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{{Book infobox
{{Book infobox
|title        = ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw''
|title        = <i>Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw</i>
|image        = [[File:Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Last Straw cover.jpg|300px]]
|image        = [[File:Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Last Straw cover.jpg|300px]]
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In February, Greg finds that he has no treats in his lunch at school. Susan explains that she always buys enough snacks to last for a week, and Greg suspects that someone is stealing the snacks. He first investigates his older brother [[Rodrick Heffley|Rodrick]]'s room, and hides in a cabinet when Rodrick comes in and starts talking to [[Ward]] on the phone. When the phone's battery dies, Greg leaves the room. The next day, Susan is sent Greg's report card, and Greg invites [[Gramma]] for dinner, knowing that Frank will not get angry when Gramma is around. He follows Gramma to Bingo, hoping to earn money, only to be "intimidated" by a lady after he announces a win that turns out to be invalid.
In February, Greg finds that he has no treats in his lunch at school. Susan explains that she always buys enough snacks to last for a week, and Greg suspects that someone is stealing the snacks. He first investigates his older brother [[Rodrick Heffley|Rodrick]]'s room, and hides in a cabinet when Rodrick comes in and starts talking to [[Ward]] on the phone. When the phone's battery dies, Greg leaves the room. The next day, Susan is sent Greg's report card, and Greg invites [[Gramma]] for dinner, knowing that Frank will not get angry when Gramma is around. He follows Gramma to Bingo, hoping to earn money, only to be "intimidated" by a lady after he announces a win that turns out to be invalid.


After falling asleep in class and getting detention, Greg is "totally jittery from [his] sugar withdrawal" and digs up the time capsule to buy candy from the convenience store. He serves detention and is sat in front of a bully named [[Leon Ricket]], who starts bothering Greg. Greg gets Leon in trouble when he claps loudly and shouts while the detention supervisor, [[Mr. Ray]], has his back turned.
After falling asleep in class for a second time in [[Mr. Watson]]´s class, he is forced to sit in the front of the room as punishment, but Greg falls asleep again and doesn´t wake up until the next period. The teacher,[[Mrs. Lowry]] who is teaching the period, then tells Greg to go to his next class and assigns Greg detention. Greg is "totally jittery from [his] sugar withdrawal" and digs up the time capsule to buy candy from the convenience store. He refuses to serve detention because he thinks it´s not his fault that he fell asleep in class and instead plays video games instead. Then Greg decides to find out who is stealing his snacks and hides in a laundry basket. He falls asleep, but then wakes up and catches Frank eating. The next day, Frank is invited to [[Seth Snella]]'s half-birthday party in June, which he dreads due to a tradition in which the adults attempt to make the baby laugh. Meanwhile, Greg looks for clean clothes to wear and is required to make and give valentines in preparation for the Valentine's Day Dance; he writes insulting notes on each of them, including one for himself so the teacher does not get suspicious. At the dance, Greg walks to [[Holly Hills]] and is interrupted by [[Fregley]], then gets a valentine from Rowley.


----
In March, Manny is upset when Frank throws away Tingy, using Frank's Civil War Battlefield as a playset and calling Greg "Ploopy." On Easter, the Heffleys go to [[Church]], and Greg's pants are stained when he sits on Manny's chocolate Easter bunny. Susan gives him her Easter sweater to wear around his pants, and they sit next to [[Uncle Joe]] and three rows ahead of Holly. Greg is bored and whispers "Ploopy" to Manny, causing him to start crying, and they leave Church early.


Greg still wants to catch whoever is stealing snacks from the grocery bin, so he comes up with a plan: he hides in a laundry basket to catch whoever's stealing the food in the act, knowing that Susan, who usually does the grocery shopping, puts all the lunch snacks in a bin in the laundry room. Greg ends up falling asleep during the watch, but when he hears someone going through the food, he turns on his flashlight and the thief turns out to be none other than Greg's dad, Frank. As Greg's about to start chewing out his dad for stealing food from the bin, they hear Susan coming, and knowing what would happen, Frank and Greg take as many oatmeal creams as they can and made a run for it.
Susan bans the word "Ploopy," and Frank signs Greg up for a soccer team. When Greg and his teammates have to choose a name, Greg suggests "[[Twisted Wizard]]s," while the others settle on Red Sox, and finally Red Socks. Greg gets in trouble when he plays a joke on his coach, [[Mr. Litch]]. He asks Frank to take him out of soccer, but he refuses. Greg chooses to learn how to do his laundry soon, being almost out of clean clothes to wear, and is invited to a sleepover with Rowley and his karate friends on [[Pleasant Street]]. He remembers that Holly is having a sleepover then, and that she lives in the same neighborhood, and accepts.


The next day, Greg's still mad at his dad for what he did, and plans on confronting him, but doesn't get a chance, as [[Frank Heffley|Frank]] gets in bed by 6:00 PM. The reason Frank went to bed so early was because he got depressed after running into [[Mr. Snella]] and [[Mrs. Snella]] and their new baby, [[Seth Snella]], who's two months old (he was born in December). Greg explains that every time the Snellas have a baby, they throw a big half-birthday party for them six months later, and invite all the neighbors to the party. Greg claims that the "highlight" of every Snella half-birthday party is when all the adults line up and try to make the baby laugh while Mr. Snella videotapes them. Greg, who says he's been to every Snella half-birthday so far, claims that no baby-Snella has ever actually laughed and goes on to explain that the real reason Mr. and Mrs. Snella have that at the parties is because their dream is to win the grand prize on a TV-show called "[[America's Funniest Families]]". Greg also explains that Frank hates performing in front of people, and so far, he's been able to get out of having to attend the half-birthday parties thrown for the Snella children. However, Susan tells Frank that he has to attend Seth Snella's half-birthday party in June, and Frank realizes that he can't weasel his way out of this party.
Before attending the party, Greg is assigned the role of "Shag" on his soccer team, being the person who retrieves the ball if it goes out of bounds. Greg does not enjoy the sleepover, annoyed by the "dopey party games" and being unable to fall asleep. He gets in trouble again after a soccer game, when the team has to go out to celebrate their win.


The [[Valentine's Day Dance]] was announced so Greg went to his laundry and looked for clothes, he found an okay shirt and even though it had a jam stain on it, he still wore it. The dance starts at one in the afternoon---Greg explains that the dance was supposed to be held at night, but the school apparently couldn't get enough parents to chaperone the dance, and also explains that whoever didn't want to pay $2 for admission to the dance had to go down to "study hall" (which Greg explains was basically like detention). Initially, when the dance started, all the boys sat on one side of the gym and the girls sat on the other, and when no one went on to the dance floor, the principal, [[Mrs. Mancy]], then said that everyone had to start dancing, as it would count for part of their PE-grade. This scares Greg, who claims to be really close to flunking his gym class, so Greg comes up with the simplest move that he can think of that would technically qualify as "dancing." While "dancing," Greg notices [[Holly Hills|Holly]] and her friends dancing in a big group, and tries going over to then. Just as Greg's about to say something to Holly when she goes over to the refreshment table, [[Fregley]] pops out of nowhere, with pink frosting all over his face (Greg says [[Fregley]] might've been hyped on all the sugar from the cupcakes that were at the snack table), messing up Greg's chance to talk to Holly. Greg walks home, wanting to be by himself, but after dinner, his mom tells him that there's a Valentine's Day card for him in the mailbox. At first, Greg's hoping it's from Holly or one of the other girls at school he claims to "kind of like," but it turns out to be from Rowley instead.
On April Fool's Day, Greg talks about some pranks he and Rodrick have played. When an adult volunteers to be the shag, Greg sits on the bench for the entire game. At school, he wears his Speedo as underwear, and is reminded of the [[Wonder Woman Underoos]] that [[Uncle Charlie]] gave him. When everyone is now forced to play soccer, Greg applies to be the assistant goalie, and enjoys not having to play until the regular goalie is injured. He gets distracted and causes his team to lose the game.


===March===
Frank takes Greg and Rodrick to see a movie, and the usher is Lenwood Heath, who is now more well-behaved after attending [[Spag Union]] Military Academy. Frank plans to send Greg to Spag Union, and Greg is worried about having no summer vacation, being bullied by older students, and the showers out in the open. He joins the [[Boy Scouts]] in [[Troop 133]] to convince Frank that he does not need military training. He convinces Rowley to join, and they earn their Whittling badges, molding with soap bars instead of wood.


Greg then talks about how his brother started calling him "Ploopy" every time and his mother just lets him say it. It was Easter and when they were going to church Greg's pants had chocolate over them, he wasn't going in, his mom made him wear her sweater like a kilt, during the basket handing, Greg put some money in the basket to make Holly think he is generous, but he realized he had put a twenty dollar note. Greg spotted his brother, Manny playing with his toys and called him Ploopy, Manny started to cry and kept crying, and the family couldn't stop him so they had to go away and everyone was watching them. Susan banned everyone from saying Ploopy after that. Frank made Rodrick enroll in an SAT Class and Greg sign up for Rec League Soccer, Greg got ranked Pre-Alpha Minus (Which he assumes is another phrase for "You Stink). They named themselves the [[Red Socks]].
In May, Greg wants to take Frank on Troop 133's father-son campout, but gets sick. Frank still attends, due to signing up as a driver, and ends up with [[Marcus Woodley]] and [[Darren Woodley]], who are sent to the emergency room. Greg then offers a do-over camping trip of him and Frank, but Susan makes Rodrick join them. They end up going to a hotel room when heavy rainfall starts. Rodrick lies to Greg that Holly is staying with them, and pushes him out the door. Greg finds Frank after waiting between the vending machines.


[[Greg Heffley|Greg]] says how he is looking for fresh clothes and how his underwear plopped out in the hall-way. Greg heard Holly is having a sleep-over and Rowley had invited him to join a kid from his karate class who lives in the same neighborhood's sleepover,Greg agreed thinking he would go and crash Holly's sleepover. Greg got the position "Shag" in the soccer team. Greg went to Rowley's friend's sleepover and there weren't any kids older than six and Greg was getting bored, so Greg went up to the room and slept there,but the kids came there and had a pillow fight, so he went down and slept in the basement and Greg had forgot his sleeping bag upstairs so he had to sleep on the cold floor.
Greg gives up on trying to impress Frank and accepts going to Spag Union, but hopes that he can get Holly as his girlfriend before then. He speaks to her at Church, and then tries calling her, only for Rodrick to steal all the house phones. Greg uses the phone in Frank's room and hides, slowly crawling out of the room, until both he and Frank are startled when the phone rings. Greg finally brings the phone to his own room and calls Holly, and Susan picks up and talks to Holly's mother over the phone.


===April===
Greg hears about Holly going to a roller rink and meets her there. He wears his backup glasses, because he lost his contact lenses, and is unable to skate. When he gets to Holly, she confuses him for Fregley, and Greg writes, "I'm officially DONE with girls."
It was April Fool's Day and [[Greg Heffley|Greg]] says how he and some kids played a joke which was to make [[Chirag Gupta]] think he lost his hearing, but Chirag reported it to the vice-principal and shut down the joke. Greg was having his second soccer game, but they had volunteered an adult to fetch the ball, so Greg was sitting on the bench and his father wouldn't even let him get his winter coat because he had to be "prepared" in case he was called out. Greg says how he has been out of clean underwear and has been wearing a speedo underneath and he got some Wonder Woman Underoos from his [[Uncle Charlie]], because Greg liked comics and superheroes so Charlie gave those to Greg for Christmas. Greg, Mackey and Manuel agreed to bring some video games, but they were called on the action to block a free-kick, but they couldn't and the coach, [[Mr. Litch]] yelled at them. Greg became the substitute goalie and he didn't get a game, but he did get a game when the normal goalie was injured. But when the mid-fielder of the opponent team kicked a ball from fifty-yards, Greg was busy playing with some flowers and he missed seeing the ball and the other team scored and ended Greg's team's undefeated season bid.


Frank took Greg and Rodrick to the theater, the usher was [[Lenwood Heath]] and he had a crew cut and looked like he had graduated from the air force, when really it was a Military Academy, Frank seemed impressed with his look and had a conversation with him and made friends with him to the surprise of Greg, then Frank told Greg after the movie was over that he was signing him to Spag Union too on 7 June. Greg thought of joining the Boy Scouts so his father won't take him to [[Spag Union]] and he could quit soccer. Greg got signed to Troop 133 which has things like hot-dog roasts and pool parties much of the time, Rowley also signed with Greg and they both were given their uniforms.They went to whittling, but Rowley got a splinter so they complained and then the scoutmaster, [[Mr. Barrett]], told them they could whittle with the soap and they easily passed that.
In June, Greg is worried about Spag Union on the last day of school. He gets his yearbook signed by various people, including Holly, and is glad she wrote his real name and now knows who he is. The day after, he attends the Snellas' half birthday party, and Frank asks him a favor to get out of embarrassing himself in front of the baby. Greg is worried when he sees Manny digging through the presents and finding a blanket that looks like Tingy. He starts telling Manny that it is not for him, and Manny throws the blanket away, landing on a tree. Greg climbs the tree to get the blanket, and his pants fall down, exposing his Wonder Woman Underoos. Frank believes that Greg did this to have him from humiliation and congratulates him.


===May===
The next day, Greg sees that Frank has changed his mind about Spag Union. He and Rowley meet a girl named [[Trista]], and Greg plans to bring her to the country club because Rowley's family has a membership. The book finishes with Greg writing, "And I know it's really corny to end on a happy ending, but it looks like I'm out of paper anyway, so I guess this is THE END."
[[Mr. Barrett]] announced a father-son campout, Frank agreed to go with Greg, but Greg was sick so he couldn't go, but Frank had to go because signed up as a driver. At around 10 PM Frank called and told them he got put in the tent with Woodley brothers as their father couldn't come, Darren and Marcus were horsing around, and then Darren threw a football at Marcus and it hit him in his stomach and he fell down and wet his pants, Darren laughed, Marcus got angry so he bit Darren and wasn't letting him go. So Frank had to take Darren to the emergency room.
 
It was Mother's Day and Frank was angry about the father-son campout and was not looking to do any favors for Greg, so Greg ended up writing "and Greg" on Manny's gift which was a card. Greg asked Frank if he would go with him for a camping trip. Frank was okay with it. Susan was impressed and said Rodrick should also 
 
go because it will be a great bounding for them, which worries Greg as Rodrick had put hair in Greg's bed after Greg had photographed Rodrick getting his hair cut in a faded maternity dress. Greg, Rodrick, and Frank went to the campside, it was raining six inches so they went to a hotel. When it was time to sleep, Frank went to the front-desk to complain about the heater, Rodrick told Greg that the Hills family was staying a room in front of them, Greg fell for it and Rodrick shoved him out of the door and locked it. Greg was stuck in his underwear, so he went off to the vending machines to find his Dad and he did find his Dad but Frank looked a little angry with him.
 
At church Greg's family got seated two rows ahead of Hills family in hand-shaking movement, Greg shook hands with Holly and when they went home he was about to call her, but Rodrick figured he was calling a girl so he took all handset phones and hid them, Greg told Susan and she made Rodrick return them all. Greg went to his parent's room and when he was dialing Holly's number his Dad walked in and started reading a book, so Greg hid under a duvet. Just then the phone rang and scared his dad, Frank angrily sent Greg to his room. Greg called her number again but his mother called Greg's number to see if he was calling anyone, Mrs Hills answered the phone, then she and his mother started talking. Holly was going to the Roll-A-Round so Greg asked his mother if she can drop Greg there, but Susan said she can drop him off but somebody else's parents were going to pick him up so he asked Rowley to come, Greg lost his contact lens so he had to wear his three-inches wide back-up glasses. At the Roll-A-Round, Greg was having trouble skating and when the DJ announced Couple Skates, all of Holly's friends paired up, so Greg went to Holly to ask her, but then she said "Isn't your name Fregley?". This upset Greg and Greg told her he was Greg Heffley, but by the time her friends came and took her, Greg also lost interest in her and went to the arcade and didn't move from there.
 
===June===
It was the last day of school, Holly signed Greg's yearbook and said that he is OK and she will keep in touch with him, and she also wrote in Rowley's yearbook that he is cute and hoped for them to be friends one day, and as a result Greg thought it made his letter look lame. It was Greg's only day of summer holiday (or so he thought) and he had to spend it at Seth's half-birthday, they also had live-music, [[Löded Diper|Loded Diper]] wanted to get hired but they turned them down and they even had a clown making balloon objects for little kids. Everybody ate lunch and then went to make the baby laugh, Greg was going to eat some cupcakes, his father stopped him and told him if he could find anyway to get him out of it, but Greg was letting him do it because he was planning on sending him to a military school.
 
But he didn't wanted to see him acting stupid in front of many people, so he was going home, he spotted Manny fishing around [[Seth Snella]]'s presents and he found the one from the Heffleys and Manny found himself a blue knit blanket which he thought was another tingy, Greg was making him hand it over, but Manny threw it before Greg could take it and it landed on the branch of a tree. Greg climbed the tree, but he was wearing Rodrick's trousers and they were too big for him and they went down and he yelled for help and Greg was also wearing his Wonder-Woman Underoos and Mr. Snella taped it all, then Frank rescued Greg and thought he did it to save him.
 
The next morning, Greg was suprised that he woke up 3 hours after Frank was sopposed to send him to spag union. Greg want downstairs and found Frank, who was not dressed yet. Frank explained to Greg that he rethinked shipping him to spag union, which made Greg happy. He walked to Rowley's house before Frank could change his mind. They played twisted wizard 2 until they got kicked out, and then they got some popsicles and sat on the curb. And then a girl named [[Trista]] walked over to introduce herself, and then Greg thought about inviting her to a country club the jeffersons belong to. At the end, Greg said that he was running out of paper, so he just wrote "THE END" in large bold letters. And that was the end of the book.
 
==Trivia==
*The Last Straw and [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days|Dog Days]] were mashed together in [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (film)|the third film]], similar to how [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules|Rodrick Rules]] and The Last Straw were mashed together in the [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)|second film]].
*If you study the illustrations on the introduction in [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (film)|the third film]], you'd notice that it's full of animated illustrations from The Last Straw. There are no animated illustrations from [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days|Dog Days]] itself.
*This book has 6 months, making it the 2nd longest one, behind [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]] by 4 months.
*This is one of two books where swear words are turned into symbols, the other being [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul|The Long Haul]].
*This book revealed that [[Greg Heffley|Greg]] has eye contacts due to extreme nearsightedness.
*This is the first book in which [[Greg Heffley|Greg]] does not mention his [[Diary]].
*This is the first book with the color green. [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck|Hard Luck]] was the second.


==Errors==
==Errors==
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<gallery>
<gallery>
Book 3 back cover.jpg|The back cover
Book 3 back cover.jpg|The back cover
diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-the-last-straw-4.jpg
Z0093 image 148x230.jpg|Alternate cover
A1YfYpPRvIL.jpg
Z0093_image_148x230.jpg
A1ZB+BpEcWL.jpg|The Large Print version.
</gallery>
</gallery>


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[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid series]]
[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid series]]
[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw]]
[[Category:Jeff Kinney]]
[[Category:Real Life Books]]
[[Category:Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series)]]
[[Category:Reading Material]]
[[Category:Greg Heffley]]
[[Category:Rowley Jefferson]]

Revision as of 19:17, 27 March 2021

Template:Book infobox Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is the 3rd book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It was released on January 13, 2009, and was partly adapted into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days film, which premiered on August 3, 2012. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw succeeds Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and precedes Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

Major characters

Plot

The book starts on New Year's Day, and Greg Heffley writes about his family and their New Year's resolutions. His father, Frank, is "SUPER cranky" due to not eating chocolate, waking Greg up early. Greg wears his mother's bathrobe in the morning and wishes that he would have got his own for Christmas, having received a Laundry Hoop, which he considers to be a chore and extra responsibility.

Greg and Rowley read that their bus route has been rezoned and that they must walk to school. Greg then writes that Frank "scored a pretty big victory" when his arch-enemy, a bad teenager named Lenwood Heath, was sent to military academy. He then discusses Manny and the books his mother, Susan, reads to him at bed time; he thinks they are easy to write and make a lot of money, so he makes his own entitled Wise Up, Mr. Shropsharp!

Frank disapproves of Greg's laziness when he tries to use the Force to levitate the TV remote and sends him outside. Greg remembers a story by Albert Sandy about someone who jumped in a hole for days so he could jump higher, and considers doing it to evade bullies. Susan stops him, so he goes up to Rowley's house, passing Fregley on the way. When the cold weather prevents them from digging very deep, Greg changes his mind and buries a time capsule instead.

Greg notices that the bathrobe is gone and suspects Frank of taking it; he also writes that Frank threw away Manny's pacifiers, and that Manny was calmed down with Tingy, a blanket he got for his first birthday. Greg and Rowley are tired of walking to school and get a ride from Susan, who embarrasses Greg in front of Holly Hills, a girl Greg has been trying to make a good impression on. Greg then starts walking to school again, getting a piggyback ride from Rowley. He then talks about his love of naps and that he naps as soon as he gets home from school, which he suspects Frank does not approve of, especially when they start having a negative impact on his grades.

One of Greg's teachers, Mrs. Craig, is upset when her dictionary is missing and makes Patty Farrell monitor the class, also keeping them inside for recess. When a few students start interrogating others, Greg and some others asks Alex Aruda for help. After being paid five dollars, Alex reveals that he was reading the dictionary; Corey Lamb puts it back, only to be caught by Mrs. Craig as the "thief," and have to stay inside during recess.

In February, Greg finds that he has no treats in his lunch at school. Susan explains that she always buys enough snacks to last for a week, and Greg suspects that someone is stealing the snacks. He first investigates his older brother Rodrick's room, and hides in a cabinet when Rodrick comes in and starts talking to Ward on the phone. When the phone's battery dies, Greg leaves the room. The next day, Susan is sent Greg's report card, and Greg invites Gramma for dinner, knowing that Frank will not get angry when Gramma is around. He follows Gramma to Bingo, hoping to earn money, only to be "intimidated" by a lady after he announces a win that turns out to be invalid.

After falling asleep in class for a second time in Mr. Watson´s class, he is forced to sit in the front of the room as punishment, but Greg falls asleep again and doesn´t wake up until the next period. The teacher,Mrs. Lowry who is teaching the period, then tells Greg to go to his next class and assigns Greg detention. Greg is "totally jittery from [his] sugar withdrawal" and digs up the time capsule to buy candy from the convenience store. He refuses to serve detention because he thinks it´s not his fault that he fell asleep in class and instead plays video games instead. Then Greg decides to find out who is stealing his snacks and hides in a laundry basket. He falls asleep, but then wakes up and catches Frank eating. The next day, Frank is invited to Seth Snella's half-birthday party in June, which he dreads due to a tradition in which the adults attempt to make the baby laugh. Meanwhile, Greg looks for clean clothes to wear and is required to make and give valentines in preparation for the Valentine's Day Dance; he writes insulting notes on each of them, including one for himself so the teacher does not get suspicious. At the dance, Greg walks to Holly Hills and is interrupted by Fregley, then gets a valentine from Rowley.

In March, Manny is upset when Frank throws away Tingy, using Frank's Civil War Battlefield as a playset and calling Greg "Ploopy." On Easter, the Heffleys go to Church, and Greg's pants are stained when he sits on Manny's chocolate Easter bunny. Susan gives him her Easter sweater to wear around his pants, and they sit next to Uncle Joe and three rows ahead of Holly. Greg is bored and whispers "Ploopy" to Manny, causing him to start crying, and they leave Church early.

Susan bans the word "Ploopy," and Frank signs Greg up for a soccer team. When Greg and his teammates have to choose a name, Greg suggests "Twisted Wizards," while the others settle on Red Sox, and finally Red Socks. Greg gets in trouble when he plays a joke on his coach, Mr. Litch. He asks Frank to take him out of soccer, but he refuses. Greg chooses to learn how to do his laundry soon, being almost out of clean clothes to wear, and is invited to a sleepover with Rowley and his karate friends on Pleasant Street. He remembers that Holly is having a sleepover then, and that she lives in the same neighborhood, and accepts.

Before attending the party, Greg is assigned the role of "Shag" on his soccer team, being the person who retrieves the ball if it goes out of bounds. Greg does not enjoy the sleepover, annoyed by the "dopey party games" and being unable to fall asleep. He gets in trouble again after a soccer game, when the team has to go out to celebrate their win.

On April Fool's Day, Greg talks about some pranks he and Rodrick have played. When an adult volunteers to be the shag, Greg sits on the bench for the entire game. At school, he wears his Speedo as underwear, and is reminded of the Wonder Woman Underoos that Uncle Charlie gave him. When everyone is now forced to play soccer, Greg applies to be the assistant goalie, and enjoys not having to play until the regular goalie is injured. He gets distracted and causes his team to lose the game.

Frank takes Greg and Rodrick to see a movie, and the usher is Lenwood Heath, who is now more well-behaved after attending Spag Union Military Academy. Frank plans to send Greg to Spag Union, and Greg is worried about having no summer vacation, being bullied by older students, and the showers out in the open. He joins the Boy Scouts in Troop 133 to convince Frank that he does not need military training. He convinces Rowley to join, and they earn their Whittling badges, molding with soap bars instead of wood.

In May, Greg wants to take Frank on Troop 133's father-son campout, but gets sick. Frank still attends, due to signing up as a driver, and ends up with Marcus Woodley and Darren Woodley, who are sent to the emergency room. Greg then offers a do-over camping trip of him and Frank, but Susan makes Rodrick join them. They end up going to a hotel room when heavy rainfall starts. Rodrick lies to Greg that Holly is staying with them, and pushes him out the door. Greg finds Frank after waiting between the vending machines.

Greg gives up on trying to impress Frank and accepts going to Spag Union, but hopes that he can get Holly as his girlfriend before then. He speaks to her at Church, and then tries calling her, only for Rodrick to steal all the house phones. Greg uses the phone in Frank's room and hides, slowly crawling out of the room, until both he and Frank are startled when the phone rings. Greg finally brings the phone to his own room and calls Holly, and Susan picks up and talks to Holly's mother over the phone.

Greg hears about Holly going to a roller rink and meets her there. He wears his backup glasses, because he lost his contact lenses, and is unable to skate. When he gets to Holly, she confuses him for Fregley, and Greg writes, "I'm officially DONE with girls."

In June, Greg is worried about Spag Union on the last day of school. He gets his yearbook signed by various people, including Holly, and is glad she wrote his real name and now knows who he is. The day after, he attends the Snellas' half birthday party, and Frank asks him a favor to get out of embarrassing himself in front of the baby. Greg is worried when he sees Manny digging through the presents and finding a blanket that looks like Tingy. He starts telling Manny that it is not for him, and Manny throws the blanket away, landing on a tree. Greg climbs the tree to get the blanket, and his pants fall down, exposing his Wonder Woman Underoos. Frank believes that Greg did this to have him from humiliation and congratulates him.

The next day, Greg sees that Frank has changed his mind about Spag Union. He and Rowley meet a girl named Trista, and Greg plans to bring her to the country club because Rowley's family has a membership. The book finishes with Greg writing, "And I know it's really corny to end on a happy ending, but it looks like I'm out of paper anyway, so I guess this is THE END."

Errors

  • On page 33, a sentence reads, "[...]we're gonna to be in college by the time this hole is ten feet deep." "Gonna to be" should be "gonna be" or "going to be."
  • Susan says, "Right after your polish the silverware!" This error was fixed in later prints of the book, which use the correct word, "you."

Gallery

Illustrations

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese もう、がまんできない!
Mō, gaman dekinai!
I Can Not Do It Anymore!
Spanish !Esto es el colmo! This is the Last Straw!
French Trop c'est trop Enough is Enough
Dutch Bekijk het maar! Screw You!
German Jetzt reicht's! That's Enough!
Italian Ora basta! That's Enough!
Polish Szczyt wszystkiego The Top of Everything
Welsh Syniad Dwl Dad Dad's Stupid Idea