The Impact of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I feel like the bigger the nose, the more Greg hates the person

"...and worst of all, he's a SIMP." Comedy gold

The cheese touch was so powerfully influential that it made it's way into my school and we didn't even have the cheese

the "you pissed me off" line from the regular show had me convinced as a kid that it was a show for like. teens or adults. it only blew my mind years later lmao

Fun fact: the Swedish title of the book is even more narcissistic, it’s just called: Diary for all my fans

“He’s stupid, he’s a liar, and worst of all he’s a simp” That caught me so off guard now I have eggs everywhere

i read this entire series and dork diaries through and through- i feel like the thing about these books is that although they’re physically larger books compared to others for children, they seemed easier to read and i finished these “big” books so fast LMAOO it made me feel so good about myself

I'm a 2004 kid. This honestly explains so much. I grew up on diary of a wimpy kid, Calvin and Hobbes, the misadventure of flapjack, courage the cowardly dog, chowder, regular show, adventure time, and so on. It's kinda insane looking back and realizing that my generation actually has an explanation for our broken humor lol

The fact that Greg doesn’t even complete a character arch by becoming a person is a bold move for a children’s book.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - the book series that people who hate reading, actually read

As a school librarian, circa 2008-2012 I had to keep our copies of these books behind the circulation desk and only check them out upon request. They were constantly being “jacked” as the kids would say back then. There was one 4th grade teacher about 8-10 years ago who banned her students from checked them out because they kept bullying one girl with “cheese touch.” It really was a cultural phenomenon for a little while. DoaWK is still popular but graphic novels, like Dog Man, are higher on the radar these days.

I don't get the whole "Greg is a sociopath thing" Sure, he might have sociopathic traits, but he's 13. To me he just seems like a misguided middle schooler more than anything. Now, the movies are a different story (Greg isn't a static character in them, but goes through change). Throughout most of the first movie Greg is almost a spitting image of his book-self. He is a terrible friend to Rowley. But in the movie universe these actions actually have consequences, and Rowley eventually figures out Greg's true nature and starts hanging out with another kid. Greg realizes what a good friend Rowley was, and how stupid it is to try to impress others or trying to become popular, and instead realizes that what really matters is a good friend. These actions actually carry onto the next two films where Greg is noticeabley a way better friend to Rowley than his original movie-self/book-self. The same applies with the other two movie story arcs with Greg and Roderick and Greg and Frank.

I found my old “Diary of a Wimpy kid do it yourself” book and on the first page I spelled my name wrong

The true ending of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is when you realize the “relatable” character you had been agreeing with was an asshole all along.

i also loved how the font really mimicked a kids' writing. Its all these small things that makes it the best book ever

I was not the target audience for these books, my brothers owned them. But even though I was a girl and too old, I still found them entertaining. It was relieving to see a protagonist do and say what every kid is thinking.

I also like the fact that when Greg did something bad he wasn’t immediately caught and you think oh he got away with it but then 20 pages later he gets caught and that’s so realistic.

“Anyone can draw Greg” The most untrue statement I have ever heard.

I find it amusing how you drew in your books, because I actually drew inside of my Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books when I was growing up myself. But I was obsessed with giving all the characters super powers. I drew Greg to have flame powers, I drew Rodrick covered in spikes, I gave the dad stone skin, Manny had weird energy and laser eye powers, and the mom, for some reason lost to my child mind, had rope nose hairs.

Personally I was very fond of these books as a child. Growing up with dyslexia graphic novels and books with smaller blocks of text were so much more accessible to me.