what big school assignment did greg forget about

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Hi! Welcome to the Wimpy Kid Wiki! This wiki is an encyclopedia of the Wimpy Kid Series which was made by the author Jeff Kinney . You can also discuss about Wimpy Kid in the Discussions page. Also, Hot Mess is coming soon!

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown

• View history
• 1 Main Characters
• 3.1 January
• 3.2 February
• 4.1 Goofs/Errors
• 8 References

Main Characters

• Greg Heffley
• Safety Patrol (Main Antagonists)
• Rowley Jefferson
• Manny Heffley
• Rodrick Heffley
• Susan Heffley
• Frank Heffley

See minor characters

When the schools get shut down because of a snowy day, the neighborhood transforms into a wintery battlefield. Some rival groups fight over territory, some rival groups build massive snow forts, and some rival groups stage epic snowball fights. In the crosshairs are Greg Heffley and his trusty-true to the end-best friend, Rowley Jefferson.

It's a fight for survival as Greg and Rowley navigate against alliances, betrayals, and warring gangs in a neighborhood meltdown. When the snow clears, will Greg and Rowley emerge as heroes? Or will they even survive to see another day?

The story starts off with Greg saying how everybody is outside enjoying the warm weather except him, as it is January, normally the middle of winter. Greg then says that the whole planet is warming up, and humans are to blame. However, as he says that he shouldn't be one to point fingers to, as he only recently got onto Planet Earth (being born). He then hopes that it doesn't warm up too fast, or he would have to ride a camel to high school. He then says he heard that the ice caps are melting and the sea level is rising. Due to his fear, he's tried to convince his parents to buy a house higher up on their hill so that they can avoid the water for longer, but his parents aren't too concerned, further increasing Greg's worry, and wishing that his parents would do something. However, the rising sea level isn't the only thing on Greg's mind, as there could be prehistoric animals preserved in the ice caps, and since they are melting, they may end up roaming the earth once again. Greg then says that he saw a movie about a caveman that got frozen in ice, and thousands of years later, when the ice melted, he was still alive. Greg doesn't know if that could happen in real life and thinks his night janitor is one of them.

Greg has to participate in International Showcase Week as a History project. Back in November, when there was an International Showcase, he wanted to be assigned to Italy, though he didn't get it because it has been voted a lot. After a random draw by his teacher, it was given to the lactose-intolerant Dennis Tracton. As a result, Greg did his project on Malta. However, he forgot all about it and has now to make it for the following day. Since Rowley refused to switch with him, Greg says that he was on his own and hoped his project will be fine.

Malta - a country nobody has ever heard of.

In order to push curious students away, he pretended to only speak Maltese. (accidentally speaking Spanish instead). However, a kid in his grade whose parents are from Malta takes offense to Greg's misrepresentation of their country. Fortunately for him, the rivalry between Brazil and Bulgaria flares up again, and the bell rings, dismissing school.

However, the situation worsens when Susan receives a letter that Greg has to redo his entire project. To ensure he makes up his project, she forbids him for screens until his work is finished. Greg predicts this to be just before the weekends, but he says that it won't matter because Susan forbids him from screens on the weekends as well as Rodrick and Manny, a system designed by Susan to improve the sons' social understanding between each other, though they all agree to misbehave on the weekends in order to prove to Susan that her "Screen-Free Weekends" aren't working.

Greg also says that his mom says that she wants him to make some new friends. But with the exception of Rowley, he has no chance to befriend another child. Sometimes, he even has to walk in front of Fregley's house, which is between his and Rowley's, something very difficult for him.

Greg then talks about the other kids on his street and explains that they aren't good people for him to befriend, but the worst are the ones who live in Lower Surrey Street, as their half is flat, while Greg lives in Upper Surrey Street, which is on a slant. The kids at the bottom of the hill get to play in the streets all year and whenever someone from the upper street tries to get their ball back or someone gets to the bottom of the hill, the lower street kids use their spots equipment. In the winter however, whenever the lower street kids try to go sledding down the hill, Greg and the upper hill kids pelt them with snowballs as payback. The two halves can't stand one another and, if one's family moves to the bottom of the hill, that person will be stuck inside all year round, since their new neighbors will still consider them part of the other team and the person's original side will think of them as a traitor for moving, a fate that Trevor Nix got when he moved down the hill. Despite the war between the kids, the adults actually get along just fine with each other, much to the kids annoyance.

Greg then talks about the pig, which was left at a kennel during their Christmas vacation , and when it gets mad about not going with them, Frank sends it to obedience school, but the person who runs the place calls him telling him the pig escaped. Greg's family puts up posters to find it.

Greg wonders if a human being or a pig can hibernate, finding temporary evidence in The Mingos, who don't show up in the winter. Because of this, Greg says that if they're NOT hibernating all winter, nobody knows what they're doing.

Greg then reminisces about the Safety Patrol, as he enjoyed it because of his access to hot chocolate. However, he got kicked out of Safety Patrol, so he can't have any. Ever since then, he has been filling a thermos with hot chocolate to recreate the feeling. He also explains how dirty his neighbors are. When he is sick, he receives some cherry lozenges for his throat which makes him popular among girls. However, the boys break into his locker to steal them for themselves.

Because of the cold, Greg and Rowley try to find a place where they could warm up. At first, they try to use the pizza shop, but are kicked out. They then try to use the library, but the adults got pushy with the books, so they left on their own. Rowley needed to relieve himself, but his face froze, and he couldn't form proper words, eventually, he used a rock. Greg then discussed losing certain body parts from frostbite.

The next day, it was less windy, but just as cold. Rowley then found 2 coupons for free meatball subs, and later they manage to hide at Gramma 's place while she is on vacation. The boys turned the heat on, and helped themselves to some snacks, but noticed Mrs. McNeil , Gramma's snoopy next-door neighbor, trying to see inside. After she goes away, Greg and Rowley then watched TV with a blanket over them to avoid attracting more attention, but when they shut off the TV, it is late outside. The boys decide to put their clothes in the dryer to warm them up for the walk home, but while they are drying their clothes off, they hear someone coming down into the basement and they arm themselves, thinking it's Mrs. Mcneil, or a burglar, but they end up almost attacking Greg's mother with a toilet plunger and a handbag.

To Greg's surprise, Susan isn't mad at him at all, even congratulating him for "using his imagination" rather than looking at screens all the time. Greg wishes she'd grounded him instead, not knowing what she thought they were doing.

Is it worth the walk?

Greg explains that the Safety Patrol is very strict on boys and reports anyone who dares to throw a snowball during a school day. They also allow girls to walk on the road but don't allow boys to do it.

Greg says that he has no qualms about snitching; in addition, due to the snow, students were tracking water into the school, resulting in their shoes being held in the headmaster's office. After a few kids started a fight with their wet socks, the teachers started ordering the kids to go barefoot, not improving the situation.

The next day, Greg tries vainly to invent a new way to walk in the snow, using pizza boxes with his shoes duct-taped to them after failing to warm up his winter boots, which end up melting into the bricks of the fireplace. However, his new idea fails, as he left leftover pizza in the boxes, causing the neighborhood dogs to attack. He also discovers that the janitor couldn't stand the sock smell and opens the windows to let some fresh air in, but forgot to close the windows at the end of his shift. Due to this, indoor temperatures drop to below freezing.

Because of this, the students try to keep warm any way they can, with one person even using a costume of a lion that was made for the school play. The principal then decides to dismiss school early after kids start eating hoards of food, even eating bugs from the Science Fair, thinking that they were going to be snowed in overnight. Since Rowley and Greg have to walk on their way home, they decide to the bus for Whirley Street. At first, they sit in there without being discovered until someone at the back throws a snowball and almost crashes the bus. This prompts the bus driver to stop the bus and refuse to start it again until the perpetrator admits they did it, going as far as to read a book for a solid hour. Greg looks in the back of the bus, hearing some kids whispering, however, an eight-grader realizes he isn't from Whirley Street, and all the kids on the bus blamed it on Greg, with the bus driver forcing him and Rowley to get off at once.

A few Whirley Street kids start running after Greg and Rowley, having believed the other kids on the bus lying about him throwing the snowball. They then decide to run from them, leading them into the woods.

Greg and Rowley are forced to run in the woods, where a mythical creature is known as the "Goat man" exists. Greg sees a light coming from a broken car, but he and Rowley then realize they're in the Mingos' camp as Greg finds Meckley Mingo's belt buckle. After getting close to a car, the hand puppet that Greg wears in place of a glove gets stuck on the door handle of the car, resulting in Greg abandoning him because of some unknown figures rising from the cars, which Greg and Rowley believe are the Mingo kids. He and Rowley then dash out of the woods, where Frank almost runs them over.

The next day, Greg has the house for himself, since Manny is at nursery, Rodrick is sleeping, and his parents are gone. But little does he know is Susan planned some chores for him by hiding the batteries in the TV remote around the house, but Greg found a way to get around it by watching in Mom and Dad's room's TV, which only uses one battery. He is unable to finish all of them and gets paranoid after Susan calls him. A group of girls try and extort money out of him in exchange for clearing his driveway, resulting in his parents telling him off until 8 o'clock, at which point, Rodrick wakes up to start his day.

The next day, Susan insists that Greg spends the whole weekend out in the snow to play like in the old days, even calling Rowley's father and advising him to do the same to prevent him from hiding in there. Without any option, Greg and Rowley build an igloo without a hole, which is quickly demolished by the neighboring kids. Frank tells them that the neighborhood kids have declared war and Greg and Rowley must fight back to reclaim their territory, so both boys build another fort but discover that almost every kid in town was inspired by their idea. After the Lower Street Kids are caught sledding down their hill, they all team up and build a double-layered wall across the road to stop them. After a raging battle, the lower kids send Trevor Nix over to split the hill kids up with decoys. After being double-crossed by Trevor, the Upper Surrey Street Kids snow wall gets demolished.

Then they hear the Safety Patrol, who came for revenge after being pelted with snowballs during the weekends. This results in the battle turning into the Surrey Street Kids (on both ends) versus the Safety Patrol, but some girls on Surrey Street switch sides, throwing the battle into confusion. The Whirley Street kids slide on the hill and join the battle, resulting in a free-for-all. Then all the kids hear a horn going off, with Greg and Rowley realizing that it is the Mingo kids, looking like they woke up from a three-month nap. Greg realizes that he had Meckley's buckle in his pocket without realizing it, possibly revealing that Meckley Mingo, who has Greg's hand puppet from earlier speared on a pole, is after him. Since the kids hate the Mingo clan more than everyone else, they turn to fight them, ending the free-for-all. Greg decides he has had enough, and he and Rowley hide, worried that they won't survive. Then the ground shakes, though it turns out to be the snowplow driver, plowing through all the snow and ending the battle.

After the war, Greg can't remember what they started fighting over in the first place, and the weather drastically warms. There is still snow on the ground, so Mitchell Pickett uses a snowmobile he bought with all the money he made selling snow supplies. Trevor Nix gets accepted in Lower Surrey Street for his role in demolishing the Upper Surrey Street kid's snow wall. Greg has heard that Trevor has been asked to play with the lower street kids. Greg just hopes that everyone will be grateful to him if he can make a good strategy that could allow human people to live with robots. Greg says he's glad that there are people like the hero type out there, but the world needs guys like him too. Greg says because if human beings are still around 500 million years from now, it's gonna be thanks to Greg Heffley's of the world who figured out a way to survive.

• When Greg talks about their Christmas vacation, on page 39, he is referring to their trip to Isla de Corales in The Getaway.
• However, this is the first odd-numbered book to not have the word "Diary" in yellow.
• That is the second book has the cover purple, the first being The Ugly Truth
• However, the overall color of the book is still Dark Purple, anyway.
• This is the first time the subtitle is 3D.
• This is currently the last book to have Jeff Kinney 's name in the center.
• Ironically, those books are in chronological order.
• This is also the third book to include the new Amulet logo.
• This is the sixth book to feature Greg's trademark frown. The others were: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dog Days, The Ugly Truth, Old School, and The Getaway.
• The Safety Patrols reappeared since Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and it turns out it is now girls only, and the boys are kicked off because they decided to quit or break the rules.
• The Mingos and Meckley reappeared since Hard Luck , and it shows that they hibernate during the winter. Fregley also appears since Hard Luck as well.
• Flat Stanley is mentioned again since The Long Haul.
• The mention of the pig escaping because he was not happy about being excluded from the trip to Isla de Corales, so after misbehaving, Frank sends him to obedience school, and escaped.
• One of Fregley's quotes was mentioned in the Do-It-Yourself book.
• With Fregley being as a snowman and Manny running away, these were in Poptropica's Wimpy Wonderland Island.
• This is the third book to have a resemblance to the story on the cover, after Dog Days . As purple and blue are "cool colors".
• In the UK variant of The Meltdown, the 13 on its spine is replaced with its picture for the front cover. (Greg as a snowman.)
• This is the sixth book to take place in winter. The first five books are Diary of a Wimpy Kid , Rodrick Rules , The Third Wheel , Cabin Fever , and The Getaway .
• It's still unknown why Rowley was kicked out (or if he quit).
• This is the third time Greg screwed up a project without research.
• Fregley returns in this book. He hasn't appeared since Hard Luck .
• On page 164, Rowley and Greg come up with a name for their clan. Rowley suggests "Hufflepuff" which is a reference to the Harry Potter Hogwarts house, but Greg says he wants a more original name. It could also be a reference to The Three Little Pigs , where the wolf said he'll huff and puff and blow their house down.
• This also the second time Flat Stanley is mentioned. The first was from The Long Haul .
• This is one of few books in which Rodrick and Manny have much shorter roles and the second book after The Third Wheel in which except flashbacks, Rodrick does not bully Greg.
• This book currently holds the record of having the most words written in all-capital letters, totaling to 842.
• This is the first book in the series to have pages with only drawings on them.
• Fregley's line, "Betcha I can find your 'tickle spot!'" was first used in his section in The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book .
• This is the first book to not have a specific main antagonist. She only appeared on one page.
• This is the sixth book to have two months each, books like Old School , Cabin Fever , and The Third Wheel .
• On page 57, when they're playing Museum, a boy can be seen doing a gesture resembling the ' dab '.
• This is the first and so far, only time all three Heffley brothers agree on something. (their dislike of Screen-Free Weekends ).
• This book reveals that there's a kid in Greg's grade at Westmore Middle School whose parents are originally from the country of Malta.
• When Greg mentions that Marcus Marconi's flag was from his dad's sub shop that went out of business in page 174, you can see the sub shop with the closed sign at page 39 where Greg's family posts missing signs around the town.
• On page 130, when Greg mentions the cartoon, he was watching with Rowley , the hunter shown in the illustration bears a striking resemblance to Elmer Fudd from the Looney Tunes franchise.
• This has the largest drawing to be seen in the entire series, in taking over pages 208 and 209 altogether.
• This is the only book to have a full two-page drawing.
• The subtitle “The Meltdown” may be a reference to the second Ice Age movie which also had this subtitle with the full name being Ice Age: The Meltdown.
• This is the third time Disney is mentioned. The other two books are The Long Haul and Old School .
• On page 14, Greg guesses that Malta is near Russia, but in real life, it is in Southern Europe.

Goofs/Errors

• This could've been a change, and also mean that Kinney was trying to drag in a continuity reference from The Getaway.
• Sweetie is shown to be not overweight, despite him being overweight in past books due to being fed too much by Gramma, as shown in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck . However, it is possible he probably lost weight and got normal again.
• However, Greg doesn't know this and did mention he was just assuming.
• There is a kid all the way in the back on page 122 with a black jacket; however, on the next page, he is wearing a white jacket.
• When Greg talks about how last year, he wants to go to school fast by using a sled and dogs to his mom and dad, Greg is much shorter.
• On page 85, it says "pefectly normal" instead of "perfectly normal".
• On page 185, it says that Greg sent Rowley to get some hot chocolate, but a photo on the same page has Rowley in the wall.
• On Page 32 when Greg mentions that he doesn't ride the bus anymore because of Evelyn Trimble but in The Last Straw Greg says his bus got rezoned to the Whirley Golf club
• https://s3.amazonaws.com/WebVault/SLJ/EDIT18/DWK-SneakPeek-TheMeltdown.pdf

See Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown/Gallery

Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Book 13 Cover and Title Reveal!

The Meltdown - Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 13

• 1 Greg Heffley
• 2 Rodrick Heffley
• 3 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown Summary & Study Guide

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown Summary & Study Guide Description

The following edition of this book was used to write this study guide: Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown. Amulet Books, 2018. Hardcover.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown, by Jeff Kinney, is a hybrid novel/graphic novel that is written as the first-person diary entries of the narrator, an unassuming junior high boy named Greg Heffley. On the diary's pages, Greg’s entries are formatted in a typeface that mimics handwriting. Also, Greg’s paragraphs about his life are interspersed with sparse drawings, which depict both Greg’s real-life scenarios and his fantasies and daydreams.

Greg’s diary begins on a Monday in January. It is unseasonably hot for January, which triggers Greg’s concerns about impending global warming. When Greg arrives at school he suddenly remembers that he had forgotten to work on his large project about the country of Malta. The project was due that day. Greg quickly improvises a project out of found materials around school. The shabbiness of his project is briefly hidden when many of the presenters, showing their projects to visiting elementary schoolers, get into a large fight.

The next week, it is cold and snowy. Greg and his best friend Rowley try to think of different ways to find warmth on their long walk home to Upper Surrey Street. They decide to use the spare key to let themselves into Greg’s grandmother’s house, since she is on vacation. After spending the afternoon watching TV, Greg and Rowley are startled when Greg’s mother comes into the house to use the laundry machine. The laundry machine in Greg’s house is broken.

In February, the amount of snow and cold weather intensifies. When Greg accidentally melts the bottom of his boots to the fireplace in his house, he attempts to improvise a pair of snowshoes out of sneakers and pizza boxes, which works poorly. School is let out early on Thursday because of snow, and Greg and Rowley attempt to get on the Whirley Street school bus to avoid walking home. Another student on the bus throws a snowball, after which the bus driver refuses to continue driving. Greg and Rowley are on the wrong bus; so, they are forced to walk home. When they get lost in the forest, they fear that the mythical Goat Man will capture them. Finally, they find their way out of the forest.

On Friday, school is canceled, but Greg must do chores and look after his younger brother Manny instead of watching TV. On Saturday, Greg and Rowley are forced to play outside. They attempt to construct an igloo, but other kids on Surrey Street trample it. Greg’s dad encourages them to bravely fight back. On Sunday, the snow plow has not gone on Greg’s street, and many kids have established their own forts with their own flags.

After a short time, the entire neighborhood becomes engulfed in a gigantic snowball fight between Upper Surrey Street (Greg and Rowley’s neighborhood) and Lower Surrey Street. The kids from Upper Surrey Street are ambushed when the kids from Lower Surrey street use a former resident, Trevor Nix, as a decoy. The kids from Surrey Street unite to face a snowball attack from the kids from Whirley Street. Then, all of the kids unite to face a snowball attack from the mysterious, older Mingos, who live in the forest. The entire snowball fight concludes when the plow finally goes through the street. Later, Greg reflects that one of his skills is to survive and persist through any scenario.

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Diary of a wimpy kid: the meltdown, common sense media reviewers.

Epic neighborhood snowball fight perks up 13th installment.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Some facts about climate change, how the dinosaurs

Greg's mom is full of wisdom as always: Learning t

Greg often makes wrong decisions -- it's his hallm

One very long snowball fight. One kid gets two tee

Greg calls his friend an idiot.

Parents need to know that Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown is the 13th book in the best-selling Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. Like Book 6, Cabin Fever, there's a big snow storm, but in The Meltdown, Greg's mom forces him outside to play in it. The finale is an epic neighborhood snowball…

Educational Value

Some facts about climate change, how the dinosaurs went extinct, medieval castle warfare.

Positive Messages

Greg's mom is full of wisdom as always: Learning to deal with "conflict" is part of growing up, and kids who spend too much time with video games forget how to interact. In this installment, kids are outside most of the time engaged in exciting, creative play that involves lots of problem-solving, strategy, and cooperation with other kids. Also, Greg reminds us to cover our mouths when we cough and sneeze. Less potty humor in this installment: Greg's friend goes to the bathroom behind a rock and almost gets caught.

Positive Role Models

Greg often makes wrong decisions -- it's his hallmark and what makes his antics really funny to kids. In this installment, he tries to get out of chores, breaks into his vacationing grandma's house without permission, leaves his baby brother unsupervised. His mom often keeps him on the right path, making him go outside, calling for screen-free weekends, telling Greg he needs to deal with his own conflicts. This all brings out the best in Greg. He proves to be a strategic and creative thinker when forced. A lot of his wild plans fail (pizza boxes on his feet when he has no boots), but he's always full of ideas.

Violence & Scariness

One very long snowball fight. One kid gets two teeth knocked out by an ice ball (banned by the kids after that), many kids get pushed out of the way by a snowplow. Kids lost in woods almost hit by father's car. Dogs attack and go for leftover pizza, not kids. Fight in cafeteria. Pictures of kids pushed over or being hit on the head by bullies. Kid tells tall tales about dead pets in the school cafeteria freezer and a man whose head exploded when he sneezed. Last illustration shows an atom bomb going off out the window while cyborg Greg plays cards with a robot. Talk of castle warfare with boiling oil poured on invaders.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown is the 13th book in the best-selling Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney . Like Book 6, Cabin Fever, there's a big snow storm, but in The Meltdown, Greg's mom forces him outside to play in it. The finale is an epic neighborhood snowball fight with snow forts and flags where kids have to strategize, problem-solve, and cooperate -- a great reminder of how important interactive play is for kids to build these vital skills. One kid loses two teeth in the melee when an ice ball is thrown -- kids get together to ban ice balls after that. The only other hazard is a snowplow that almost runs down the kids. In other parts of the book, kids get lost and almost get hit by a car, and dogs attack and go for leftover pizza, not kids. The last illustration shows an atom bomb going off out the window while cyborg Greg plays cards with a robot. Kids will learn a bit about climate change and the extinction of the dinosaurs, as well as medieval castle warfare. There's not as much potty humor in this book to watch out for, but Greg often makes bad decisions, usually out of forgetfulness or laziness. He also shows himself to be a strategic thinker with lots of big ideas -- that often fail miserably.

Where to Read

Community reviews.

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Based on 2 parent reviews

Great Depth

What's the story.

In DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE MELTDOWN, it's winter and Greg is impatiently waiting for the cold weather. His school heater is on too high, making his brain foggy. Perhaps that's why he forgot to do his country report -- he'll just have to fake it. When the weather finally turns, the school heater breaks and it's freezing in school. It's also so snowy on his walks to and from school that one day he straps pizza boxes to his feet. He's making excellent time until the boxes get soggy and the neighbor dogs smell the leftover pizza. As the snow continues to fall, neighborhood tensions rise. The safety patrol girls won't allow snowball fights after school. The kids that live up the hill won't let the kids that live down the hill sled on THEIR hill. Throw in a snow day, snow forts, and an enterprising kid selling specialty snowballs, and Greg and his friends better be ready to rumble.

Is It Any Good?

In this 13th Wimpy Kid, Greg's up to his usual bad ideas until he lands on a stellar one: an epic neighborhood snowball fight, the kind kids dream of as soon as the first flurries fly. Well, he doesn't come up with the whole idea, but his snow fort gets things rolling. At the height of the battle, there are multiple forts, team flags, shaky alliances, and a guy selling specialized snowballs. There's even a spy. And -- many parents will love this -- it all comes together because Greg's mom forces him outside, telling him that video games don't teach kids how to interact. In just one afternoon of snow-covered mayhem, kids have to plan, negotiate, strategize, and cooperate. This part of The Meltdown is such a great reminder of how amazing getting outside and looking for the good kind of trouble can be.

The rest of The Meltdown is less cohesive and engaging. There's a school report Greg forgot about, a hot school, and then a freezing-cold school, smelly socks, kids spreading germs, breaking into Grandma's house, and so on. Mixed in, you'll find an introduction to the neighbor kids who'll stage the fight later, but it's not done smoothly. Perhaps this hodgepodge fits in with the diary premise, but luckily it doesn't last the whole book. For the finale, author-illustrator Jeff Kinney includes a full-page spread of the snowball melee. That's how you know he's having a ball as well.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the snowball fight in The Meltdown. Have you ever had a snowball fight like that? What strategies did the neighborhood kids use to win? How did they come up with rules to keep things safe?

Do you think it's cruel for Greg's mom to have screen-free weekends? Do you think he would have been outside if his mom didn't force him out?

Which is your favorite Wimpy Kid book so far? Do you read other graphic novel series? Which ones?

Book Details

• Author : Jeff Kinney
• Illustrator : Jeff Kinney
• Genre : Humor
• Topics : Adventures , Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Middle School
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Amulet Books
• Publication date : October 30, 2018
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
• Number of pages : 224
• Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
• Last updated : March 21, 2019

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• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown is the 13th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series . It was released on October 31 st , 2018. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown succeeds Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway and precedes Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball .

• 1 Main characters
• 3.1 January
• 3.2 February
• 4 Continuity
• 5 Cultural references
• 8 External Links
• 9 Names in other languages

Main characters

• Greg Heffley
• Frank Heffley
• Susan Heffley
• Rodrick Heffley
• Manny Heffley
• Rowley Jefferson

When the schools get shut down because of a snowy day, the neighbourhood transforms into a wintry battlefield. Some rival groups fight over territory, Some rival groups build massive snow forts, and some rival groups stage epic snowball fights. In the cross-hairs are Greg Heffley and his trusty-true to the end-best friend, Rowley Jefferson.

It's a fight for survival as Greg and Rowley navigate against alliances, betrayals, and warring gangs in a neighbourhood meltdown. When the snow clears, will Greg and Rowley emerge as heroes? Or will they even survive to see another day?

The story starts off with Greg saying how everybody is outside enjoying the warm weather, but Greg isn't because it's January and it doesn't feel right because it's the middle of winter. Greg then says about how the whole planet is warming up, and humans are to blame. But Greg says that he shouldn't be to blame, as he only recently got onto planet earth (being born). He then says about he hopes that it doesn't warm up too fast, or he would have to ride a camel to school. He then says he heard that the ice caps are melting and the seas are rising and he was trying to convince his parents to buy a house higher up on their hill so that they can avoid the water for longer, but his parents aren't too concerned. It makes Greg nervous that he is the only person in his family worried about it, and if they didn't do something about it now they would wish they did. The seas rising isn't the only thing that is making Greg nervous, as there could be things in the ice caps, and since they are melting they could be free. Greg then says that he saw a movie about a caveman that got frozen in ice, and thousands of years later when it melted he was still ALIVE. Greg didn't know if that could happen in real life, but if it could he says that if it could his nighttime janitor could be one.

Greg has to participate with his school on International Showcase Week. Back in November, when there was an International Showcase, he wanted the country to be assigned Italy but unfortunately, too many people wanted to study Italy. After a random draw by his teacher, it was given to Dennis Tracton. So he was forced to make a project about Malta. However, he forgot all about it and has now to make it for the following day. Since Rowley refused to switch with him, Greg says that he was on his own and hoped his project will be fine.

In order to push kids asking questions away, he only pretended to speak Maltese and not English, but after this, a kid in his grade has parents who are from MALTA. Fortunately for him, the huge fight between Brazil and Bulgaria flared up again, and the bell rings dismissing the school.

However, the situation worsens when Susan receives a letter that Greg has to make his project again. Plus, she forbids him for screens on weekends as well as Rodrick and Manny. All brothers decide to misbehave in order to prove to her that "Screen-Free Weekends" aren't working.

Greg also says that his mom says that she wants him to make some new friends. But with the exception of Rowley, he has no chance to befriend another child. Sometimes, he even has to walk in front of Fregley's house which is between his and Rowley's and it's difficult for him.

Greg then explains that the other kids in his street aren't good people for him to befriend, but the worst are the ones who live in Lower Surrey Street because their street part is flat and Greg lives in Upper Street. The two parts can't stand one another and you can't change from a part to the other as Trevor Nix is considered a traitor for moving to Lower Surrey Street.

Greg talks about the pig which was left at a kennel during their Christmas vacation , and when it gets mad about not going with them, Frank sends it to obedience school, but the person who runs the places calls him telling him the pig ESCAPED. Greg's family puts up posters to find it.

Greg wonders if a human being can hibernate, but Greg tells that he knows about The Mingos, who live in the woods don't show up in the winter until spring. Greg says so if they're NOT hibernating all winter, who knows what they're doing.

Greg talks about the Safety Patrols as he enjoyed it since it gave him access to hot chocolate. But he got kicked out of Safety Patrols, so he can't have any. Ever since that, he has been filling a thermos with hot chocolate.

He also tells how dirty his neighbours are. When he is sick, he receives some cherry lozenges for his throat which makes him popular with girls.

Because of the cold, Greg and Rowley try to find a place where they could warm up. They finally manage to hide at Gramma 's place while she is on vacation but they don't know that Susan actually comes sometimes in order to do her laundry.

To Greg's surprise, Susan isn't mad at him at all, even congratulating him for "using his imagination" rather than screens. Greg wishes she'd grounded him instead.

Greg explains that the Safety Patrol is very strict and report anyone who dares to throw a snowball during a school day. They also allow girls to walk on the road but don't allow boys to do it.

Greg says that he has no qualms about snitching and also that due to the snow, all students had to walk barefoot in the school.

The next day, Greg tries vainly to invent a new way to walk in the snow with pizza boxes with his shoes duct-taped to them after trying to warm up his winter boots, which end up melting into the bricks of the fireplace, but his idea fails. He also discovers that the janitor couldn't stand the sock smell and open the windows to let some fresh air in, but forgot to close the windows at the end of his shift, and now, it FREEZES inside.

So, the students try to keep warm and use their creativity. The principal then decides to dismiss school early, much to the children's delight but since Rowley and Greg have to walk on their way home, instead of taking the bus, they decide to borrow the Whirley Street Kids bus. At first, they can sit in the bus without being discovered until an incident with a snowball prompts the bus driver to stop the bus and refuse to start it again until the tattletale admits they did it. Greg looks in the back of the bus, hearing some kids, however, an eight-grader realizes he wasn't from Whirley Street and all the kids on the bus blame it on Greg, forcing him and Rowley to get off the bus.

A few Whirley Street kids start running after Greg and Rowley, due to the kids on the bus lying about him throwing the snowball. They then decide to run from them, leading them into the woods.

Greg and Rowley are forced to run in the woods, which is where the Goat Man lives. Greg sees a light coming from a car, it was but was actually coming from a broken car, Greg and Rowley then realize they're in the Mingo camp, after getting close to a car, Mr. Morsels gets stuck on the door handle of the car, resulting in Greg abandoning him. He and Rowley then dash out of the woods, where Frank sees them and then brakes.

The next day, Greg has the house for himself since Manny is at nursery, Rodrick sleeps and his parents are gone. But little does he know is Susan planned some chores for him. Since he isn't able to finish all of them before his parents return, his mother forces him to play in the snow and also calls Rowley's parents in order to prevent Greg from going to his house.

Without any option, Greg and Rowley build a fort which is quickly demolished. Frank gives them some advice, and both boys build another fort but discover that almost every kid had the SAME idea. Now, they have to fight against the Lower Surrey Street Kids due to them sliding on their hill, but after a while, they're not ready to surrender and decide to refuel. Even Trevor Nix betrays the Upper Surrey Street Kids in order to possibly get accepted by the Lower Surrey Street Kids. After being double-crossed by Trevor, the Upper Surrey Street Kids snow fort gets demolished.

Then they hear The Safety Patrol who came there for revenge, resulting in the battle turning into the Surrey Street Kids versus the Safety Patrols, but some girls on Surrey Street SWITCH sides which makes it confusing. The Whirley Street Kids slide on the hill and join the battle. Then all the kids hear a sound, but Greg and Rowley knew it was the Mingo kids, looking like they woke up from a three-month nap. Greg realizes that he had Meckley's buckle in his pocket without realizing it. Since the kids hate the Mingo kids than everyone else, they turn to fight them. Greg decides he has had enough, and he and Rowley hide. And are worried that they won't survive. Then the ground shakes, but it turns out to be the snowplow drive, plowing all the snow and ends the battle.

After the battle, Greg can't remember what they started fighting over in the first place, and the weather warms up a lot. There is still snow on the ground, so Mitchell Pickett uses a snowmobile he spent with all the money he made. Trevor Nix gets accepted in Lower Surrey Street. Greg just hopes that everyone will be grateful to him if he can make a good strategy that could allow human people to live with robots. Greg says he's glad that there are people like the HERO type out there, but the world needs guys like HIM too. Greg says because if human beings are still around 500 million years from now, it's gonna be thanks to the Greg Heffley's of the world who figured out a way to SURVIVE.

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid : The Safety Patrol organization is mentioned again. It is revealed that all of the boy members have since been kicked off for misbehaviour.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck : The Mingo Kids and Meckley Mingo reappear.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul : Flat Stanley is referenced.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway : In The Meltdown , the pig is upset over not having been included in the Heffleys' Christmas vacation in The Getaway . After the pig starts misbehaving, Frank sends it to an obedience school. The pig escapes and is not found by the end of the book.
• Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal : Mr. Yee , the Goat Man , and Joseph O'Rourke are mentioned.
• The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book : Fregley's line, "Betcha I can find your 'tickle spot!'" is said again in The Meltdown .
• Like in Wimpy Wonderland, Manny escapes while Greg babysits him.
• In The Meltdown , Fregley appears as a human snowman. In Wimpy Wonderland, Fregley is stuck inside a snowman for most of the island.

Cultural references

• Greg thinks that Emilia Greenwall has "seen too many Disney movies" due to her dressing like a princess.
• Rowley suggests "Hufflepuff" as a name for his and Greg's clan, which is a Hogwarts house from Harry Potter . Greg denies it and says he wants a more original name.
• As the class plays "Museum," one student is shown dabbing .
• Despite Sweetie getting overweight in Hard Luck , he is normal in this book.
• Latricia Hooks appears different on the snowball fight panorama.
• On page 16, after Malta is Mauritania. However, the Marshall Islands actually come next in alphabetical order.
• A character on page 122 is shown with a black jacket. On the next page, he is wearing a white jacket.

External Links

The Meltdown PDF

Names in other languages

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The Meltdown

An instant #1 USA Today , New York Times , and Wall Street Journal bestseller! When snow shuts down Greg Heffley’s middle school, his neighborhood transforms into a wintry battlefield. Rival groups fight over territory, build massive snow forts, and stage epic snowball fights. And in the crosshairs are Greg and his trusty best friend, Rowley Jefferson.   It’s a fight for survival as Greg and Rowley navigate alliances, betrayals, and warring gangs in a neighborhood meltdown. When the snow clears, will Greg and Rowley emerge as heroes? Or will they even survive to see another day?  

ISBN: 978-1-4197-4199-9

• Published: Oct 30, 2018
• Format: Hardcover
• Price: $14.99

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The Wimpy Kid Series.

Famed for laugh-out-loud humor through words and cartoons, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books follow Greg Heffley as he records the trials and triumphs of middle school. More than 290 million copies have been sold around the globe!

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Rodrick Rules

The Last Straw

The Ugly Truth

Cabin Fever

The Third Wheel

The Long Haul

Double Down

The Getaway

Wrecking Ball

The Deep End

Diper Överlöde

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The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg Heffley went to Hollywood

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Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid

• Study Guide

Jeff Kinney

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Summary: January

Greg and Rowley invent a game for the Big Wheel in which Greg throws a football at Rowley as he rides down a hill. After a while, Rowley wants to trade places, but Greg refuses. The next time he and Rowley play the Big Wheel game, Rowley breaks his hand in a fall. When Rowley becomes popular at school with his cast, Greg tries wrapping his hand in gauze and faking an infection, but it doesn’t get him the attention he wants. 

As the third quarter begins at school, Greg signs up for Independent Study, and his class is assigned to build a robot. The boys and girls cannot agree, so they split into two groups. The class gets canceled, however, when the teacher finds a list the boys made of all the words that the robot should not say. Greg and Rowley sign up for Safety Patrol and are assigned to walking kindergarteners home halfway through the day. Greg feels happy because the job means that they will miss most of his pre-algebra class.

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid

36 pages • 1 hour read

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Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

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Chapters 7-8 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 summary: “march”.

In March, Rowley is called down to the office and accused of “‘terrorizing’ the kindergarteners when he was supposed to be walking them home from school” (179). Greg explains to the reader that last week he had to walk the kindergarteners home by himself while Rowley was taking a quiz. Greg notes that “[i]t had rained that morning, and there were lots of worms on the sidewalk” (180), so he chased the kindergarteners with the worms. A woman in the neighborhood thought that Greg was Rowley because Greg “was borrowing [Rowley’s] coat” (181), and she threatened to call the principal and report him. Greg “forgot about the whole thing” (181), but Rowley is suspended from Patrols for a week and has to apologize to the kindergarteners. Greg knows he should tell the truth and get Rowley off the hook, but he knows “[he’d] lose [his] hot chocolate privileges” (182) if he did confess. Greg decides to “let Rowley take one for the team this time around” (183), but he does tell Rowley what happened.

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"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown" Quiz

A quiz on the 2018 children's book by jeff kinney..

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• Kid Lit Authors A - K
• Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Jeff kinney, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

In Greg ’s middle school, deviation from social norms is often punished with bullying. One of Greg’s central aims is to avoid any behavior that could make him a target for school bullies—like wearing the wrong clothes, being bad at sports, or having an embarrassing nickname. Ultimately, however, he chooses to protect his “uncool” best friend Rowley from school bullies when he takes responsibility for touching “the Cheese,” a moldy bit of cheese left out on the school basketball court, exposing himself to the risk of social censure to protect his friend.

Greg witnesses almost daily instances of bullying at his middle school and even perpetuates it himself. There is intense peer pressure to behave in certain ways to be perceived as cool, which even causes Greg to become the bully instead of the bullied. Greg runs a student government campaign for treasurer against Marty Porter , hoping that becoming treasurer will give him more power in the school. His campaign posters consist entirely of personal insults of Marty, such as reminding people of his lice problem in elementary school. The vice principal perceives this behavior as bullying and makes him take down the posters. Greg develops a vendetta against another student, Patty Farrell , after she stops him from cheating on a geography test. In the school production of The Wizard of Oz , Patty plays Dorothy, and Greg and his friends pelt her with apples. As a result, her glasses break and the director has to stop the play, ruining Patty’s dream of performing on stage.

Greg is frequently bullied by older and physically intimidating teenagers who use their superior strength to exert power over others. Even Greg’s older brother, Rodrick , sometimes engages in bullying behavior. For example, in the summer, he wakes Greg up at 3:00 A.M. and tricks him into thinking that it’s the first day of school. This causes Greg to panic, get dressed, and make himself breakfast, getting him in trouble with their dad. Similarly, teenagers in a passing pickup truck spray Greg and Rowley with water while they are trick-or-treating. The teenagers then chase Greg and Rowley to Greg’s grandmother’s house. Although Greg and Rowley escape, the teenagers cover the house in toilet paper—in an act of intimidation that extends to Greg’s family.

One bullying tactic adopted by the entire school centers on “the Cheese,” a moldy piece of cheese left on the school basketball court. Legend holds that any person who touches it gets the “ Cheese Touch ,” which they can then pass on to other students by touching them. The result is that students with the Cheese Touch are bullied and socially ostracized. One student, Abe Hall , was thought to have the Cheese Touch, meaning that “no one would go near him.” This bullying had such a negative impact on Abe that he moved to California at the end of the school year.

The acts of bullying that Greg witnesses, experiences, and perpetrates are often framed as jokes, but their effect is often to intimidate. The fact that bullying is frequently carried out by older students models such behavior to their younger peers, perpetuating a cycle of bullying that continues over the years. Greg’s protection of Rowley, however, provides one example of a moment when Greg chooses not to continue the cycle. Greg and Rowley are bullied by the same teenagers from Halloween night, who force Rowley to eat the Cheese. Greg knows that this would lead to permanent social outcast status for Rowley if people knew about it, but Greg chooses to keep the secret and take responsibility himself by claiming that he was the one who touched the Cheese. In this sense, he refuses to engage in the bullying behavior that is so common at his middle school and instead chooses other values: friendship over social status, kindness over intimidation, and self-sacrifice over self-protection.

Bullying ThemeTracker

Bullying Quotes in Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I figure if I bulk up now, it could actually come in handy down the road. The football unit is coming in the spring, and they split the teams up into shirts and skins. And I ALWAYS get put on skins. I think they do that to make all the out-of-shape kids feel ashamed of themselves.

I did my singing tryouts with a bunch of other boys whose moms made them come, too. I tried to sing as quietly as possible, but of course I got singled out, anyway. I have no idea what a “soprano” is, but from the way some of the girls were giggling, I knew it wasn’t a good thing.

Well, if one good thing came out of the play, it's that I don't have to worry about the “Bubby” nickname anymore. I saw Archie Kelly getting hassled in the hallway after fifth period today, so it looks like I can finally start to breathe a little easier.

In school today they had a general assembly and showed the movie “It’s Great to Be Me,” which they show us every year. The movie is all about how you should be happy with who you are and not change anything about yourself. To be honest with you, I think that’s a really dumb message to be telling kids, especially the ones at my school.

If the truth ever came out about how the Cheese disappeared, Rowley would be finished. He’d have to move out of the state, and maybe even the country. That’s when I decided to speak up. I told everyone that I knew what happened to the Cheese. I said I was sick of it being on the court, and I just decided to get rid of it once and for all…if I threw away the Cheese, guess what that meant? It meant that I have the Cheese Touch.

Well, if Rowley appreciated what I did for him last week, he hasn’t said it. But we’ve started hanging out after school again, so I guess that means me and him are back to normal. I can honestly say that so far, having the Cheese Touch hasn’t been all that bad.

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