Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Wrecking Ball

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid Wrecking Ball is a funny diary for 9 year olds about a family who come into some money and can't agree on a single thing to spend it on.

What happens

It starts with Greg Heffley clearing out his bedroom cupboard. Digging through it is like going back through his whole childhood. There's a binder of scratch-and-sniff stickers (including all the gross smells), a hand-traced paper fish and a flower he made for his mum and never gave her.

So naturally he holds a yard sale. Rowley is hired as Theft Prevention Manager, and his badge is Greg's old firefighter costume. Then Rowley spots a table full of the birthday presents he's given Greg over the years. Every single one still unopened.

Who hasn't wanted to sell a present they never asked for? Greg just does it in front of the friend who gave it to him!

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Not far in, Greg's great aunt Reba dies in her sleep. There's a funeral, and Greg spends a while wondering about heaven, gravestones and whether he'll come back as a dung beetle. It's all played for laughs (they're late and end up at the wrong funeral), but if your reader has recently lost someone, you might want to read that bit together.

Aunt Reba turns out to have been very careful with her money, and she's left it to her family. Rodrick wants a tour bus for his band. Manny wants a bedroom full of chocolate pudding. Greg has the plans for his dream underground house ready to go (moving pavements, a glass bath inside an aquarium and a panic room).

Mum wants a bigger kitchen. Guess who wins?

Before the work even starts, Dad decides it's the perfect moment for Greg to learn some practical skills. That goes about as well as you'd expect, and a wasps' nest, a ladder, a roof and a toilet seat all get involved.

Then the builders and their digger arrive, and Greg is sure he'll have them reporting to him within a week or two. He lasts until lunch (a meatball sub and a bucket of wet concrete are involved). He never sees it coming. Your reader always will.

It's the fourteenth Wimpy Kid book, but a newcomer won't be lost.

What to read next

If they're after another Greg money-making plan that falls apart, Dog Days has him and Rowley starting a lawn business to pay off a country club bill. It's an earlier summer, with Mum trying to get Greg out of the house.