Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
U.S. cover
Author(s)	Jeff Kinney
Illustrator	Jeff Kinney
Cover artist	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Genre(s)	Comedy
Publisher	Amulet Books
Publication date	January 13, 2009[1]
Media type	Print (Hardcover, paperback)
Pages	217
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-81dfdfdfdsdfd09-7068-7
Preceded by	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Followed by	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is a novel written by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney, the third book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The book acts as a journal and follows the adventures of Greg Heffley, the narrator of the book, who is in the second half of his seventh grade year.^[2] The title comes from the threat of military school to toughen Greg up. This book was released on January 13, 2009 in the USA.

Plot summary

As a continuation of the second book, this novel rounds out the second semester of Greg's seventh grade school year.

The book starts with Greg's New Year's Day. The follow-up is Greg's Christmas, which is similar to Christmas in the first book. Greg gets nothing he likes from anyone. Uncle Charlie gives Greg a "laundry hoop" and Greg's mother, inspired, starts making Greg do his own laundry. Due to Greg's laziness, he does not do his laundry and does not plan to either. This plays a significant role later in the story.^[2]

Mentioned early in the story, Greg's father is becoming tired with Greg's "wimpy" ways. Also, the "worst teenager on our street", Lenwood Heath gets shipped out to military school, sparking an idea in Frank's head that plays a huge role in the story. Later, the Heffleys see Lenwood at a ticket booth with a crew cut, proper and incredibly polite. This causes Frank to decide to enroll Greg into military school, Spag Union, which takes place during Greg's summer vacation. Greg tries in vain to change his father's mind, such as doing activities such as soccer and Boy Scouts. However, they do not work. Therefore, Greg tries to impress Holly again, but it does not work at all. Finally, he settles for the sad fact he has to settle for Spag Union. But his summer won't be bad if he took some memories with him.^[2]

One day, his dad finds Manny's old blanket, Tingy, and throws it away. Manny gets revenge when he uses his dad's Civil War battlefield as a play set. Then Manny walks up to Greg and says "Ploopy!" Greg doesn't know what it means, so he asks his mom, but she's talking on the phone. She says, "What is a ploopy?!" which was the exact thing Greg wanted to know. Then Manny starts calling Greg "ploopy" to get whatever he wants.^[2]

On Easter Sunday, Greg gets in the car, accidentally sitting on Manny's chocolate Easter bunny. He gets out of the car with chocolate on the back of his pants. His Mom then says that the family cannot skip church. When Rodrick takes off his pants and says "He can wear MY pants," Mom gives Greg her Easter Jacket to tie around his waist. During Easter church service, he looks at Manny, who is playing with the things Mom and Dad brought to entertain him, and then thinks about the day when Manny threw a fit at daycare when his mom cut his sandwich in half, not in quarters the way he likes it. Mom had to drive all the way there to make the extra slice. Then he whispers in Manny's ear, "Ploopy!" Manny starts crying and Mom can't calm him down, so they have to go home.^[2]

Also mentioned earlier in the story, the Heffley's neighbors, the Snellas, are having a half-birthday for their youngest child Seth. During the party, the adults in the neighborhood have to perform silly acts and Mr. Snella sends the videotapes to America's Funniest Families, a spoof of America's Funniest Home Videos, to win the $10,000 grand prize. It is revealed that Frank hates the performing and will do anything to get out of it. On the day of the party, Manny throws Seth's present into a tree because he knows that Greg would snatch it away. It is a blue knit blanket, like Tingy in it's early stages. When Greg goes and retrieves it, his pants, borrowed from Rodrick, fall down revealing Wonder Woman underwear, which he wore because it was one of the only clean undergarments he has left. Frank, who happens to be next in line to perform gets away as Mr. Snella points his camera to an embarrassed Greg. He repays Greg the next morning by not sending him to military academy, suggesting there are other ways that Greg can stay fit. While Greg enjoys his morning he goes to see Rowley and tells him he didn't have to go to Spag Union after all. Rowley had no idea Greg might have been sent away.^[2]

The story ends abruptly as Rowley and Greg are sitting on the curb and meet a girl named Trista. Greg thinks Trista is cute and imagines that she and himself are in Rowley's country club in swimsuits with Rowley serving them drinks.^[2]

Film

Main article: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (film)

There has been rumors that a third film would come out in 2012, and Devon Bostick (Rodrick) states that he is "90% sure it will happen". It was 100% when Zachary Gordon (Greg) said on his Facebook page that the movie is currently filming in August 2011,.^[3] rumors said that the film would contain most scenes from The Last Straw and a little from Dog Days. Producers and writers are also planning on writing the script and they claimed they needed a casting for Alex Aruda who is rumored that he would be in the next film. Like the second film, it will once again be directed by David Bowers. It started filming as of August 9, 2011. Gordon announced that the film's title was changed to Dog Days.

References

1. ^ Jeff Kinney (May 6, 2008). "Book 3 Has a Cover!". http://gregheffley.blogspot.com/2008/05/book-3-has-cover.html. Retrieved August 7, 2008. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series). Amulet Books. 
3. ^ Perri, Nemiroff (March 17, 2011). "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 3 Is Already In The Works". CinemaBlend. http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Diary-Of-A-Wimpy-Kid-3-Is-Already-In-The-Works-23734.html. Retrieved March 24, 2011. 

Notes

• On the "About the Author" page, it is stated that Kinney is the creator of the multiplayer online game Poptropica.