50 Fun Facts About Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Which of these authors created Diary of a Wimpy Kid?

He spent eight years working on the first book before showing it to a publisher, and also created the online game Poptropica.

What is the name of Greg's overbearing mother, who gives him the diary?

He insists it is a journal, not a diary; his mother Susan bought it for him.

On which website did Diary of a Wimpy Kid first appear, as daily online entries in 2004-05?

It had been read nearly 20 million times by 2009 before readers asked for a printed version.

At which 2006 event did Kinney sign the multi-book deal that turned the web version into a print series?

The deal came in February 2006; the first hardcover arrived on 1 April 2007.

What is the name of Greg's best friend?

Greg calls him immature, but Rowley got his own spin-off series starting in 2019.

What is the schoolyard curse in the first book, caught by touching a mouldy slice on the court?

You are shunned until you pass it on; at the book's climax Rowley ends up eating the cheese while Greg fakes a dairy allergy.

What is the name of Greg's teenage brother, who plays drums in a heavy-metal band?

His band is Löded Diper, spelled deliberately wrong.

What is the name of the older Heffley brother's band?

In Rodrick Rules he plays the school talent show hoping to send the tape to record labels and drop out of school.

What is the name of Greg's spoiled toddler brother?

Greg's parents are Frank and Susan; in the 2010 film Manny was played by twins Connor and Owen Fielding.

What comic strip do Greg and his best friend create for the school newspaper in the first book?

Rowley gets the credit and the fame, and insists it was his idea all along.

In the first book Greg auditions for the school's Wizard of Oz play. What part does he get?

Patty Farrell, who got him in trouble over a geography test, is cast as Dorothy; Greg is too nervous to sing.

Which student organisation does Greg join in the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, only to be thrown out?

Rowley was wrongly suspended for it first, then reinstated and promoted.

What is the name of the school Greg attends?

The school is never given a state; Kinney has said the setting is deliberately vague.

What is the name of the reward system Susan invents in the second book to get her sons to behave?

Greg later finds Rowley has identical play money and stashes it under his mattress.

Where does Greg's big brother lock him while throwing a secret party in the second book?

The party is exposed weeks later by a photo, and Greg is punished as an 'accomplice'.

In the third book, Frank threatens to send Greg to which military academy for the summer?

A reformed neighbourhood troublemaker, Lenwood Heath, had gone there; Frank relents after Greg saves him from embarrassment.

Which popular girl does Greg try to impress in the third book?

He decides she is not worth his time; the book was released in January 2009.

Which November 2011 book, the year's fastest-selling, traps the Heffleys at home in a blizzard?

Greg thinks the police note on the door is about his holiday bazaar posters; the power cut floods the basement.

In Hard Luck, Greg starts making all his decisions using what?

He finds it under Rodrick's bed on Easter, after Rowley ditches him for a girlfriend named Abigail.

Which relative's fourth wedding forces Greg to miss a popular kid's party in the fifth book?

Gary later moves in with the Heffleys in The Third Wheel after being scammed in Boston.

Which deranged farmer is the subject of campfire rumours in Old School?

The book's black cover was chosen because Kinney felt black was a cartoon colour they had not used; Susan's petition tries to ban electronics for a weekend.

What kind of film do Greg and his best friend try to make with gummy worms in Double Down?

'Night of the Night Crawlers' began when Greg needed to explain a melted chocolate-chip mess; the book sold over 1.1 million print copies in 2016.

In The Getaway, the Heffleys skip Christmas to fly to which resort, where Frank and Susan honeymooned?

They claim the wrong suitcase, get scared by an iguana and find the fun activities are now adults-only.

The Meltdown, published in 2018, centres on a neighbourhood war fought with what?

The 2018 book opens on a hot January day with Greg worrying about climate change.

In Wrecking Ball, whose death leaves the inheritance Susan spends on expanding the kitchen?

The renovation exposes wasps and mice and nearly makes the family move house.

Which team sport does Greg reluctantly sign up for in Big Shot?

Sports Day is a disaster first: teachers trade students and the lunch staff win a Friday off.

In No Brainer, plummeting test scores lead the superintendent to bring which retired principal back?

He cuts classes and founds the High Flyers Club; the book is the 18th in the series.

How many main Diary of a Wimpy Kid books had been published by October 2025?

Roughly one a year since 2007; the twentieth, Partypooper, arrived in October 2025, alongside an activity book and three Rowley spin-offs.

Roughly how many copies had the series sold worldwide as of 2020?

It has been translated into 56 languages and sat on the New York Times series list for over 800 weeks.

Who played Greg in the 2010 live-action film and its first two sequels?

Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris filled out the family and friends; a future star played a new character, Angie.

Which 2012 live-action film blended two books into one story, to keep pace with the ageing cast?

It was billed as the last live-action film until The Long Haul revived the idea with a new cast in 2017.

Which 2017 film recast the whole Heffley family and sparked the #NotMyRodrick backlash?

Charlie Wright bore the brunt for not resembling Devon Bostick; Jason Drucker played Greg and Alicia Silverstone was Susan.

In the 2017 road-trip film, what humiliating internet nickname does Greg pick up at Corny's restaurant?

The family road trip is to Meemaw's 90th birthday; Manny wins a piglet at a fair on the way.

Which streaming service released the animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid reboot on 3 December 2021?

Kinney wrote the screenplay himself; Brady Noon voiced Greg and animated sequels followed each December.

Which book was adapted as the third animated film, subtitled 'Christmas', in December 2023?

An animated The Last Straw followed in December 2025.

Which kid-friendly online adventure game by the author features Wimpy Wonderland and Wimpy Boardwalk islands?

Developed for Pearson in 2007, it had over 75 million registered users by 2012 and made Time's list of 50 websites that make the web great.

In which state was the author born and raised?

He grew up in Fort Washington outside Washington, D.C. and drew the strip Igdoof for the University of Maryland's Diamondback newspaper.

What bookstore and café did the author and his wife open in Plainville, Massachusetts in 2015?

Kinney is a vocal advocate for reading as an alternative to screen time.

What was the name of Kinney's college comic strip in his university's student paper, The Diamondback?

His failure to become a syndicated newspaper cartoonist afterwards led him to invent Greg Heffley in 1998.

In what year did Kinney first conceive his middle-school weakling hero?

He then spent nearly eight years on the first book before it went online.

Which magazine named Kinney one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2009?

By then the online version had 20 million reads and the books were topping bestseller lists.

What is the title of the first spin-off book told by Greg's best friend, released in April 2019?

Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure and Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories followed.

Kinney says Greg is meant to be what kind of character, rather than a sociopath?

He never intended to write for children, which is why Greg is allowed to be flawed.

What is the name of the weird kid at Greg's school with a secret 'freckle' and questionable hygiene?

Grayson Russell played him in the 2010 film; in Hard Luck he is voted Most Popular.

Which pen name-style joke runs through the series: Greg insists his diary is really a what?

His mother bought the diary; Greg worries about what people will think if they see it.

On what date was the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid hardcover published?

Rodrick Rules came in February 2008 and the first film in March 2010.

Which actress played new character Angie in the 2010 film?

Angie does not exist in the books; Kinney dedicated Old School to stars Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron.

The 2017 film's road trip is to celebrate whose 90th birthday?

Greg ends up launched over her garden wall in a boat.

Into roughly how many languages has the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series been translated?

The books have appeared in 65 editions worldwide and generated more than $500 million in revenue.

Which publisher signed the 2006 multi-book deal that turned the web series into print?

The deal was signed in February 2006; the first hardcover followed in April 2007.