Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End
File:9781419748684-1-350x513.jpg The book's official cover.
Author/Illustrator	Jeff Kinney
Publisher	Abram Books (Amulet Books) and Puffin Books
Release Date	October 27th, 2020
Pages	224 (217 reading pages)
Preceded by	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball (chronologically) Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly ADVENTURE (release order)
Cover Artists	Jeff Kinney and Chad W. Beckerman
Book Number	15
Color	Bright & dark blue, pool floor and water ripple texture
Theme	RV Vacation
Succeeded By	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book 16

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End is a book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It was released on October 27, 2020. A teaser was released on Amazon on February 13th, as well as a release date. The cover of the book was revealed on May 26th, 2020.

Main Characters

• Greg Heffley
• Rodrick Heffley
• Frank Heffley
• Susan Heffley
• Manny Heffley
• Juicebox (main antagonist)

Synopsis

In The Deep End, book 15 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series from #1 international bestselling author Jeff Kinney, Greg Heffley and his family hit the road for a cross-country camping trip, ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

But things take an unexpected turn, and they find themselves stranded at an RV park that’s not exactly a summertime paradise. When the skies open up, and the water starts to rise, the Heffleys wonder if they can save their vacation – or if they’re already in too deep.

Plot (Work-In-Progress)

August

Greg tells about how his family is doing tough because of them all staying in one room. He explains they live in Gramma's basement because their house is destroyed, referencing the events of Wrecking Ball. They all sleep in one room, and Greg sleeps next to Rodrick. He wanted to stay in the guest room, but it was taken by Sweetie. Then Greg tells that when Gramma's friends visit her, the family must stay in the basement, but they can't go to the bathroom. They can't go to the kitchen either, so Rodrick just heated the pizza in the dryer once. There's no TV too, so they entertain themselves with a puppet show by Susan. Susan says they can just use their imagination, but Greg dreams about sending Rodrick to space every time. When Frank has a meeting, they must sit quietly, which is hard because of Manny. Greg can solve Gramma's puzzles, but Manny always wants to put the last piece. Sometimes they play a board game as a family, but they have to choose the easiest one because Manny can't handle complicated rules. They have to go to bed before it's even dark because they are on Manny's schedule. Manny's favorite picture book he reads when going to bed is about the Noah's Ark, where Noah saved all animals from a storm on his ship. The illustrations in Manny's book make it look like a big flood was a lot of fun. But Greg thought that if the drawings were more realistic, people wouldn't buy it. Greg says that if he was Noah, he would not save snakes and scorpions. He would save only cute animals. Luckily, Noah didn't find a place for fish, but they probably didn't know the flood was happening. But Greg doesn't understand why Noah let birds on the ark because they could've flown. Greg also wonders what awesome animals lived before the flood and didn't make it to the boat. Noah was stuck on the boat for 190 days with his wife and three children, so every time Greg thinks about Noah, he's feeling better. Susan is happy because the time slowed down when they are together, but Greg didn't like it. Rowley was on another trip to Europe - Greg tried to give Rowley hints so he could go with Rowley, but the boy didn't understand. Susan said that they could travel using imaginations, but Greg didn't like the idea. When they all thought about the place they can go to in real life, Frank wanted to go to a bunch of Civil War battlefields. Manny wanted to go to the Animal Safari park. Susan wanted to visit places in their own country. And Greg and Rodrick wanted to go to the Thrills and Spills park. That's because they have a new Track Jumper coaster. Susan said these rides were not for Manny, but Greg didn't want to go to the Storybook Village Park, which is for kids. Greg suggested that every member will go on their holiday. But Susan wanted to spend time as a family.

Gammie asked Frank to get rid of Uncle Gary's camper van parked in her driveway for two years. That gave the family the idea to go camping to different places with the van, stopping for the night when they felt like it. Susan added that they will have different adventures. That made Greg even feel bad for Rowley because he will go to a boring museum and Greg will have wild adventures. Greg is worried that Susan will turn this trip into an educational one, though. But Greg doesn't want to learn anything on the journey.

The family came to the camping superstore to buy everything they needed Greg went to the part of the store with the high-end gear because he wanted to camp comfortably. But Frank said these things are for serious campers and made Greg put them back. Then Frank picked some fishing rods. Rodrick and Manny started picking serious gear, like weapons, so Susan stopped them. Rodrick was disappointed, so Greg thinks he wanted to go trophy hunting on the trip and decorate the kitchen. The family was ready, but Susan asked a salesperson about do they have the right kind of equipment. Then the salesperson started telling them about bears, and that they must tie up their trash and hang, so bears wouldn't reach them, and that they should buy wolf urine to scare the bears away. Greg decided to get better grades at school, so he wouldn't get a job as a wolf urine collector. The man also told them to take bug spray, and Greg was on board with that, because Albert Sandy once told him about a boy who was sucked dry with a mosquito. Then the man gave them a compass and a snakebite kit (if things really will go bad). Then the family went out of the shop but had to return because they left Rodrick sleeping in a hammock there. When they came to the camper van, it was a total mess. The family cleaned everything up. But the van was comfortable: there was a stove, a bathroom with a shower, a refrigerator, a kitchen table, and some other stuff, so everyone was happy. But they kept finding Uncle Gary's dirty underwear there! Finally, the Heffleys hit the road. Mom said they must record their adventures and then become a popular family on the Internet. Greg was happy too, and it was good that he could use the toilet on the road. The only thing he didn't like was no safety seat belts. Susan let Manny go into the front seat so he could "drive", but he started laying into the horn and cursing, then Susan saw Greg and Rodrick playing video games on their phones. So she put the phones in a plastic box with a timer on top. Greg knew what it was because he saw Susan reading about it in parenting magazines. Greg and Rodrick tried to break that thing, but couldn't! Playing Animal Bingo was not interesting too, because they couldn't identify half the animals. When they wanted to stop for the night, Frank wanted to stop at a place called Culpepper's Ravine, but there were tons of other trailers. Greg then talks about how he wants to discover something because then they name it after you. But now only the lame stuff is left not discovered. One time in the planetarium in Greg's town, you could pay ten bucks so they could name a planet after you. But Greg worries that some other Greg can say the planet is his. The family found a lake with nobody near it and decided to stop there. The air-conditioning in the van was not working, so they relaxed in the river. Suddenly Greg saw a million little creatures (probably fish) coming right to the family. Greg almost got out of the water, when he felt the fish nibbling him. When Greg got out, he saw a scab on his knee. Suddenly a truck with two angry guys drove to them. The family suddenly found out the lake was a fish hatchery! So they quickly drove away from the guys on the trailer. Then they decided to spend the night at a field, but they were chased out again because it was somebody's farm. The family found a good field where they could stop, but Susan and Frank had to sleep on the table. Greg slept above the cabin with Rodrick. Manny slept in a cabinet in the kitchenette, and he was comfortable there. Then Greg found out he could hear everything when Susan goes to the bathroom, so he pretended he cannot hear anything.

The family then realizes that they slept in a public park, and got out of there before a kid broke a taillight. Greg then suggested to go to the Family Adventure Center, however, most of the activities had an age and height requirement, so then they signed up for the Fun Float, in which Manny is only big enough for. During it, there was a shallow area in the water, causing the family to walk in the water. Greg then noticed that his tube got punctured, so then Manny used the cooler and Greg took Manny's tube. They then get stuck with a bunch of people, so Greg manages to squeeze through when the river got wider. However, he went to far and got tossed from his tube in the area in which the water was rough. Greg then calls for help, but the people didn't hear him, but his family is totally useless when it comes to emergencies. Greg then loses his bathing suit, so then he uses the cooler to block his privates. Then he finds the RV. After that, the family agrees that their trip was off to a terrible start. Greg tells Frank he should just admit this trip was a disaster and they should head back to Grammas. But Frank says they shouldn't turn around now because they didn't do any real camping.

Frank then said there was a national forest a few hours away from the van and they could stay there for the night. Greg wasn't too happy about the idea but at least it wasn't the basement. They spent the night at the carpark and the next morning they headed for the forest.

The next night while camping in the forest, Rodrick and Greg's Dad prank the rest of the family by Greg's Dad tell them about a story where a ranger told Greg's Dad and HIS dad while camping. The ranger tells them that he used to have a dog named Matilda who got lost one night. Then he said when he gave up looking, he could hear the ghost of Matilda. When Greg's Dad is done telling the story, Greg hears howling from a nearby bush. At first he thinks it is the ghost of Matilda, but then he realizes that it was all a prank. But Greg's Dad got distracted while roasting marshmallows, and then burnt his knee. He planned on having baked beans later, but the fire burnt on his knee caused him to drop the can of baked beans, which explodes and makes a mess on the side of the RV. Everyone then goes inside, but then a bear comes along and licks the mess on the side of the RV. Manny then goes back outside and shoots a flare from the flare gun , then a ranger of the forest then goes to Greg's RV and tells them that shooting the flare gun was reckless, because it could cause a forest fire. Then she tells them that they'll have to leave first thing in the morning. They then go to Campers' Eden, a luxury campsite with other people visiting, unlike the forest. They then were amused by the fact that the resort has a gaming room, a pool, a sandpit, and a lake with canoes and kayaks. There was also a bathhouse to take hot showers, in which got Susan excited the most about. There was a sewer hook-up in the campsites also. Susan asked for a campsite next to a lake, however the lot was full and the economy section was the only spots left. While Frank was flushing the sewage tank, Greg explored the resort. Unfortunately, the arcade in the gaming room had a few games in which Greg wasn't interested in playing. There was a pool table, but the kids used fruits instead of pool balls. The swimming pool wasn't that good either. The parents were not supervising their kids, and also, some kids got drifted out into the deep end, which was a problem since due to the people on the high dive. There was no lifeguard, meaning people can do whatever they wanted to do. Greg went to the hot tub next, but the hot tub was full of dogs and a cat. There was a laundry place, a snack shack, and a deluxe campsite. Luckily, the family was in spots away from the motorcycle gang and the pet-friendly row. Since the campsites had narrow spaces in between, the people decided to use the roofs of their campers. Susan tried to get to learn about the neighbors, however the people liked to keep to themselves. Then, a siren alarm from the main lodge made sounds, meaning there was a skunk on the campsites. The skunk then ate the Heffley's dinner. Greg talks about how when God created the animals, he gave them abilities to defend themselves, but when it was the time to create human beings, the good ideas were used up. Greg guesses that God made up for it by giving humans brains, but Greg would've gone with quills. Greg gets the idea to not take a shower until college so he can scare off people with smelling bad. The family then gets sprayed by people, ruining their hot dogs. It turns out that 9 PM is the time in which people go to bed.

The next day, Greg gets woken up by a person who was doing wood carving on his campsite. Greg was about to scold him, but Greg decides to let him go after he used a chainsaw. Susan explained to Greg that the bathhouse needed coins to operate the showers, and move the family's clothes from the washer to the dryer. Greg didn't like the fact he had to be in a public building to shower, due to the fact that he needs privacy, and talks about his comfort in the bathroom. The bathhouse had men and women, in which Greg dislikes the fact. It turns out that the line was long is that there were only three shower stalls. Though Greg enjoyed the hot water, the people next to him was chatting with him. Before Greg rinsed the shampoo in his hair, the shower stopped. Greg tried to put the coins by himself, but a person took his stall, so then he left to rinse his hair in the sink, in which the water was free. Greg was surprised to find out that the chainsaw guy put the clothes in the floor, but let him go another time.

Gallery

Promotional Images 

A teaser for the 15th book.

second teaser

9781419748684-1-350x513.jpg

Official cover

Header teaser for Deep End on the UK Wimpy Kid Club website.

Spanish cover for the book

French Cover Of The Book.

Illustrations

Trivia

• This is the fourth time that Jeff Kinney's name does not appear in the center of the cover picture.
• This is the first time that the cover's text and the spine are distorted. This is due to the pool water effect.
• This is the fourth book to not have the word "Diary" written in yellow after Dog Days, Hard Luck, and The Meltdown.
• This is the first book to feature characters that are not part of the Heffley family on the cover picture.
• This book cover is the one with the most characters featured in it.
• This is the second book with a different cover texture, the first being Wrecking Ball.
• This is the third book in the series to take place during summer vacation, the first two being Dog Days and The Long Haul.
• It is the fourth book that Greg has gone on a trip: the first three being The Long Haul, Old School, and The Getaway.
  • Like in The Long Haul and The Getaway, Rowley makes a cameo appearance--for this book, it's justified because, according to Greg, Rowley and his parents were vacationing in Europe for pretty much the entire summer.
• This is the second book since Dog Days in which the months in the book have August.
• This is the first book where the Heffley-family as a whole has a happy ending, as they're ultimately able to enjoy their vacation despite all the misfortunes they suffered beforehand.
• This is the fifth book to have to swear words as symbols.
• 401 words are written in all-capital letters in this book.
• This is the first book that didn't have tape on the cover.
• Whenever Greg does a jigsaw puzzle, Manny always insists on putting in the last piece. At the end of the book, Manny steers the Heffleys' RV into the broken bridge to fill the gap, which Greg describes as snapping in "like a puzzle piece".
• Fregley appears as a character on the exclusive Target poster of this book, but does not appear in the actual book.
• The Pig also makes a cameo appearance as one of the animals drowning in the water when Greg talks about Noah's Ark.
• This is the second time the family accidentally leaves Rodrick behind, the first being in The Getaway, when Rodrick is left in the water on the ocean tour.
• Greg's console resembles a Nintendo Switch lite, or at least, a Nintendo Switch.
• Spider-Man is referenced when Greg confesses his comfort in the bathroom.
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) is shown in the page where Susan Heffley and Manny Heffley is making a Puppet Theatre of the News.

Errors

• Greg does jigsaw puzzles in this book, despite an incident in Cabin Fever in which he finds a nest of crickets in a box of puzzles giving him a fear of them.
  • It's possible that he got over his fear or that someone else opened the box.
• In The Long Haul, Greg says he wants an RV, however in this book, he says he doesn't.
• Greg says he's kept the name "Bubby" from Manny for over 5 years in the first book, however in this book he says Manny is 3.
  • Although, this isn’t the first time this has happened. In The Ugly Truth, Greg says that sometime after he was eight or nine, Manny was born.