Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School

Plot

Greg Heffley's Grandfather has been living with his family. Greg is irritated because Grandpa decides to stay in his room.Greg soon learns of a school trip to Hardscrabble Farms, which is located in the woods. However, he decides not to attend.

Meanwhile, Greg's mother has made a petition to get everyone in town to unplug from their electronic devices for 48 hours. Greg does not like his mother's idea and doesn't believe she would get the signatures. Surprisingly, she is able to gather enough signatures to make the town unplug, since most of the signatures are from older people. She decides to have the town clean up the park during this time.

Gregs father, Frank, wants him to always screw back the toothpaste cap on the tube and, when Greg says it is not that big of a deal, Frank tells him a story about how, if he lived in the 1800s in a wagon, and one of the wagon wheels fell off, the family would be eaten by wolves, because he could not screw the wheel on.

Greg decides to leave the park to avoid work with one of Rodrick's former friends Billy and his homework buddy, Frew. Billy quickly becomes a criminal after stealing a pack of gummy worms. Greg's mother tracks him with a device attached to Greg's shoe, ruining her electronics-free weekend.

The next day, Greg needs his grandpa to drive him to the hardware store, because Greg flooded out the bathroom and stained the ceiling in the kitchen, after trying to fish out the toothpaste cap that went down the drain. His grandpa is a horrible driver, and eventually runs out of gas. While his grandpa gets help, Greg waits in the car, where he sees a group of the community workers who were helping clean up the park. He hides in the car, but accidentally hits the shifter and the car rolls into a ditch.

Greg decides to go on the Hardscrabble Farms trip, because he is scared his dad will find out about the toothpaste cap and the crashed car. While on the trip, Greg hears a rumor of Silas Scratch, a crazy farmer who lives in the woods. The final night, the campers are forced to stay in the woods, where they fear that they will be eaten. While getting firewood, Greg discovers Silas's shack. Inside, he finds his dad.

Greg's dad says that he made up the Silas Scratch rumor after he discovered the shack had a shower and a toilet when he was a kid. He wanted to keep it a secret, so he thought the rumor would keep people away. He was also surprised that the rumor is still going on all these years, but he left it as a secret. Greg then agrees to keep it a secret, and afterward spreads the word about the lunatic Silas Scratch to help his dad keep his shed for himself.

Marketing

The book was announced on March 9, 2015. The cover, color, and title were revealed on April 27, 2015 during a live stream co-hosted by Jeff Kinney, with appearances from Robert Capron live on stage, and Zachary Gordon through a video call. At the 2015 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Virtually Live Event, Jeff Kinney stated that the book was black because he believes that black is a cartoonist's favorite color. An extract from the book was released exclusively by The Guardian on June 29, 2015.

Release

The book was released on November 3, 2015, in more than 90 countries and territories around the world.

Sequel

A sequel was announced in March 2016 and the title, color, and cover of the book was revealed on April 28, 2016. The sequel is called Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down and was released on November 1, 2016.