Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down

Illustrator	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Genre	Children's novel Graphic Novel
Publisher	Amulet Books
Publication date	November 1, 2016 (worldwide)
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	217 story pages (224 altogether)
ISBN	978-1-4197-2344-5
Preceded by	Old School

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down is the eleventh book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. The book was unveiled during the 2016 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Virtually Live Event. The book was published on November 1, 2016. The real book trailer was released on October 17, 2016.^[1]

Plot

At the beginning of the book, the protagonist Greg Heffley can be seen talking about how he thinks his life is a reality TV show, and how he thinks his brothers Rodrick, Manny, and all the other people in his life are just actors and robots, similar to the plot of The Truman Show. He later explains how he thinks that Manny was brought in as a new star to replace him. Later, Greg talks about how all of his deceased relatives watch over him in heaven.

After sending him to the book fair with $20, Susan is not happy with the way Greg spent her money and makes him trade it all in for books. Greg decides to get books from a horror series titled Spineticklers, which makes Susan more unhappy. Greg then talks about a plan to cryogenically freeze himself to the future and how Halloween is coming up. He mentions that last year, Mom handed Rodrick $40 to spend on Halloween decorations, but Rodrick blew it all on an electronic plastic witch. If you clap or make a sound, it lets out a bloodcurdling cackle. But the volume is turned up way too high, and there is no way to turn it down, so you have to wait about two minutes for it to go through its whole routine. The day after Halloween, Dad put the witch down in the basement, but it's super sensitive to sound, and sometimes the slightest bit of noise will set it off, even if the noise is on a different floor. To make matters worse, the witch seems to have a mind of its own, and sometimes it'll go off randomly, even if no one makes a peep. Eventually, Mom got sick of the Witch randomly going off all the time, and a few weeks ago she told Dad to go down to the basement and take the batteries out, which he did. And what happened next is the reason Greg hasn't been in the boiler room ever since.

Greg then discusses how the geese are in town and the deals of having a walking pet pig. Then he talks about the school's Balloon Brigade, which is a school contest to see how far a student's balloon can travel, and how the prize is a giant bag of candy corn. The Cheese Touch is also discussed, and how other students keep trying to bring it back in a different form such as a roast beef touch; however, the kids unsuccessfully try to make it work.

Susan gets on Greg's case for not eating fruits that she packed for him. She threatens to not put any snacks in unless he eats a fruit. However, Greg forgets to eat it and lies that a bully took it. He comes up with a false description of the bully; however, on Sunday at church, Susan confronts the kid that matches the description and accused him of stealing fruits. After the kid's family straighten things out, Susan finds out that Greg lied to her and punished him. Also, the kid bullies Greg as retaliation.

Greg discusses how the kid who found his balloon, Maddox Selsam, came over for a playdate. It turns out that Maddox hasn't played video games or watched TV, and goes crazy when Greg pulls up a computer game. After Maddox leaves, Greg realizes that he forgot to get the balloon. Vice Principal Roy refuses to give Greg the candy corn unless he brings his balloon to school. He asks Susan for a playdate with Maddox, to which she and Mrs. Selsam leave Greg and Maddox behind while they go into town and have coffee. Greg is thoroughly disappointed by Maddox's house, as it is very old fashioned and does not have any electronics or any television. It is revealed Maddox has a Lego City set in his room, but only lets Greg use the leftovers. Greg accidentally gets a brick stuck in his arm, which Maddox accuses Greg of stealing, leading to Greg being kicked out. Susan is disappointed and angry at Greg, as he viewed Maddox as an antisocial nerd instead of a good role model (because Maddox only reads books and no television and games this caused Susan to believed that Greg should be like him, but failed). Susan, now going back to college full-time, has a chore bag where Greg and Rodrick pick chores to do. After finishing his chores, Greg goes to eat his giant candy corn that he won but finds that the pig has eaten it. He then starts to get worried, because the pig doesn't look so good. He asks Rodrick for advice, and he says to call Dad. However, Dad is in a meeting. He doesn't want to call Mom, but the pig is turning green, so he calls her anyway. She says to take the Pig to the vet, and that she will meet them half way there. Rodrick isn't too happy that Greg is waking him up for the second time in five minutes, but one look at the pig convinces him they need to get moving. On the way, Greg holds the pig in his arms in the back of Rodrick's van. But halfway to the vet, the Pig starts making weird sounds! Greg tells Rodrick to pull over, but by the time he does it's already too late. Now there is a giant, gooey, orange-and-yellow puddle on the floor of the van. And Greg thinks he'll never be able to look at candy corn the same way again. Rodrick says it's Greg's fault for making the Pig sick, so it's his job to clean it up. Even though the puddle is candy corn, it doesn't smell like it. Greg tries mopping it up while holding his breath, but it's hopeless. Eventually, Greg realises he's gonna be sick himself, but luckily he's able to get out of the van in time. Unfortunately, a lady raking leaves on her front lawn sees the whole thing. She thinks this is some kind of juvenile prank, and says she's calling the cops! Greg gets back in the van, and they peel out of there as fast as they can, but they don't get far. Greg explains everything to the police officer, who doesn't seem to want to hear all the details.Just after the cop drives away, Mom spots Rodrick's van and pulls in behind them. Greg guesses the Pig hasn't totally emptied out yet, because it coughs up one last puddle of candy corn. Later, Susan has a talk with Greg about his "pattern of deception" and punishes him by making him take three chores out of the chore bag each night. She keeps putting the pressure on Greg to do something new other than video games while also introducing him to college.

Greg later joins the school band in order to get invited to Mariana Mendoza's Halloween party. He practices the French Horn but doesn't know how to get a sound out of it, which is most likely the reason why he hates it and wants to quit, angering Frank who tells Greg that he can't because that was an expensive instrument and he has to honor his commitment to the instrument. Greg, Rowley, and Susan go to the party, and Greg is later harassed at school about it for leaving early. At the Fall Band Concert, Greg and Rowley get stuck and hide in the music room because the kids dislike and hold a grudge against Greg, causing a huge dilemma that causes the concert to be abruptly canceled. Frank catches them, but Greg explains to him a million times that he had a hole in his pants, but his dad doesn't want to hear it, so he punishes Greg by taking away TV and video games for 2 weeks.

Greg and Rowley later find a pack of gummy worms and Greg gets the idea for a scary movie. The plot would be about a man who goes to take a shower, only to end up being eaten alive by worms. He and Rowley, while filming it with Susan and Frank's camcorder, get surrounded by geese. Greg knows Rodrick has an awful wolf mask, which Greg thinks he can use to scare the geese away. Greg and Rowley run down to the basement to get it, but it's a two-man job because the Halloween costumes are on the fourth shelf. Greg gets on Rowley's shoulders and reaches for the box, but when he does he knocks a snow globe off the shelf. And when this happens the Witch goes off! Greg grabs on to the shelf, and the whole storage unit comes crashing down!

Rowley runs out of the house and climbs the big tree at the side of the house with barely any clothes just as Frank gets home, and a news crew captures the whole moment. Frank gets mad at Greg for making the mess, and Susan later gets mad at well, because Greg and Rowley filmed right over a tape of Manny's first steps. Greg is additionally grounded for two more weeks, as well as having to clean up the mess and do extra chores. Rowley, on the other hand, drinks in his newfound fame and skips school to attend on-TV interviews with talk shows, much to Greg's dismay that Rowley doesn't mention Greg at all.

References