{"id":14844,"date":"2026-11-14T11:45:59","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T11:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/"},"modified":"2026-11-14T12:40:04","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T12:40:04","slug":"diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball","status":"publish","type":"our-books","link":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff Kinney&#8217;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&#8217;t agree on a single thing to spend it on.<\/p>\n<p>It starts with Greg Heffley clearing out his bedroom cupboard. Digging through it is like going back through his whole childhood. There&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>So naturally he holds a yard sale. Rowley is hired as Theft Prevention Manager, and his badge is Greg&#8217;s old firefighter costume. Then Rowley spots a table full of the birthday presents he&#8217;s given Greg over the years. Every single one still unopened.<\/p>\n<p>Who hasn&#8217;t wanted to sell a present they never asked for? Greg just does it in front of the friend who gave it to him!<\/p>\n<p>Worth knowing before you hand it over. Not far in, Greg&#8217;s great aunt Reba dies in her sleep. There&#8217;s a funeral, and Greg spends a while wondering about heaven, gravestones and whether he&#8217;ll come back as a dung beetle. It&#8217;s all played for laughs (they&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Aunt Reba turns out to have been very careful with her money, and she&#8217;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).<\/p>\n<p>Mum wants a bigger kitchen. Guess who wins?<\/p>\n<p>Before the work even starts, Dad decides it&#8217;s the perfect moment for Greg to learn some practical skills. That goes about as well as you&#8217;d expect, and a wasps&#8217; nest, a ladder, a roof and a toilet seat all get involved.<\/p>\n<p>Then the builders and their digger arrive, and Greg is sure he&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the fourteenth Wimpy Kid book, but a newcomer won&#8217;t be lost.<\/p>\n<p>If they&#8217;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&#8217;s an earlier summer, with Mum trying to get Greg out of the house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff Kinney&#8217;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&#8217;t agree on a single thing to spend it on. It starts with Greg Heffley clearing out his bedroom cupboard. Digging through it is like going back through his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14843,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":13740,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Dog Days","lr_seo_hook":"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen.","lr_series_id":120,"lr_series_name":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid","lr_series_position":14,"lr_series_label":"","lr_author_order":"447"},"book_tag":[23],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[447],"class_list":["post-14844","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-funny-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-jeff-kinney"],"yoast_title":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Little Reads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-14T12:40:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1172\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/\",\"name\":\"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-14T11:45:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-14T12:40:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg\",\"width\":1172,\"height\":1705},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Library\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/our-library\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/\",\"name\":\"Little Reads\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Little Reads\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/logo-horizontal-dark.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/logo-horizontal-dark.svg\",\"width\":366,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Little Reads\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/readingmate.co.uk\\\/littlereads\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads","description":"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads","og_description":"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","og_url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/","og_site_name":"Little Reads","article_modified_time":"2026-11-14T12:40:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1172,"height":1705,"url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/","url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/","name":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney | Little Reads","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-11-14T11:45:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-14T12:40:04+00:00","description":"Greg has plans for an underground house. Mum just wants a bigger kitchen. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1794656756_6af849f41300b.jpeg","width":1172,"height":1705},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-wrecking-ball\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Library","item":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/our-library\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Diary of a Wimpy Kid &#8211; Wrecking Ball"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/#website","url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/","name":"Little Reads","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/#organization","name":"Little Reads","url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/logo-horizontal-dark.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/logo-horizontal-dark.svg","width":366,"height":70,"caption":"Little Reads"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/our-books\/14844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/our-books"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/our-books"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"book_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book_tag?post=14844"},{"taxonomy":"age_group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_group?post=14844"},{"taxonomy":"book_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book_type?post=14844"},{"taxonomy":"book_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingmate.co.uk\/littlereads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book_author?post=14844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}