Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Plot

The book starts with Greg explaining how bad his summer vacations were with his annoying brother Rodrick, who knows a secret that Greg is trying to keep. Greg is initially excited to return to school, but he still has the Cheese Touch from the previous year; he gets away with passing it on to a new kid. Greg and Rodrick's mother, Susan, starts a "Mom Bucks" program to get the two brothers to get along with each other. Rodrick, at first, squanders the money on heavy metal magazines, while Greg carefully and sensibly manages the cash. Rodrick has an upcoming science project, but he clearly shows no effort and asks his family members to do it for him.

When Rodrick later catches the flu, Susan and their father Frank leave the house for the night; Rodrick then calls every friend he knows and throws a party, while locking Greg in the basement. A month later, Greg notices Rowley has play money identical to that of "Mom Bucks" and takes it home to put under his mattress. When Greg fails to do his history homework (a poem about the 1900s), he must borrow the assignment from Rodrick and pay him $20,000 in Mom Bucks. Upon seeing the paper on the bus ride to school, Greg realizes Frank only did Rodrick's papers once he got to high school, and as a result had nothing to give to his history teacher, Mr. Huff. When Rodrick tries to cash in the Mom Bucks for a used motorcycle, Susan discovers the stolen Mom Bucks and confiscates all of Greg's, including his real ones.

After Thanksgiving, Rodrick's party is uncovered by a photo, and despite denying that he had it, he is grounded for a month. Also, Greg is accused of being Rodrick's 'accomplice', even though he had nothing to do with the party, and is banned from playing video games for 2 weeks. Rodrick then starts preparing for the talent show despite being grounded; Frank ends Rodrick's punishment 2 weeks early simply to avoid listening to Löded Diper daily. After Greg hurts Rowley by putting a dumbbell in a pillow that Rowley kicks during a sleepover, Greg must perform in the talent show with a 1st-grader, Scotty Douglas, who Rowley was partners with. They do not qualify, but Rodrick's band does. Rodrick, eager to continue to the talent show, hands in his science project earlier, but is forced to do it again since his project lacked several requirements and did not make clear sense.

Frank tries to persuade Rodrick to give up the show, but Rodrick insists on doing it so that he can send it to record label companies so that he and Löded Diper can get noticed, allowing him to drop out of school. During the talent show, Rodrick has his band's performance taped by Susan so he can send it to the record companies, but the video is rendered useless after it is revealed that Susan had talked the whole time, and everything she said was heard on the tape. Rodrick blames Greg despite not being involved and they fight, but their parents send both to their rooms.

Later, Rodrick tells Greg that his "secret is out". Greg reveals that at Leisure Towers, the retirement home where their grandfather lives, Rodrick took Greg's diary and ran for it but tripped on a board game. Greg grabbed the diary, ran to the toilet, and tried to destroy it. However, he accidentally went into the women's bathroom, where he was forced to hide until security removed him. However, Greg gets popular at school for what he did, since the story got extremely twisted, from being stuck in the women's bathroom in the retirement home to infiltrating the girls' locker room in Crossland High School.

The story ends with Greg helping Rodrick with his science project because he feels sorry for the video of Löded Diper at the talent show, which has become a worldwide internet hit due to Susan's dancing in it.

Reception

Rodrick Rules received positive reviews. Positive attention was given to the book for its effective portrayal of Greg Heffley, and for its humor. The books' strategy of using illustrations as a means of exposition was also praised.

Sequel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is the second book in the series. The third, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw was released on January 13, 2009.

Film adaptations

Live-action film

Brad Simpson stated he anticipated a sequel movie if the first film was a success. "Our writing staff are writing a sequel right now, "Rodrick Rules," which would be based on the second book" ... "And, you know, we hope that the people to see a second movie, so that we are in position of going again right away and making another film. I certainly know that the fans would like to see all the books made into movies."

Fox 2000 greenlit the sequel and Zachary Gordon returned as Greg Heffley. Steve Zahn (Frank Heffley), Devon Bostick (Rodrick Heffley) and Rachael Harris (Susan Heffley) also returned. The film was directed by David Bowers and the screenplay was written by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. Principal photography began in Vancouver in August 2010. A few new characters appeared in the film, including Peyton List as Holly Hills. The film was released on March 25, 2011.

Animated film

On December 3, 2021, an animated film based on the first book was released on Disney+. On Disney+ Day 2021, Kinney revealed that the first sequel, based on Rodrick Rules, was released on December 2, 2022.