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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is the 6th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The book was released on November 15, 2011. The cover shows Greg and Manny trapped inside because of heavy snow. This is considered one of the best books in the series and is very popular. So much so that it has won an award in 2012 for children's books.

Main Characters

See minor characters

Synopsis

Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he's innocent. Or at least sort of. The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts, he's going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?

Plot

November

Maybe you would've gotten more presents if you hadn't pinched your brother last week

Greg's on the Naughty List

Worrying about the holidays, Greg writes in his journal that he has to change his behavior to not get bad presents for Christmas. He complains that kids whose families who don't celebrate Christmas don't have to stress out and that he has a few friends like Chirag Gupta who act bit extra jerky just because they can and the fact that Santa knows when your sleeping, knows when your awake really creeps him out.

Then he also complains about a toy Susan brought out, Santa's Scout. To Greg, the toy doesn't let him repeat any of his usual antics to find out what his presents are and makes him be extra good when he's in the room with Santa's Scout, so it doesn't report anything bad to Santa back at the North Pole, but it probably doesn't matter anyway because Rodrick is constantly feeding bad information about him. Whenever Greg wakes up Santa's Scout is in a new place which he thinks is supposed to mean he traveled to the North Pole but he's starting to think it's just Rodrick moving him.

The next day, while putting up the Christmas tree, Manny throws a huge tantrum when he finds out that they were decorating without him, the reason why he was upset was because someone hung his favorite ornament so Susan gave the ornament to Manny but he wanted it first on the tree and that's what happens in his house every single year. Greg then recalls how before Thanksgiving Break; his school had a contest to create posters in order to get rid of bullying.

This makes Greg remember how he and Rowley were chased with a stick by Nasty Pants, but only to find out he's just five to Frank's disappointment. Greg can't help but notice how the adults at his school had trouble paying for insurance for the playground equipment after noting that the school took away all of it. First, they lost the swings and seesaw, next they lost the monkey bars and finally they lost the balance beam. The reason they lost all of the equipment was because people got hurt, the same goes for most games like Freeze Tag (someone was hurt after getting shoved from behind) and that banned running or touching, even after making up Air-Tag it is not the same. Greg points out that adults these days are getting too obsessed with safety with all kids especially since the kids wear bicycle helmets to Manny's peewee soccer game.

Greg decides to create his Christmas wish list as to not repeat what happened a few years ago. Since he didn't write a wish list, Susan got him a doll named Alfrendo while Susan was pregnant. He soon grew to love the doll but misplaced it so he was devastated but also afraid he wouldn't be trusted to look after Manny. Greg drew a face on a grapefruit and wrapped it in a dish towel but soon developed a fear that the doll will return to exact his revenge. Missing the feeling while he had taken care of Alfrendo, Greg turns to Net Kritterz to fill the hole. However, he grows too addicted, so Susan makes him invite Rowley over.

Spotting the two playing video games, Susan tells them to do something else and they play Wacky Sentence, but they get in a fight over the spelling of volleyball. They then play Hide-and-Seek, but Greg finds Rowley easily because Rowley thinks that if he can't see you, you can't see him. Greg decides to spend some time by himself by committing a dare to see who was braver, each one of them had to go in the woods and write down their name on a fort they built and who ever chickened out was wrong about volleyball and had to call the other guy sir for the rest of his life. Greg came up with the dare because he wrote his name on the fort last summer, when they built it, so he went inside the front door made himself a bowl of ice cream and relaxed for a while. He then later walked around his house, rubbed dirt over his face and clothes and tricked Rowley which made him back out, and the rest of the night was argument free. Rowley accompanies the Heffleys to Church, as Rowley's family doesn't go to church that often, so he doesn't know the rules, he thought that peace is with you was actually the vegetable "Peas" be with you and gave a kiss to a woman instead of handshaking, Greg and Susan were glad when they dropped him back.

December

Greg tries to ask Susan to loan him money, but she won't give him any. She tells him he could shovel his neighbours' driveways the next day. Greg finds a customer but turns his driveway into ice after melting the snow with water and spends his $20 on rock salt to melt his driveway. Frank reminds Greg about using "poor judgment." The same thing he said about an incident with a Student of the Week bumper sticker. Instead of going to church, the Heffleys head to the Giving Tree where Greg places a note requesting cash.

The school starts telling students to eat healthier as a way to improve their Phys Ed ranking. Greg asks Mr. Underwood if he can finish his sit-ups as homework, and he agrees as long as he gets proof. Greg paints fake abs with mascara on his chest, and many other boys follow the suit, Greg also states that many of them are awful artists. However, their ploy is ruined when the mascara runs because of their sweat. Susan tells Greg that he has to start buying his gifts with his own money, which he usually does at the Holiday Bazaar. Greg decides to sell his signed graphic novel, but it is revealed to be a fake signature and realizes his mother must've signed it because she got tired of waiting. Greg forgets that he had to get a gift for his holiday buddy, but Susan manages to get him one at the last minute.

Drummes

Greg stocking up on Drummies.

At the store, Greg spots Drummies and decides to create his own Holiday Bazaar. He and Rowley soon make a cardboard makeshift of the Pac-Man game. Rowley is supposed to control the ghosts with pencils glued to the cardboard ghosts, while the person outside moves Pac-Man with a popsicle stick. After two hours making it, Rowley asks Greg what happens if he needs to use the bathroom. Greg hands him an empty 2-liter soda bottle. Once they were done, Greg cut the grooves for where the popsicle stick and pencils would go. However, much to Greg and Rowley's dismay, as soon as Greg cut the outer border, the whole maze fell into the machine. Greg concludes that they won't make much money unless people would pay a quarter for Rowley sitting in a box.

After being rejected for an I.O.U, Greg is dismayed that the news can't write about their Holiday Bazaar. But he gets an idea: to make their own newspaper for the Bazaar. He and Rowley name the newspaper "The Neighborhood Tattler" and wrote their front-page story. They also then made a comics page, featuring "Stinky Sebastian" by Greg and "T.G.I.F." & "Ned the Napkin" by Rowley. Another addition is their advice column, "Ask Greg", where people could send questions about problems they had. But instead of waiting, the two make up a few "sent" questions. Rowley goes around the neighborhood for another story for the paper.

Soon, they hang posters advertising their Bazaar at the school, but it starts to rain, and the color is attached to the wall. Someone spots the two, so they take off. While the witness didn't get a good look at them, the fact that they made the front page makes them criminals. Greg admits this isn't the first time this has happened; one time he and Rodrick helped an old lady by taking her to the grocery store, but it turns out they took her to a store that was far from Leisure Towers and sadly the lady didn't want to go back in the van with them and he and Rodrick were on the news. The school starts to spread rumors and investigate who was responsible. Rowley turns Greg and himself in, but only states Greg's name. Greg decides to take one for the team and scrubs the dye off. The police leave a note stating they'll be back to Greg's house. However, a huge snowstorm hits the town, Greg cannot believe it happened, whenever Rowley watched a Christmas special which was taped, he called Greg about the report. While Greg did seem concerned when he heard, he stopped believing Rowley when he watched the special in the middle of summer. Due to the storm the entire family, except Frank, who had to stay in a hotel, due to the weather, are trapped inside the house.

Manny manages to hack Greg's Net Kritterz account and spends all of his tokens and points in that game. He even somehow figured out how to change the password for the tv. To keep the boys entertained, Susan brings out some board games to keep them occupied. Greg plays a magic trick on Manny that there's a hole in the table. Manny tries that with Susan's glasses and breaks them. Susan, being nearly blind without her glasses, then tells Greg has to take care of Manny and to feed him. Manny throws huge tantrums on how Greg is not serving the food the way he wants, but Susan backs Manny up much to Greg's dismay. The next morning, Greg heads into the basement and finds out that it was a foot underwater, ruining most of their stuff. The four spend the day clearing the water out and Susan has Rodrick sleep in Greg's room for the time being. Greg heads back to the basement to salvage stuff and is reunited with Alfrendo, which Greg figures Frank hid. Greg notices the food was starting to dwindle down and decides to survive on a jawbreaker. The electricity cuts out and then powers off.

Manny hides in his room while the three huddles together to keep warm. Greg misplaces Alfrendo again and is forced to shower. Following that, Rowley asks Greg if they want to build a snowman, but Greg asks how his family is living without power. Rowley tells Greg that the electricity is back, and his house is the only one in the street without it. Greg then gets curious and goes and checks the fuse box, he finds that Manny fused all lights except for his room's. Greg reports to Susan, they investigate Manny's room and find a heater, lights, toys, and food. Susan questions him, but Manny starts bawling it's because he doesn't know how to tie his shoes. Greg then goes downstairs to turn the power back on. The snowplow arrives and clears the snow and Frank comes home with food. Susan has Greg head to the police station and deliver their gift. Greg hides his face, thinking he's wanted, and delivers the gift. He then remembers he had asked for money and shovels snow off the driveway but finds nothing.

The Daily Herald 2

Newspaper showcasing Greg "clearing" the church driveway.

He returns home when suddenly the police show up. Greg freaks out and assumes they are here to arrest him, but instead they ask for last-minute gifts for the Toy Drive. Greg tries to give them Alfrendo, but the cops after looking at Alfrendo said that they won't accept used toys and quickly left. Greg wakes up at Christmas morning with no present's downstairs, but Susan says they did get gifts and they were wrapped in trash bags since the blizzard messed up Santa's schedule. Greg got his first signed the signed Tower of Druids book for real and by Kenny Centazzo. Susan asked him to write: To my biggest fan, Greg. But Kenny did not hear Greg's name carefully, so it wrote: To my biggest fan, Craig. That made Greg wish that he will find a rich man and sell it to him that was named: Craig. Rodrick got a drum and some drumsticks. Manny got a lot of toys, like every Christmas. Susan got Manny sneakers, but Manny prefers that his mom tie his laces even though he knows how. Greg, Rodrick, and Manny got V-neck sweaters, then they had to go to church, Greg wore his pajamas also inside the sweater and when he came back, he was so sweaty that he had to take off his shoes and get the water out into the sink. Returning from church, Greg sees the newspaper which thinks that he selflessly cleared the snow so homeless people can get food from the soup kitchen. He said the newspaper didn't get the story right, but he won't complain, the article has inspired him to put out a new version of the Neighborhood Tattler and Greg says he bets they can sell a ton of copies.

Film Adaptation

Original

In December 2012, Jeff Kinney announced that he was working on an animated adaptation of Cabin Fever to air around Christmas 2013. In August 2013, Kinney stated it would be a half-hour television special, and would air on Fox in late 2014.

Revival

On September 8, 2023, Disney announced they

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are going to be releasing a film adaptation of Cabin Fever for Disney+ on December 8, 2023 called Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin F ever.

Inspiration

"I'm very excited to be writing the sixth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, which features the Heffley family being snowed in,” says author Jeff Kinney. “Having just experienced an epic winter in New England, I've had plenty to draw about."[1]

Trivia

  • Many fans consider this book to be the best one in the series. Mainly because of the fact its main focuses are on Christmas and snow.
  • This book is likely set in either 2013 or 2019, as it is revealed that Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday.
  • This was the last book to have major scenes from the online version in a book, which shows Greg buying "Drummies".
  • There was going to be a little to know movie special of the movie it is based on when Jeff Kinney stated at one of his Wimpy Kid 2012 events, that the third one will be the final one (until the not-well received Wimpy Kid 4th movie), and also said stuff about the special named Cabin Fever. After the Hard Luck cover release, he still stated the Cabin Fever movie special, with it will be on FOX, that owns the 3 movies, and will be released in 2014. Sadly, it was scrapped and canceled, with no footage of storyboard or plans retrieved to this day.
  • On-Page 175, the book makes a Harry Potter reference when Greg complains about the way Manny likes his mustard on his hot dog, and he claims: "See, this is the kind of nonsense I'm dealing with right now. I've seen a lot of movies where a kid my age finds out he's got magical powers and then gets invited to go away to some special school." Greg is making a reference to the book/movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He then claims that if he does get an invitation like that, this would be the perfect time to get it. It also shows an illustration of Dumbledore, instead of Hagrid, handing him the invitation to Hogwarts.
  • A Scholastic book order would get you two free bookmarks when you pre-ordered it, and when the book itself came, it was in paperback and a note was in it, complete with Jeff Kinney's signature.
  • It was revealed in this book that Greg won a contest to see how much a goat's kid weighs. He won a goat but Frank wouldn't let him keep it. A similar idea was used in The Long Haul when Manny won a pig after finding how much a hog weighs, but unlike the goat, the Heffleys had no choice but to keep the pig.
  • The paperback version officially came out in the UK on 30th January 2013 and people could also send Jeff Kinney some photos when you're ordering it and he will give one which has the photo you sent on the cover instead of Manny and Greg there. In addition to this, Wimp Wars had new questions based on Cabin Fever.
  • This is the third book to contain a Christmas entry in Greg's Diary. The first being Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and the second being mentioned in The Last Straw.
  • This the fourth time Greg's Diary was not mentioned.
  • On-Page 58, Rowley closes his mouth for the first time in the book series and third overall, including the two times he closed his mouth in the online version. Rowley would also go on close his mouth two more times in the book series: on Page 166 of The Third Wheel and Page 29 of Hard Luck.
  • This is the first time a branded video-game (Pac-Man) is seen.
  • It is unknown why Rowley didn't have the pimple from Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth because it ends in November, this one starts in November only. It is possible he or someone else might have popped it.
  • This is the second book to have another character (in this case, Manny) on the front cover with Greg. The first was Rodrick Rules, which featured Rodrick.
  • This is the first book that only covers two months. The Third Wheel, Hard Luck, Old School, Double Down, and The Meltdown also cover two months.
  • On Page 112, Susan is shown holding a picture of The Cat in the Hat.
  • Two actual events in history; the first Thanksgiving and the Boston Tea Party are referenced in the book.
  • This is the third book where the color of the cover bears a resemblance to the story, the first and second being The Last Straw and Dog Days, respectively. The book's color is turquoise/cyan, which may be because it's mostly winter, and turquoise/cyan is often associated with winter.
  • The part where Greg hides under his bedsheets when Frank knocks at the door are most likely a reference to the famous film Home Alone in which, the main character, Kevin, hides under his bedsheets because he was scared of the knocking, not knowing it was a police officer.
  • This is one of the few books where Greg's selfish actions are limited.
  • In some versions there is a note at the beginning about how the book was published. According to the note, the book was created between two storms.

Goofs/Errors

  • On Page 70, it says Greg is going onto Prentice Lane. However, on page 72, it says he is going to Prentice Street. This was fixed in a reprint.
  • On Page 68, Greg mentions how he, his father, Rowley, and Manny all met his new neighbor on Halloween. However, Rowley and Greg were having a fight and wouldn't have gone trick or treating together (because Halloween took place during Ugly Truth). It also couldn't have taken place on any previous Halloweens because the Snellas didn't move out until the summer before Ugly Truth.
  • On-Page 20, Greg and Rowley are shown too tall, and Frank is shown too short.
  • On-Page 109, while Greg is waiting in line to get his graphic novel signed, Manny is seen in a pram as a baby. However, Greg mentioned that the comics convention took place the year before Cabin Fever, so Manny wouldn't have been a baby by then and instead be a toddler. (That's because the comics convention took place between the first book and Rodrick Rules.) Greg is also seen much shorter.
  • On page 110, Greg says that when he had kids, they would be mad that he sold his graphic novel. The sentence should say, when I have kids, not when I had.
  • On a UK copy the Puffin logo is duplicated.

Sneak Peek

Gallery

See Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever/Gallery

Videos

Diary_of_a_Wimpy_Kid-_Cabin_Fever_by_Jeff_Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney


Diary_of_a_Wimpy_Kid-_Cabin_Fever_Trailer

Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Cabin Fever Trailer


References

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