The 10 Best Diary of a Wimpy Kid Books

Jeff Kinney's sixth book, Cabin Fever, is a favorite of fans and critics alike. In the weeks before Christmas, Greg and Rowley damage some school property by accident, and Greg is sure he'll get caught. Then a blizzard snows the Heffleys in, the power goes out and the house falls apart around them. Being trapped at home keeps the jokes tight, and it reads fine on its own. A few jokes about an online pet game have dated.

Jeff Kinney's series begins with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the usual place to start. Greg Heffley enters middle school with his friend Rowley and a plan to become popular. He dodges the Cheese Touch, a moldy slice of cheese that makes anyone who touches it an outcast. Common Sense Media rates it for ages 9 and up, noting mild insults and some bullying. The early drawings are rough.

Rodrick Rules puts Greg's older brother at the center. Rodrick knows something embarrassing about Greg, who spends the school year keeping it buried. Rodrick also throws a secret party while their parents are away, and Greg shares the blame. Meanwhile Rodrick's band, Löded Diper, chases fame at the school talent show. Anyone with a sibling will recognize the mix of blackmail and loyalty. The secret builds slowly, and the final reveal is quieter than some readers expect.

Greg and his father, Frank, are at the heart of The Last Straw. Frank is embarrassed that his son has no interest in sports, so he signs Greg up for soccer and threatens to send him to military school. Greg tries the Boy Scouts and a crush on a classmate, Holly Hills, and neither goes to plan. The father-son tension gives the jokes weight, and the ending is warm, though a few chapters wander.

In Dog Days, Greg plans to spend the summer before eighth grade indoors with the curtains shut and his video games on. His mother has other ideas. He runs up a bill at Rowley's country club, starts a lawn care business without knowing how to use a mower and has to share the house with Sweetie, the new family dog. It's light and quick, but the story drifts and the ending lands softly.

A later title fans name often, The Meltdown starts when a snowstorm shuts the school. Greg's snow fort sets off a full-scale snowball war between kids from different streets, with alliances, spies and betrayals, like a war movie told with stick figures. The single setting keeps the plot moving, which helps kids who stall on longer books, and it reads fine alone. The battle runs long, so fans of the family scenes get few of them.

Wrecking Ball starts when Greg's great-aunt Reba leaves the family some money. His mother plans a modest kitchen update, and the project snowballs into wasps, mice and a torn-up house. When the Heffleys decide to sell the house and move, Greg could be split from Rowley. The book is less about school and more about family, with a real worry under the jokes. Fans are split on it, though, and the ending depends on a lucky accident.

Growing up is the theme of The Ugly Truth. Greg and Rowley fall out at the start, and Greg faces school, a dentist visit and an overnight lock-in on his own, while his mother goes back to college and he and his father struggle with the chores. Talk of puberty runs through the story, and Greg learns to fix a friendship himself. It suits readers near middle school age. The puberty jokes are frank, though nothing is explicit.

Greg's best friend takes over the diary in Rowley Jefferson's Journal. Greg talks Rowley into turning his new journal into a biography of Greg, but Rowley keeps drifting back to his own life, retelling pranks, sleepovers and arguments the two have shared. His cheerful, trusting voice makes familiar events land differently, and kids who know Greg's books get an extra joke on nearly every page. The humor is gentle, and the plot is thin.

Box of Books 1-10 is Abrams' official slipcase of the first ten Wimpy Kid hardcovers, a good gift for a kid who's hooked after one book. Along with the early favorites, the run includes The Third Wheel, Hard Luck, The Long Haul and Old School, which this list doesn't carry as singles, and the stories can be read in any order. It stops at book 10, so the later main books are sold separately.