tells him he'll have to miss the talent show to work on his project. Rodrick declines and says that if he and his group win, they plan on sending the performance to a big record label, and if said record label agrees to a contract with [[Rodrick Heffley|Rodrick]]'s band, Rodrick plans on dropping out of school and doing the band full time. The Talent Show starts and Rodrick asks Greg to film, but he declines so Susan volunteers. [[Loded Diper]] doesn't win anything and their footage is unusable because Susan talks the entire time. One of the band members remembers that the school filmed the show, but that turns out to be junk as well, as when it finally gets to their performance, the camera-operator ends up focusing on Susan when she starts dancing.
Greg and Rowley have a sleepover, but Susan makes Manny join them. Greg puts a dumbbell under Rowley's pillow and he kicks it, which Manny tells Susan about. Rowley breaks his toe and is unable to practice with Scotty for the Talent Show. Susan tells Rowley's mother that Greg can practice with Scotty instead, and Greg learns that he has to be Scotty's assistant and hand him props. Greg then gets ideas for a ''[[Creighton the Cretin]]'' comic, explaining that he might be able to get the cartoonist job in the school paper because Rowley quit ''[[Zoo-Wee Mama!]]''


[[Rodrick Heffley|Rodrick]] blames Greg and spills his secret to his friends who have little siblings his age that go to Greg's school. Greg reveals that he accidentally walked into the women's restrooms at the [[Leisure Towers]] and got trapped. He then tries to beg to Susan if he can transfer to another school. Susan says that his classmates would understand that he just made an "honest mistake." Greg wishes he kept up his pen pal relationship with Mamadou because he could've gone to France as an exchange student and hide out THERE for a few years to wait for it to blow over. The next day, Greg is cornered by students but they congratulate him rather than tease him. Greg realizes out that the story had got mixed and realizes that when Rodrick called his friends and told them Greg's secret, and when they told their siblings in Greg's grade about what happened, the details got totally mixed up. So the story went from Greg accidentally walking into the women's bathroom at Leisure Towers to him infiltrating the girls' locker room at [[Crossland High School|Crossland HIGH SCHOOL]]. Greg didn't want to set anyone straight, and becomes very popular with the guys at school, who start calling him the "Stealthinator" someone even made him a stealthinator headband. For Greg, the girls weren't as impressed with the story as the boys were, making him say it might be hard to find a date to the [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw|Valentines Day dance]].
At the Talent Show's tryouts, Scotty and Greg are the only people to not make it in. Rodrick asks Greg to tape his performance, but he refuses. When Löded Diper performs, they are paired up with a kid rollerskating to "Yankee Doodle Dandy," who wins the "Best Musical Act" award instead. When the show is over, the Heffleys watch the school's videotaping of the performance. The video eventually focuses on just Susan dancing. Rodrick gets mad at Greg for not recording their act, and contacts all his friends to tell them about Greg's secret. Greg finally decides to tell about it, fearing that Rodrick exaggerated some details.


At the end of the story, Greg explains that [[Rodrick]] sort of got his wish for his band to get noticed, because the video of Susan dancing at the talent show is now all over the internet, and Greg says that everyone now knows Rodrick as the drummer from the "[[Dancing Mom]]." Both Greg and Rodrick are being teased about it at school, but [[Rodrick Heffley|Rodrick]]'s more embarrassed about it than Greg (who isn't actually in the video), and Greg admits that he does feel kind of bad for Rodrick. If he doesn't turn in a science project, then Rodrick will flunk out of school. Greg decides to help his brother the last time with his science project and hopes Rodrick realizes how lucky he is to have Greg as a brother. Rodrick's project was: [[Do Plants Sneeze?]]
At Leisure Towers, Greg is bored and decides to write in his diary. Rodrick grabs it and runs, and trips over Gutbusters. Greg takes his book back and hides in the bathroom, hoping that Rodrick will not find him. He realizes that he is in the women's bathroom, and is eventually exposed as a "Peeping Tom" and caught by security. Greg is surprised when he goes to school the next day and everyone congratulates him; the story's details got messed up every time someone shared it, and it eventually switched from Greg getting stuck in the women's bathroom at Leisure Towers to him infiltrating the girls' locker room at [[Crossland High School]]. Löded Diper also becomes popular after the video of Susan dancing is shared on the Internet as "[[Dancing Mom]]," and Greg decides to help Rodrick with his science project to prevent him from flunking out of school: they do an experiment titled "[[Do Plants Sneeze?]]"


==Film Adaptions==
==Development==
A film of the same name, [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)]] was released on March 25, 2011. It followed the major plot of the book, but with small changes. It was met with a mixed critical response and was released for home media on July 19, 2011.
Greg hiding in the bathroom during swim practice and wrapping himself in toilet paper due to being cold is something that [[Jeff Kinney]] himself did as a child.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/jeff-kinney-inc-the-wimpy-kid-is-now-a-rich-guy-who-has-sold-180-million-books/2016/11/01/e9db1fae-a02f-11e6-a44d-cc2898cfab06_story.html The Washington Post, " Jeff Kinney Inc.: The ‘Wimpy Kid’ is now a rich guy who has sold 180 million books"]</ref>


==Trivia==
==International edits==
*The book's cover picture is replaced with Greg panicing in the woman's bathroom in the Italian and German versions.
*German translation:
*This is [[Rodrick]]’s biggest appearance in a book, but all the other books has him reduced his role making him have more minor appearances.
**Peter Uteger's name is "Peter Puttmann." He is mocked for his initials sounding like ''pipi'', which means "pee."
*It's unknown if Rodrick won anything from the Science Fair, but in the online version, he didn't win anything.
**Greg says that he is ready "to climb up a rung on the ladder" instead of move up "another notch on the totem pole."
*This book covers 4 months which is the 3rd highest in month covering in the series.
**Manny says that he is two instead of three.
*In this book, [[Manny]] says he is only 3, but this can't be correct, as in [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]], after he yells 'bubby' at [[Greg]] on the stage, [[Greg]] says he's been able to keep that nickname quiet for 5 years, meaning [[Manny]] must be at least 6, but his size and behavior contradict him from being 6. However in the online version, [[Manny]] is 5 years old, which makes this sense. 
**In Greg's letter to his pen pal, he writes, "I think we should both write in my language. So you learn more." In the English translation, he writes that they should both speak English to "keep things simple."
*In [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Age_of_Ultron Avengers: Age of Ultron], one of [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkeye_(comics) Hawkeye]'s kids are seen reading this book
**Greg describes Rowley's birthday party as being at a "shopping mall. With balloons and all that."
*This is the only current book that has a character's name in the title.
**24-hour time is used instead of 12-hour time.
*This is the first book to have someone in addition to Greg on the cover.
**In Greg's ''The Amazing Moose'' paper, he writes about moose living in "Naturschutz" (natural habitats.) The moose answers that he smells better than reindeer.
**Rodrick's paper is graded with a "6" instead of an F.
**Rodrick asks about "the sports show" instead of "Monday night football."
**While kicking the pillow, Rowley says "Knall bumm!" (Pop boom!) instead of "Boo-yah!"
**Larry Larkin performs "das gitarrengemetzel" (The Guitar Slaughter) instead of "Carnage."
**When Greg imagines himself in France, he says "Von mir aus!" (According to me!) instead of "Yeah, whatever!"
**The front and back cover illustrations are different. The front cover of the German release is Greg standing on the toilet in Leisure Towers, while the back cover is him shivering at the swim meet. In the English versions, the illustrations are Rodrick shoving Greg and Greg wrapped in toilet paper.


== Goofs/Errors ==
== Errors ==
* On Page 150, it mentions that [[Greg Heffley|Greg]] didn't have anything to turn in to [[Mr. Huff]] during third period. However, on Page 13, Mr. Huff is described as Greg's seventh period teacher.
* On page 150, [[Greg Heffley|Greg]] says that he does not have anything to turn in to [[Mr. Huff]] during third period. However, on page 13, Mr. Huff is described as Greg's seventh period teacher.
** However, Greg could have gotten his schedule changed during this time period.
* On Page 37, a group of teenagers are shown outside Greg's house, listening to Loded Diper's music. On Page 38, the same teenagers are shown leaving, but with different colored shoes and shirts.
* On Page 37, a group of teenagers are shown outside Greg's house, listening to Loded Diper's music. On Page 38, the same teenagers are shown leaving, but with different colored shoes and shirts.
* [[Manny Heffley|Manny]] is seen too tall on page 181.
* [[Manny Heffley|Manny]] is too tall on page 181.
 
* Manny says he is only three on page 42, although Greg says that he has kept the "Bubby" nickname secret for five years in ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]''.
== Reference to Dates ==
* The German eBook contains multiple errors:
 
** The background lines are missing from pages 216 and 217.
In the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the actual date of an event usually isn't given, as the series is meant to be timeless and could have happened at any time. Here are some dates that are mentioned in the book:
** The illustration of Greg showing Rodrick ''Rory Screws Up'' is missing.
*'''October 27 - '''The date seen on the bottom right hand corner of a photo accidentally taken by [[Bill Walter]] during Rodrick's party (March 12th in the online book).
** Susan's "When your child is being deceptive" column is left blank.
*'''October 31 - '''Greg mentions that Manny joins pre-school for the first time as his class was having their Halloween party.
 


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
<gallery>
<gallery>
Book 2 back cover.jpg|The back cover
Book 2 back cover.jpg|The back cover
Rodrick Rules Maori.jpg|Māori cover
</gallery>
=== Illustrations ===
<gallery>
Rodrick says Sissy!.png
Greg in the swim team.png
Get in the back.jpg
Greg with the band equipment.jpg
Greg has the cheese touch!.png
Last name rule.png
Peter Utegur.jpg
Rodrick driving over speed bumps.jpg
Rodrick pushing Greg as Susan watches.jpg
Grunting noises.jpg
Frank watching teenagers.jpg
Frank playing music as the teenagers walk away.jpg
Sherlock Sammy reports.jpg
A Hundred Years Ago.jpg
Manny watching horror movies.jpg
Manny's picture.jpg
</gallery>
</gallery>
[[Category:Books]]
 
[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series]]
==Names in other languages==
[[Category:Jeff Kinney]]
{{foreign names
[[Category:Real Life Books]]
|Jap=ボクの日記があぶない!
|JapR=Boku no nikki ga abunai!
|JapM=My Diary Doesn't Work!
|Spa=La Ley de Rodrick
|SpaM=Rodrick's Law
|Fre=Rodrick fait sa loi
|FreM=Rodrick Makes His Law
|Dut=Vette pech!
|DutM=Bad Luck!
|Ger=Gibt's Probleme?
|GerM=Are There Problems?
|Ita=La legge dei più grandi
|ItaM=The Law of the Greatest
|Pol=Rodrick rządzi
|PolM=Rodrick Rules
|Wel=Y Brawd Mawr
|WelM=The Big Brother
|Bul=
|BulR=
|BulM=
}}
 
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DoaWK series}}
[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid books]]
[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules]]

Revision as of 19:31, 27 March 2021

Template:Book infobox Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is the 2nd book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It was released on February 1, 2008, and was adapted into a movie, which premiered on March 25, 2011. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules succeeds Diary of a Wimpy Kid and precedes Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw.

Major characters

Plot

In September, Greg starts his new journal by talking about his summer, which included him being on a swim team, being ridiculed by teammates and riding home in the back of Rodrick's van with his band equipment, and an embarrassing secret that only he and Rodrick know about. With the school year starting, all of Greg's schoolmates run away from him, and he is confused until he remembers that he ended last year with the Cheese Touch. He is able to pass it off onto a new student named Jeremy Pindle. He remembers that his best friend Rowley went to South America over the summer, and then talks about how he is getting a pen pal in French class.

Greg's mother, Susan, makes Rodrick pick up Greg from school, and they have an argument after getting home. Susan makes them draw pictures, both of which end up being insulting, with Greg once again remembering the embarrassing incident. Greg is then banned from going to Rowley's house when he insults Rowley's father using an easily-decipherable "secret language." A few days later, Greg notices that his father, Frank, has been taking him to the mall often, and then realizes that Frank wants to avoid Löded Diper's, Rodrick's band's, performances. Manny breaks Greg's video game console by putting a cookie in it, and apologizes by giving him a tinfoil ball with toothpicks sticking out of it.

Greg gets his first letter from his pen pal, Mamadou Montpierre, in English instead of French. Rowley then comes over to Greg's house and accidentally sits on Manny's tinfoil ball, and Greg throws it away. He then says that Rodrick has an English paper due tomorrow, and he writes them on paper and hands them to Frank. Frank types and rewrites the paper with all the mistakes fixed, giving Rodrick a good grade. Greg then talks about his method of doing book reports: he picks a short story in Sherlock Sammy Does It Again, and writes comments like "Sherlock Sammy is so smart, and I'll bet that's because he reads so many books."

In October, Chirag Gupta comes back to school, and the students decide to pretend he is invisible before welcoming him back. This joke is nearly ruined by Rowley, and Greg is eventually called to Vice Principal Roy's office to apologize, getting "the identity of the person we were playing the joke on" wrong. Greg apologizes to Sharif instead. Greg then wants to buy Rowley a present for his birthday, but Susan refuses. Greg explains that he was cheated out of his money when he watched over a dog named Princess and left the owners' house messy. Susan then creates a program called Mom Bucks, giving Greg and Rodrick ten real dollars' worth of Mom Bucks each. At Rowley's party, he gets his own diary, which Greg is not happy about.

Susan, having been informed by Mr. Gupta, is not happy at Greg because of the Invisible Chirag prank. She brings him to Chirag to apologize, although Chirag is just happy to have someone talking to him and plays video games with Greg. Susan is still mad and tells Greg that he cannot lie again or he will be grounded for a month, only for her to end the "honesty pledge" after she encourages Greg to lie to a PTA member.

On Career Day, the class takes quizzes to see which job they will get when they grow up. Greg is surprised when he gets "Clerk," and Rowley gets "Nurse" and starts hanging out with other girls who got the same result. Greg is worried that Rowley is telling the girls about the second-most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to Greg: his butt smashed through the wall in Spanish class while he tried to stand on his head. Greg buys his own copy of Rowley's diary and uses the key to unlock it, only to see that it consists of Rowley making stories with his Dinoblazer Action Figures.

Rodrick has a party when his parents leave for a day. He locks Greg in the basement and blackmails him into cleaning up the mess at the end. In November, Greg then writes an "allegory" for English class titled Rory Screws Up, inspired by seeing Rodrick try to fix his van. Greg goes up to Rowley's house, hearing that Rowley's parents have left for dinner and hoping that Heather Hills is Rowley's "babysitter," only to meet Leland. He plays Magick and Monsters and ends up enjoying it, telling Susan about the game. She decides to observe a round, and ends up joining in, enjoying the game. She buys Magick and Monsters books and tells Greg to play it with Rodrick, who ends the game instantly.

Susan comes up with the idea for Rodrick to teach Greg how to drum. Greg gets Rowley to join, and their lessons end due to Rodrick being a lazy teacher. At Rowley's house, Greg sees money in a board game and recognizes it as being identical to Mom Bucks. He trades in a few of them to buy stamps, then says that he is not writing to Mamadou anymore after receiving a picture of him. Greg is desperate to finish his History assignment, and resorts to spending 20,000 Mom Bucks on one from Rodrick. After noticing how terrible Rodrick's poem is, he decides to not hand it in and fails History. Rodrick attempts to cash in all his Mom Bucks, and Susan cancels the program.

In December, Frank finds a picture of Rodrick's party, and Rodrick and Greg get in trouble. They are sent to Grandpa's apartment at Leisure Towers, while Manny stays at Gramma's. After eating watercress salad and playing Gutbusters, Greg writes that he has learned a lesson about "covering for Rodrick." As the Winter Talent Show approaches, Greg writes a skit involving him, Rowley, and Holly Hills titled "The Boy Whose Family Thinks He's a Dog," and Rowley rejects the script. He then decides to do a magic act with a kid from his karate class named Scotty Douglas. Rodrick and his band are still practicing, and Frank ends Rodrick's grounding early as he hates the sound of their performances.

Greg and Rowley have a sleepover, but Susan makes Manny join them. Greg puts a dumbbell under Rowley's pillow and he kicks it, which Manny tells Susan about. Rowley breaks his toe and is unable to practice with Scotty for the Talent Show. Susan tells Rowley's mother that Greg can practice with Scotty instead, and Greg learns that he has to be Scotty's assistant and hand him props. Greg then gets ideas for a Creighton the Cretin comic, explaining that he might be able to get the cartoonist job in the school paper because Rowley quit Zoo-Wee Mama!

At the Talent Show's tryouts, Scotty and Greg are the only people to not make it in. Rodrick asks Greg to tape his performance, but he refuses. When Löded Diper performs, they are paired up with a kid rollerskating to "Yankee Doodle Dandy," who wins the "Best Musical Act" award instead. When the show is over, the Heffleys watch the school's videotaping of the performance. The video eventually focuses on just Susan dancing. Rodrick gets mad at Greg for not recording their act, and contacts all his friends to tell them about Greg's secret. Greg finally decides to tell about it, fearing that Rodrick exaggerated some details.

At Leisure Towers, Greg is bored and decides to write in his diary. Rodrick grabs it and runs, and trips over Gutbusters. Greg takes his book back and hides in the bathroom, hoping that Rodrick will not find him. He realizes that he is in the women's bathroom, and is eventually exposed as a "Peeping Tom" and caught by security. Greg is surprised when he goes to school the next day and everyone congratulates him; the story's details got messed up every time someone shared it, and it eventually switched from Greg getting stuck in the women's bathroom at Leisure Towers to him infiltrating the girls' locker room at Crossland High School. Löded Diper also becomes popular after the video of Susan dancing is shared on the Internet as "Dancing Mom," and Greg decides to help Rodrick with his science project to prevent him from flunking out of school: they do an experiment titled "Do Plants Sneeze?"

Development

Greg hiding in the bathroom during swim practice and wrapping himself in toilet paper due to being cold is something that Jeff Kinney himself did as a child.[1]

International edits

  • German translation:
    • Peter Uteger's name is "Peter Puttmann." He is mocked for his initials sounding like pipi, which means "pee."
    • Greg says that he is ready "to climb up a rung on the ladder" instead of move up "another notch on the totem pole."
    • Manny says that he is two instead of three.
    • In Greg's letter to his pen pal, he writes, "I think we should both write in my language. So you learn more." In the English translation, he writes that they should both speak English to "keep things simple."
    • Greg describes Rowley's birthday party as being at a "shopping mall. With balloons and all that."
    • 24-hour time is used instead of 12-hour time.
    • In Greg's The Amazing Moose paper, he writes about moose living in "Naturschutz" (natural habitats.) The moose answers that he smells better than reindeer.
    • Rodrick's paper is graded with a "6" instead of an F.
    • Rodrick asks about "the sports show" instead of "Monday night football."
    • While kicking the pillow, Rowley says "Knall bumm!" (Pop boom!) instead of "Boo-yah!"
    • Larry Larkin performs "das gitarrengemetzel" (The Guitar Slaughter) instead of "Carnage."
    • When Greg imagines himself in France, he says "Von mir aus!" (According to me!) instead of "Yeah, whatever!"
    • The front and back cover illustrations are different. The front cover of the German release is Greg standing on the toilet in Leisure Towers, while the back cover is him shivering at the swim meet. In the English versions, the illustrations are Rodrick shoving Greg and Greg wrapped in toilet paper.

Errors

  • On page 150, Greg says that he does not have anything to turn in to Mr. Huff during third period. However, on page 13, Mr. Huff is described as Greg's seventh period teacher.
  • On Page 37, a group of teenagers are shown outside Greg's house, listening to Loded Diper's music. On Page 38, the same teenagers are shown leaving, but with different colored shoes and shirts.
  • Manny is too tall on page 181.
  • Manny says he is only three on page 42, although Greg says that he has kept the "Bubby" nickname secret for five years in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
  • The German eBook contains multiple errors:
    • The background lines are missing from pages 216 and 217.
    • The illustration of Greg showing Rodrick Rory Screws Up is missing.
    • Susan's "When your child is being deceptive" column is left blank.

Gallery

Illustrations

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese ボクの日記があぶない!
Boku no nikki ga abunai!
My Diary Doesn't Work!
Spanish La Ley de Rodrick Rodrick's Law
French Rodrick fait sa loi Rodrick Makes His Law
Dutch Vette pech! Bad Luck!
German Gibt's Probleme? Are There Problems?
Italian La legge dei più grandi The Law of the Greatest
Polish Rodrick rządzi Rodrick Rules
Welsh Y Brawd Mawr The Big Brother


References