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.
This book was released in the US on January 13, 2009. An animated film based on the book is in the works for Disney+.
Plot:
The book begins on January 1, with Greg talking about his family's New Year's resolutions.
Life becomes more difficult for Greg and his best friend Rowley when their school bus route is "rezoned" to the Whirley Street neighborhood, so they have to walk over a quarter of a mile to get to and from school.
Greg also deals with being compared to his father Frank's boss's sons, who all play sports and always seem to be outside exercising; Frank is jealous of this.
After conflicts over Greg wanting to stay inside and watch TV on Saturdays and Frank stealing his school snacks, Frank makes him sign up for intramural soccer after an incident at church on Easter.
At first, Greg rides the bench but becomes the starting goalie when the main goalie is injured.
He takes a break to pick dandelions on the field, which ultimately costs his team the game.
Frank is embarrassed by this when his boss shows it to him in the paper.
After this, Frank runs into a neighborhood troublemaker named Lenwood Heath, who has apparently reformed after going to military school.
Impressed with his former enemy's turnaround, Frank decides to sign Greg up for a summer program at Spag Union Military Academy (which Lenwood attended), hoping Greg will change for the better, but mostly hoping this will end the embarrassment.
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 (because he agreed to be a chaperone) and has a terrible time.
Later, when Greg, Frank, and Rodrick have a camping "do-over", they end up at a hotel after heavy rain, where Rodrick locks Greg out of their room in his underwear.
After this, Greg becomes more resigned to his military school fate, especially after attempting unsuccessfully to make a good impression on Holly Hills, a popular girl in his class, before realizing that she is not worth his time.
But on what he thinks is his only day of summer vacation, Greg ends up inadvertently saving Frank from making a fool of himself at their neighbor's half-birthday party for their new baby.
The next day, Frank reconsiders his decision to send Greg to Spag Union, which Greg puts down to having saved Frank from embarrassment.
The book ends with Greg looking forward to his summer vacation.
Jeff Kinney:
Jeffrey Patrick Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American author and cartoonist.
He is best known for creating, writing and illustrating the children's book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
He also created the child-oriented website Poptropica.
Early life:
Jeff Kinney was born and raised in Fort Washington, Maryland.
Kinney attended Potomac Landing Elementary School and later Bishop McNamara High School, where he graduated in 1989.
He has an older brother and sister, and a younger brother.
He is of Irish descent.
He attended the University of Maryland, College Park in the early 1990s.
It was in college that Kinney created a popular comic strip, Igdoof, which ran in the school student newspaper, The Diamondback.
Kinney graduated from the University of Maryland in 1993, originally majoring in computer science but switching to criminal justice in order to have more time to work on his comic.
In 2021 he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa as an alumnus of the University of Maryland.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series:
In January 1998, Kinney brought up the idea of a middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley, who writes illustrated stories about his personal life.
In May 2004, Funbrain and Jeff Kinney released an online version of the story, titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
The website made daily entries until June 2005.
He worked on his book for almost eight years, before showing it to a publisher in New York City, U.S.
In February 2006, during the New York Comic Con, Jeff signed a multi-book deal with publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., to turn Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a print series.
The book became an instant hit, with the online version receiving about 20 million views as of 2007.
When many online readers requested a printed version, Kinney agreed, and in April 2007, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published.
To date, 19 Wimpy Kid books have been released, including a movie diary and a Do-It-Yourself Book, and a biography that Greg’s best friend Rowley Jefferson wrote.
In April 2009, TIME named Kinney one of The World's Most Influential People.
In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 the series won a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favorite Book.
The series is still ongoing.
Professional work:
Kinney works full-time as a writer and illustrator.
He also created the kid-friendly website Poptropica which includes two islands called "Wimpy Wonderland" and "Wimpy Boardwalk", where the Diary of a Wimpy Kid characters and events are featured in the Poptropica universe.
Over 275 million copies of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have sold globally as of 2023 and the series was developed into feature films for which Kinney served as executive producer.
In May 2015, Kinney and his wife Julie opened "An Unlikely Story," a local bookstore and cafe in Plainville, Massachusetts.
Kinney advocates that kids should spend time reading as an alternative to screen time.
Kinney guest-hosted 10 episodes of the 10th season of WGBH local quiz bowl production High School Quiz Show while regular host Billy Costa was away on a special assignment.
Kinney hosted the second half of the first-round games, the quarter-finals, and the semi-finals, while Costa hosted the first half of the first-round games and returned to Boston in time for the finals.
Personal life
On December 14, 2003, Jeff Kinney married Julie Kinney.
They have two sons together.
He currently lives in Plainville, Massachusetts.
He is Catholic.
Publications:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
1) Diary of a Wimpy Kid (April 1, 2007).
2) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (February 1, 2008).
3) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (January 13, 2009).
4) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (October 12, 2009).
5) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (November 9, 2010).
6) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (November 15, 2011).
7) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel (November 13, 2012).
8) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (November 5, 2013).
9) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (November 4, 2014).
10) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School (November 3, 2015).
11) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down (November 1, 2016).
12) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway (November 7, 2017).
13) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown (October 30, 2018).
14) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball (November 5, 2019).
15) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End (October 27, 2020).
16) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot (October 26, 2021).
17) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöde (October 25, 2022).
18)Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer (October 24, 2023).
Rowley Jefferson:
1) Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal (April 9, 2019).
2) Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (August 4, 2020).
3) Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories (March 16, 2021).
Supplementary books:
1) Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself-Book (October 1, 2008).
2) The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Original: March 16, 2010, 1st Revised Edition: February 15, 2011, 2nd Revised Edition: June 26, 2012).
3) The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself-Book (May 10, 2011).
4) Wimpy Kid Blank Journal (October 8, 2013).
5) Diary of a Wimpy Kid Writer’s Notebook (October 8, 2013).
6) The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter (May 9, 2017).