Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down

SPOILER: Plot or ending details to follow. Read ahead at your own risk.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down is the 11th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series.

In an interview, Kinney stated, "After the 10th book, I found myself at a crossroads in my career. I wasn't sure if I should continue writing Diary of a Wimpy Kid books or go down a different path. Double Down is really special to me, because it reflects a renewed commitment to the series and a plan for the future." The book was released worldwide to the public on November 1, 2016.

The cover shows Greg being weighed down by his overfull backpack on a staircase, being a reference to the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid cover, showing Greg being slouched over by his heavy backpack.

Main Characters[]

Synopsis[]

The pressure's really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his “creative side.”

As if that's not scary enough, Halloween is just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.

When he discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can Greg get his mom off his back by making his own movie... and will he become rich and famous in the process? Or will doubling down on this plan just double Greg's troubles?

Plot[]

October[]

Nana Heffley watching Greg in the bathroom — Greg imagines his Nana watching him in the bathroom.

At the beginning of the book, protagonist Greg Heffley can be seen talking about how he thinks his life is a reality TV show, and how he thinks 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. Greg thought Manny was a machine being controlled by a person in the background and then brings the subject that his family is robots and Greg is the only human. He thinks that if Rodrick is being payed to act mean, he could actually be a nice person, and they could be friends in actual life and chill. He later sprays Frank with a hose to try to prove that he is a robot, resulting in Greg being grounded for a week. Later, Greg says his grandmother, Nana, is watching him from heaven, and he's got a lot of issues with it. He feels guilty when he tries to see Alex Aruda's test answers, because he knows that all his relatives see him when he cheats. He also thinks he needs his privacy at times.

Spineticklers67dupe — Book #67 of the Spineticklers series, "My Dentist is the Devil".

Greg's school is now having a book fair, and Susan gives Greg $20 to spend on books. Greg buys useless toys like two pencils with hairy google eyes, a poster of a cat saying something sarcastic, a panda-shaped eraser, a glow-in-the-dark calculator, a pen that is able to write/draw while in water, and a yo-yo that says, "I ♡ 2 Read". However, Susan is not happy with Greg's selections and makes Greg promise to return all of them for books. Greg then talks about in the 3rd grade, he wrote a poem and sent it to the National Poetry Council, but turns out that everyone could have their own poems in the book. Susan also tried to get Greg into the Talented & Gifted program, but to prove he can join, he had to take a test. And in that case, he failed, causing Susan to get mad at the school. Later on, there was a secret group called the "Champs" that is used for kids that are having hard times saying "R" words, but normally, Greg and the others were not learning due to goofing around, so then Susan hired a private tutor in which Greg could say his Rs perfectly, but he could no longer be in the group when he said a sentence with words starting with "R". He also says that when Manny played soccer, his team never got a goal, due to Tucker Remy, the goalie, spending the rest of the game stuffing grass in his belly button. However, he got a trophy, along with every player as well. Susan is also disappointed when Greg gets a series of books called "Spineticklers" by I.M.Spooky, which has spooky stories, since she wants him to get books that are "challenging."

RoastBEEFTOUCH — Students at school start the "roast beef" touch.

Greg then discusses how the geese are in town and the deals of having a 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 current 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 sneaking a piece of lunch meat onto the court and starting up the Roast Beef Touch; however, the kids unsuccessfully try to make it work.

Greg later discusses how the Spinetickler's books give him nightmares and how he regrets reading them, like the dream of how he got a tail and people were jealous of him. He later says that he has found his balloon and that the kid who found his balloon, Maddox Selsam, has come over for a playdate. It's later revealed 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. He talks to Vice Principal Roy, who 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, just shelves and shelves of books. After Greg asks Maddox what he likes to do for fun, Maddox says he either plays his violin or plays with his Legos. It is revealed Maddox has a Lego City in his room, stating he wants to be an engineer when he grows up and when he asks for a Lego set, his mom buys him one. Greg wants to play with the big sets, but Maddox doesn't let Greg go anywhere near the big sets and only lets him use the leftovers from the "leftovers bin." Greg accidentally gets a tiny brick stuck in his arm, unaware of it, which Maddox accuses Greg of stealing, leading to Greg being kicked out, but not before Maddox spots the Lego stuck on Greg's elbow. On the ride home, Susan is disappointed at Greg, as she viewed Maddox as a role model for Greg, but in Greg's mind, he actually viewed Maddox as an antisocial nerd instead of a good role model.

Greg walks past the Halloween candies in supermarket — Greg walking past the candy section in the supermarket.

Susan, now going back to college full-time, has a chore bag called a "Grab Bag" where Greg and Rodrick pick chores to do. After finishing his chores, Greg goes to eat the giant candy corn that he won but finds that the pig has eaten it. Greg tells Rodrick to wake up and Rodrick isn't too happy. Greg wakes him up, but after one look at the pig, Rodrick tells Greg to get in the van. The boys are too late, however; the pig throws up in the van, and Greg can't take it anymore after Rodrick telling him to clean up the mess with some paper towel, so Greg throws up, too. After a run-in with a police officer and Susan arriving later, the pig throws up a final puddle of candy corn, 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 for lying to her. He then talks about how his brain works and how he has lied to so many times over the years. Susan keeps putting the pressure on Greg to do something new other than video games while also introducing him to college.

Greg and Rowley later join the school band in order to get invited to Mariana Mendoza's Halloween party. Frank and Susan take him to the instrument store, where Greg sees a variety of instruments and lands on the French Horn. Frank, seeing how expensive the Horn is, says renting would be better than buying, but all the rentals are used up. Frank and Susan argue about the French Horn, Frank saying they're spending too much money on an instrument Greg will quit in two weeks, but Susan says Frank needs to show more faith in Greg. Before Frank swipes his credit card to buy the French Horn, he has Greg promise to practice it every night, so Greg promises. Later on, however, Greg finds out Mariana can't invite the entire school band, only the woodwind section. Greg gets in the party by making a "Two-Headed Monster" costume with Rowley. At the party, when the party is about to hit the next level, Rowley has to use the bathroom. Susan then decides for them to leave early.

November[]

Night of the Night Crawlers — Greg's poster for his movie, "Night of the Nightcrawlers".

Greg is later harassed at school by the boys because they didn't like Susan's changes to the the party. Greg wants to quit, but this angers Frank, who tells Greg that he can't because that is an expensive instrument and he has to honor his commitment. Greg finds videos of a high school girl practicing the French Horn, which makes Frank glad, unaware Greg is deceiving himAt the Fall Band Concert, Greg gets stuck in the music room because Jake McGough steps on the back of Greg's shoe giving him a flat tire. Rowley notices him in there when he comes in the room, he ends up getting locked in too, causing a huge dilemma. Greg temps to open the door, but his pants rip. Greg tries Mrs. Graziano's black binder, which works, but is so stiff that he can't sit down. He finds a black marker and gets Rowley to color the part of his underwear which is showing. Frank then comes into the room and catches them. Frank calls out Greg, believing they had been goofing off and punishes Greg by taking away his TV and video game privileges for two weeks. Greg and Rowley later find a pack of gummy worms and Greg gets an idea for a horror movie titled "Night of the Nightcrawlers."

The plot is about a man who goes to take a shower, only to end up being eaten alive by worms. He and Rowley get started on the script, but while filming it with Susan and Frank's camera, Greg tries to get more worms from the laundry room to get more, where the pig has already beat them to it, eating them. Greg tries to figure out what to do but hears Rowley screaming because of the geese. Greg remembers about Rodrick having a wolf mask he wore one Halloween, and he and Rowley go to the basement room to get it while trying to, the witch goes off and one of the shelves comes falling down on them. Rowley runs out of the house with barely any clothes, just a towel and still holding on to the See-And-Talk, and that's when Frank gets home. It's also revealed a news crew captures the whole moment. Frank gets mad at Greg for making the mess, and Susan also gets mad, because Greg and Rowley filmed right over a tape of Manny's first steps. As a result, Greg has to clean up the mess in the furnace room and do extra chores for a while. Rowley, on the other hand, enjoys his newfound fame and skips school to attend on-TV interviews with talk shows, much to Greg's dismay, as Rowley doesn't mention Greg at all, though Greg is the one who made him famous, though Rowley is acting like the world is revolving around him nowadays in his fame.

Trivia[]

Upon release, this book was generally considered by fans to be the weakest in the series. Reasons include excessive amounts of filler, the boring and confusing plot, the film-making plot not happening until the end, Greg getting punished more times than usual in the story, and possibly the main antagonist only appearing in 14 pages.
- In spite of this, this book's reception has improved over the years.
This is the second red book, with the first being the first book.
- This is also the second book with the two colors yellow and orange from Dog Days and The Long Haul.
This is the second book where Rowley doesn't wear his usual outfit on the character page. The first book is Hard Luck.
- This is also the first book since Hard Luck where Rowley is shown in the character page.
This is the second book where Rowley's parents do not appear.
This book contains the most amount of pop culture references in the series:
- The entire introduction where Greg thinks his life is a TV show is a parody of The Truman Show. It is mentioned from Pages 1 to 15.
- Spineticklers is a parody of Goosebumps.
- Spineticklers #48, “Wake Me Up In The Year 3000” is a parody of Futurama. It was first mentioned on Page 41.
- The complaints from moral guardians surrounding Underpants Bandits and Spinetinglers is a parody of the complaints surrounding Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey and Goosebumps by R. L. Stine.
- "Night Of The Night Crawlers" is just Squirm, but with gummy worms, instead of real-life worms. The movie poster of this film is shown on Page 194.
- There is a girl dressed like Hermoine Granger from the Harry Potter franchise at the Halloween party.
- Maddox enjoys playing with Lego.
- The idea of a clown in the ice cream truck is a parody of the killer clown scares of 2016, the same year the book came out in.
- I.M. Spooky is a parody of R. L. Stine.
- Mrs. Graziano can be seen playing Freecell.
- The ending where Greg wants to make a movie is based on The Blair Witch Project. Coincidentally, Blair Witch, a 2016 horror film, was released in the same year as this novel.
- The book parodies famous myths a lot.
- The scene where Greg dreams of being a turtle is a parody of Super Mario.
- Greg saying that sometimes in later seasons of TV shows, a new main character is introduced to bump up the ratings is easily a reference to shows like Scooby-Doo, Fairly Oddparents and the Brady Bunch. Ironically, the addition of a new main character led to the downfall of all three shows.
Greg rarely wears shorts in this book, usually appearing in long pants or jeans.
The backpack tipping over Greg on the cover is meant to be an reference to the backpack that makes Greg slouch on the first book's cover.
This is the second book that has a reptile skin design. The first is Old School.
- This is also the first book with the new Amulet logo.
On Page 35, in the background, a group of kids is playing what may be "Girls Chase Boys".
This is the fourth book where Fregley does not appear.
This is the first time the spine uses two colors (Red-Orange and Yellow). The second is The Getaway (which uses the following two colors: Azure and Yellow-Green).
This is the second odd-numbered book to not have its title start with "The." The first is the first book.
- However, its successor does have its title start with "The."
  - This is also the second odd-numbered book that doesn't have three words in its title (this book only has two words in its title). The first is also the first book, which doesn't have a title.
This is the first book in which Greg's tongue is shown on the cover. The second time it happened was in Diper Överlöde.
It is revealed Greg has more relatives.
Jeff Kinney said since the Long Haul's release, he wouldn't make the books continuous anymore, as of Greg getting his room back, and the Pig not wearing Manny's shorts or walking on his hind legs.
Greg's Grandpa isn't shown living with the Heffleys anymore, despite living with them in the previous book. It is proven in Big Shot, where he is sleeping in his bed.
- However, it is mentioned that Grandpa is on a date, and Greg did search the house to find him, because he hoped that he will help him. This probably means that he is still living with them but now has a minor role.
This is the first time since Hard Luck where the months don't skip from the previous book.
This is the first book since Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever where the month in the beginning is the same as the month at the end of the previous book.
This is the second book where the pig has a role where he's in the Heffley family. The first is Old School.
- The Pig eats candy twice in this book. He ate candy corn on Page 99. Then, he ate gummy worms on Page 210.
  - This book reveals that the Pig can get sick if he eats candy corn, but doesn't get sick if he eats gummy worms.
This is the first book in which the color of the spine is different than that of the cover. The second is The Getaway.
Despite Manny appearing on the title page, he only appears on a few pages.
Despite Maddox being the main antagonist, he only appears on 14 pages.
Unlike I.M. Spooky, who wasn't a real person, R. L. Stine was a real person.
This is the last book to have reviews on the back cover.
This is the first time The Cheese appeared or was mentioned since Rodrick Rules, 9 books prior.
This book is the seventh to be released in the 2010s, following The Ugly Truth, Cabin Fever, The Third Wheel, Hard Luck,The Long Haul and Old School.
Jeff Kinney's friend George E. Deveney makes a cameo somewhere in the book^[1]
In 2018, Puffin Books teamed up with Pizza Express to create a contest where the winner would get their family portrait drawn by Jeff Kinney to coincide with the UK paperback release of Double Down^[2]

Goofs/Errors[]

On-Page 64, the word "roast" in "roast beef" is duplicated, making it "roast roast beef." This error was fixed in reprints.
- This error is referenced on page 69 of The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter, as a card on a table, reads, "Today's special: Roast roast beef."
In the book, Greg says that Nana worked as a waitress. However, in the preview, he says she worked as a nurse. (She might've changed jobs, but this is highly unlikely.)
On the top of page 49, the characters appear too short and Greg's mouth is larger than usual.
On page 94, Mrs. Selsam's leg is in a humanly impossible position, and her skirt is shown as only covering that one leg.
On the image of page 73, two tall men are seen hunting Greg. The big of them is seen holding a torch with a black holder, while the skinny one is holding a pitchfork and wearing white pants. They are both wearing tall black boots. On the top image of the next page, they are wearing both white shoes instead. The big one's torch now has a white holder and the skinny one is wearing black pants instead.
The Lego is not to scale.

Gallery[]

See Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down/Gallery

Video[]

References[]

https://diary-of-a-wimpy-kid.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000169873

[1] ttps://x.com/wimpykid/status/929858267878129665#m

[2] ttps://x.com/PuffinBooks/status/979780304205262848#m

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