Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

US cover
Author	Jeff Kinney
Illustrator	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Genre	Comedy
Publisher	Amulet Books
Publication date	January 13, 2009
Pages	217
ISBN	978-0-8109-7068-7
Preceded by	Rodrick Rules
Followed by	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.^[1] This book was released in the US on January 13, 2009.

Plot

The book starts on January 1 with Greg talking about his family's New Years resolutions. Life becomes more difficult for Greg and Rowley when their school bus is "rezoned" to the Whirley Street neighborhood and they have to walk to and from school. He also talks about how his dad, Frank, compares him unfavorably to his boss's sons, who are very athletic. Frank is deeply jealous of his boss's sons and wishes his sons were like them. They have conflicts over Greg wanting to stay inside and watch TV on Saturdays and Frank stealing his school snacks. Eventually Frank makes him sign up for rec league soccer after a mess that happened at church on Easter. At first, he rides the bench, but becomes the starting goalie when the other goalie is injured. He allows a goal to ruin his team's perfect season because he took a break to pick dandelions on the field.

After this, Frank runs into a neighborhood troublemaker named Lenwood who has apparently reformed after going to military school. Impressed with his former enemy's turnaround, he signs up Greg for a summer military school program at a place called Spag Union, hoping Greg will change for the better. To impress his dad and thereby avoid military school, Greg decides to join the Boy Scouts. However, he is sick and misses their camping trip, which Frank has to go to anyway (he's a chaperone) and has a terrible time. Later, when Greg, Frank, and Rodrick have a camping "do-over", they end up at a hotel, where Rodrick locks Greg out of his father's room in his underwear.

After this, Greg becomes more resigned to his military school fate, especially after his attempts to make a good impression on a girl in his class. But on what he thinks is his only day of summer vacation, Greg ends up saving Frank from making a fool of himself at their neighbor's birthday party. The next day, his dad decides Greg doesn't have to go to military school after all, and the book ends with Greg looking forward to his summer vacation.

Adaptations

On August 3, 2012, a film based on this book and the fourth book, Dog Days, was released; the movie starred Zachary Gordon, Steve Zahn, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris, Peyton List, Grayson Russell and Karan Brar. Principal photography began on August 8, 2011 in Vancouver and was completed on October 7, 2011.^[2] A poster was leaked in March 2012. A teaser trailer was attached to The Three Stooges.^[3] An advance screening for the film was held on July 31, 2012.^[4]

References