Diary of a Wimpy Kid – The Meltdown

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Meltdown is a funny winter diary for 9 year olds, set on a street that's split right down the middle.

What happens

It's January and Greg Heffley has a lot on his mind. The planet is warming up. The ice caps are melting. And who knows what's been frozen inside them (he has his suspicions about the school's night janitor).

Then he forgets the big country project that's due today. He has a few hours to do the whole thing about Malta, which he's fairly sure is somewhere near Russia.

Home isn't much better. Mum has started Screen-Free Weekends. So Greg and his big brother Rodrick make a point of misbehaving every Saturday and Sunday, just so she can't say it's working!

The real trouble is Surrey Street. The kids at the top of the hill and the kids on the flat bit at the bottom can't stand each other. The bottom kids won't let hill kids play on their road. When it snows, the hill kids keep them off the slope.

Greg gives you the full tour of his hill. There's the teenager who shaved off one eyebrow and drew it back on with a brown marker. There are twins who made up their own language. And there's Baby Gibson, who never seems to get any older. Greg reckons one silly move could set the whole street off.

Then the cold arrives properly. There's thermal underwear and a thermos of mushroom soup where the hot chocolate should be. Greg worries about frostbite (he'd happily give up his little toes). He and his best friend Rowley sneak into Gramma's empty house to warm up, and that ends in a very awkward chat with Mum that Greg would honestly rather swap for being grounded.

It's literally like being inside Greg's head. He's sucking up to the appliances in case the robots take over one day. He thinks the school Safety Patrols, now all girls, are out to get the boys. He's always certain he's right, and your reader will be giggling at how often he isn't.

If you've got a reader who knows exactly which kids on your road to steer clear of, Surrey Street will feel VERY familiar. This is book thirteen in the series. Greg's American (so it's Mom and sidewalks), but snow days are snow days wherever you live.

What to read next

If it's Mum's screen rules that make them laugh, try Double Down. Her worry there is that video games are turning Greg's brain to mush, and a trip to the school book fair doesn't go quite the way she hoped.