Differences Between the Online Book, Book Series, and Films

These are differences found between the three series, online version, books and films. The online version starts here. If you find any differences, post them.

Online Version

• This version appears to be one whole book.
• In this version, Greg says Rodrick had to scrub toilets if he writes a bit of his journal each day.
• In this version, the kid with piercings is named Otha Harris.
• In this version, Rodrick's party takes place on March 12.
• The online book had gaps, unlike the book.
• In this version, the girls' note says "Greg is a goober". 
• In this version, the comment on TV says "That's a gutter ball, Dave."
• In this version, Grandpa says "There's monkeys in the walls! There's monkeys in the walls!".
• In this version, the time capsule says: "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2200 A.D."
• In this version, Greg says to a female teacher "No speech English" to get out of doing a problem.
• In this version, Greg says his Dad thought he was an idiot and a liar.
• In this version, there are many mood differences. Many scenes of Frank being mad were changed to Frank being tired, confused, or disappointed.
• In this version, Greg has a batty great-aunt called Mary Lou.
• In this version, the kid Greg shows as an example to his "Last Name Rule" is named Larry Ziegel.
• In this version, Whirley Street is called Whirley Drive.
• In this version, various brand names are present. For example, the console Rowley owns is a PlayStation with 42 games. Also Greg and the other boys are seen playing their Game Boys.
• In this version, New Recruits have to report to Spag Union on June 1st, not June 7th.
• In this version, the part with the sleepover and Rowley breaking his toe was there, but Manny wasn't in it.
• In this version, Greg signs up for a video game tournament, but competes against Leland.
• In this version, Greg's dwarf in Dungeons and Dragons (Magick and Monsters) is named Murlon.
• In this version, the kid named Collin Lee had a much bigger role. His appearance is also identical to Alex Aruda's.
• In this version, Greg got a signature from Andrea Trotter, not Holly Hills.
• In this version, The Fullers are called the Roses. Also, their dog's name is Stevie, not Princess.
• In this version, Fregley's name was spelled "Fregly."
• In this version, Greg's mom was named "Ann".
• In this version, the characters unnamed in the books used to have names.
• In this version, Greg's prayer had Erick Bickford.
• In this version, the kid Greg has to wrestle was a kid nicknamed "Stinky Williams."
• In this version, Chirag Gupta had a different hairstyle and a long, pointy nose.
• In this version, Greg says there's no Card Exchange in Middle School.
• In this version, Kristina Erickson is the one who throws huge parties for kids.
• In this version, part of Mrs. Craig's role was replaced by a woman named Ms. Jordan.
• In this version, Frank talks to Greg about calling a girl.
• In this version, the drawings have a simple, dirty look, similar to a child's drawing.
• In this version, Greg's soccer coach is named Mr. Keith. Also, Kenny Keith is Mr. Keith's son.
• In this version, the kid who bothers Greg during detention was Kenny Keith.
• In this version, Maurlene is Grandpa's date.
• In this version, Fregley is home-schooled.
• In this version, when Frank researches Rodrick's work looking for his factual errors, he tells him that Benjamin Franklin didn't actually fight in Vietnam.
• In this version, Greg's birthday happens during the school year.
• In this version, Rowley had to miss the talent show when he breaks his hand.
• In this version, Rowley gives Greg a Big Wheel for his birthday.
• In this version, Manny calls Greg "Pootie".
• In this version, Mamadou and Greg wrote the following letter (How old are you? 12. Oh.)
• In this version, Frank's boss is named "Mr. Swann".
• In this version, Holly Hills was named "Piper Matthews" and had a clearly different hairstyle. Her older sister Heather was named "Lori Matthews" and also had the same hairstyle as Holly/Piper. Piper also doesn't go to Greg's school, she attended St. Peters.
• In this version, the Snellas are named "The Smedleys." Shane's name is the same, but Shawn's name is "Max" and Seth doesn't have a name yet.
• In this version, Manny dumps unfinished Cheerios in his plastic potty.
• In this version, Trista moves into Chirag Gupta's old house after his family's second attempt to move.
• In this version, Frank had a cat, not a dog, and Grandpa didn't run over him, he left him outside and he froze.
• In this version, alcohol references are made, such as when Rodrick's party was discovered and him consuming it.
• In this version, Mamadou's surname is SaintPierre.
• In this version, Albert Sandy was a Red Socks member however, he quit on the first day of soccer.
• In this version, Trista exclaims she came from New Mexico.
• In this version, Rowley sleeps with a stuffed animal at a Log Cabin, and also closes his mouth.
• In this version, the Red Socks had lost in a play off in this version.
• In this version, Piper Matthews (Holly Hills) has a boyfriend and Greg only knows her by Church.
• In this version, Piper/Holly has three sisters and Frank tells Mr. Matthews that if he had 100 more children, they would all be girls.
• In this version, Rodrick and Ward have small slips with "#1" written on them, their plan is if any "girl" one of them for their number at a party, they had give them this slip to impress them.
• In this version, Manny destroys Greg's Walkman instead of his video game console.
• In this version, Grandpa sets a playdate for Greg, not Susan.
• In this version, Greg's neighborhood is called Surrey Circle, not Surrey Street.
• In this version, Greg is shown to be more academically focused than what is shown in the books.
• In this version, when Greg makes faces at Manny, his mother says: "You could have choked him to death!"
• In this version, the teenagers smoke.
• In this version, when Rodrick is grounded and rehearsing for his band, the dialogue is "Who Just Farted...Farted...Farted".
• In this version, Greg is not shown to be nervous or disappointed when his father decides to officially enroll Greg in Spag Union.
• In this version, Chirag tempts Rowley with a Twinkie.
• In this version, Rodrick owns a El Camino style pickup truck and Bill owns the Loded Diper van.
• In this version, the bumper stick on Susan's car says "Kids need teddy bears not drugs!".
• In this version, Greg and Rodrick's code language to replace bad words is mentioned as "You slimy squish stick!" and "Smarty milk dud!".
• In this version, the trick that Rodrick played on Greg in the middle of the night during the summer happened on the first day of summer.
• In this version, Sweetie is a terrier and Greg's ideas were turned down because nobody liked them. They were names of Dungeons and Dragons (Magick and Monsters) characters.
• In this version, Sweetie eats half of Greg's birthday cake.
• In this version, exact dates are shown in this book (such as Saturday, November 13).
• In this version, Grandpa's name is Grampa.
• In this version, Soak Central Waterpark is called Wild World, a reference to Animal Crossing: Wild World.
• In this version, Uncle Charlie is called Uncle Freddie.
• In this version, exclamation marks are used more than they are in the book.
• In this version, Frank dropped Greg to the back of the school, not Susan.
• In this version, Rodrick and Ward put fake vomit on people's cars at Stop and Shop.
• In this version, Darren Walsh is called Darnell Washington and could be the son of Mr. Washington (Mr. Alexander).
• In this version, Uncle Gary's current wife is Linda.
• In this version, The kid who won the Anti-Smoking Poster Contest was named Charles Carny.
• In this version, the music box at the Valentine's Day Dance says "Zippedy Doo Da, Zippedy Day!"
• In this version, Greg turns thirteen in this version, which Frank doesn't like.
• In this version, Henry is named Rudy and he instead of Sweetie chews off Ellie's trunk, legs, and ears.
• In this version, instead of ending up in a tree without his pants during Seth's half birthday party, Greg ends up in a wasps' nest without his pants.
• In this version, Rodrick's fish dies and Greg's fish loses its eyes. Manny also buys a fish, and it's Manny's fish that is eaten.
• In this version, Susan says Sharon Wahowski wasn't potty trained in her class, not Holly/Piper.
• In this version, the "Drummies!" were at the Leisure Towers instead of at the school fair.
• In this version, Manny is five instead of three.
• In this version, Ben was the one who did the "Where'd ya get it?" part of the "Doggie Dropped It" Joke and replaced few of Rowley's roles.
• In this version, Susan references Greg's age instead of his birth order.
• In this version, the parents don't believe in Santa.
• In this version, Great Uncle Clyde is the one who makes weird noises.
• In this version, the info about moose not living in the desert, and the info about moose being dumb and thinking that if they can't see you, you can't see them, is added to the Amazing Moose project.
• In this version, Greg discovers the Mom Bucks money in the game "Zoo-poly" which was given to him by Collin Lee. Greg was also tired while discovering it.
• In this version, Greg plays with ants during soccer.
• In this version, Rodrick's 100 Years Ago poem mentions there allegedly being no books or humans in the 1900s.
• This version has 1285 pages

Book Series

• This version has more than one book.
• In this version, the the kid with lots of piercings is named Jason Brill.
• In this version, Rodrick's party takes place on October 27.
• These books have no gaps unlike the online book.
• In this version, the girls' note reads: "Greg is a dork."
• In this version, Uncle Gary says "There's monkeys in the walls! There's monkey in the walls!"
• In this version, Greg never mentions to the reader his Dad needs to put on more clothes before coming downstairs.
• In this version, Greg says his Dad must think he has a screw loose or something.
• In this version, the kid Greg shows as an example is named Christopher Ziegel instead of Larry Ziegel.
• In this version, many of the brand names are removed, probably to avoid copyright issues.
• In this version, Greg invited Rowley to have a sleepover at his house. Only Greg's mom came to the basement, not both of his parents, and checked Rowley's toe when he broke it.
• In this version, Collin Lee made a small appearance and was depicted as an overweight kid with short hair. Rowley replaces part of Collin's role.
• In this version, the time capsule says "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2300 A.D."
• In this version, Greg's mom was renamed "Susan."
• In this version, the kid Greg has to wrestle was Fregley.
• In this version, Fregley isn't home-schooled.
• In this version, the comment on TV says "That's a spare, Dave!"
• In this version, Chirag Gupta's hair was short and his nose was somewhat modified.
• In this version, the trick that Rodrick played on Greg in the middle of the night during the summer happens a couple days into summer.
• In this version, the look of the drawings are more professional and computerized.
• In this version, Greg's soccer coach is named Mr. Litch and Kenny Keith was never his son.
• In this version, part of Kenny Keith's role was replaced by a kid named Leon Ricket.
• In this version, when Frank researches Rodrick's work looking for his factual errors, he tells him that Abraham Lincoln didn't write "To Kill a Mockingbird."
• In this version, Greg's birthday happens in the summer.
• In this version, Rowley had to miss the talent show when he breaks his toe.
• In this version, Rowley gives Greg a Big Wheel for Christmas.
• In this version, Manny calls Greg "Ploopy".
• In this version, Jacques and Albert are the one who wrote the following letter: (How old are you? 12. Oh.)
• In this version, Frank's boss is named "Mr. Warren."
• In this version, Manny dumps unfinished corn flakes in his plastic toilet.
• In this version, Manny destroys Greg's video game console.
• In this version, when Greg pulled faces at Manny, the dialogue from Susan is "You could've killed him!"
• In this version, Trista moves into some random house in Greg's neighborhood.
• In this version, Rowley does not sleep with a stuffed animal in the Log Cabin and still has mouth open.
• In this version, Greg gets more nervous when getting shipped off to Spag Union.
• In this version, Rodrick owns a van.
• In this version, the bumper sticker on Susan's car reads "My child is a graduate of Tender Huggles Preschool".
• Greg and Rodrick's code language is mentioned with "Spooky stork!" and "Raspberry plastic tickle bear!" 
• Sweetie is a labrador, and Greg's ideas were rejected because they were violent. His ideas were Shredder and Ripjaw.
• Exact dates are omitted, most likely to make the series seem timeless although there was an exact date in Rodrick Rules, saying "Saturday, October 27" on the picture from Rodrick's party.
• A lot of references to copyrighted material are just replaced with generic versions of the products.
• However, there still are some brand names or references in each of the books.
• Original- Greg's dad yells at him for eating Cheerios at 3 AM, and then Greg writes how he wants to mooch off his mom's Butterfingers after his Halloween candy got ruined.
• Rodrick Rules - Greg mentions how Rodrick spent a Saturday night watching people react to fake vomit in Home Depot.
• The Last Straw - The other kids on Greg's soccer team wanted the team to be called "Red Sox," but the coach didn't want to get sued so they changed it to Red Socks.
• Dog Days - When Greg's mom asks Gramma where she got the fake tabloid information from, she claimed to have gotten it from the New York Times.
• The Ugly Truth - When Greg draws the Snella family moving out, the first 3 letters on the moving truck are "MAYl MOV." This is probably a reference to Mayflower Moving, a real life moving company.
• Cabin Fever - Greg and Rowley made a cardboard cutout of Pac-Man for their failed holiday bazaar.
• The Third Wheel - Greg's mom read Oliver Twist before he was born, and Greg later mentions how his mom's minivan has old Cheerios in the seats.
• Hard Luck - Greg finds a Magic 8 Ball under Rodrick's bed.
• The Long Haul - Greg had Oreos in his duffle bag for the road trip.
• Old School - After Graham shared his Supplies, Greg ate Doritos out of a hiking boot and Mike Barrows was caught with a bag of Swedish Fish.
• Double Down - Maddox is shown to own a bunch of LEGOs.
• In this version, the kid who won the Anti-Smoking Poster Contest was named Chris Carney.
• In this version, the music box at the Valentine's Day Dance plays the Hokey Pokey song.
• In this version, Great Uncle Arthur is the one who makes noises.
• In this version, Jordan Jury is the one who throws huge parties for kids.
• In this version, Greg plays with dandelions during soccer.
• In this version, Rodrick and Ward put fake vomit on people's cars at Home Depot.

Film

• Greg rides The Cranium Shaker with Rowley, while in the book Greg rode it alone.
• The trick Rodrick played on Greg into thinking it was his first day of school happened a week before his real first day of school

• Dieter Muller appears in the film instead of Abe Hall and he's from Germany not Australia.

• It shows Greg is 19th on the popularity list in the film, much higher than his being in 50's in the book and online version.
• Greg was caught eating cereal at 4:00 in the morning instead of 3:00 AM.
• Rowley closes his mouth more than the online version and the book.
• Rodrick is way taller then Greg while in the books and online version, Rodrick is only slightly taller.
• The bathroom door says "Rodrick Rules" instead of "Hi Rodrick".
• After Holly calls Greg "Fregley" she apologizes to Greg while in the book he loses interest in her.
• Chirag Gupta and Fregley are in the Boy Scouts, however in the books they aren't.
• Rodrick's room is in the attic, not in the basement.
• Greg loses to Patty in wrestling as well as to Fregley.
• Greg and Rowley also are in Rodrick's party, meanwhile in other versions only Greg was there but locked in the basement.
• Manny is the one who suggested the name "Sweetie" for the dog not Susan.
• Rowley owns a Wii instead of a Playstation.
• The skating rink is called Rocket Rollers instead of Roll-a-Round.
• Lenwood Heath works as a lifeguard at a pool, not at a movie theater.
• Rodrick has a crush on Heather Hills unlike the other versions.
• Rodrick takes Greg with him to throw fake vomit on people's cars instead of Ward.
• When the teenagers make Rowley and Greg eat the cheese, Rowley first started to eat it but they were later chased off by Coach Malone instead of Greg lying he had lactose intolerance.
• In the Dog Days film, the smoothie bill is $216 not $83, and Frank is forced to pay it himself.
• In the movie, Susan interrupts Rodrick's band practice to make Rodrick apologize about the magazine in front of his band, instead of having to write it down on paper like in the book and the online version.
• Mr. Huff is called Mr. Draybick and Mr. Underwood is called Coach Malone.
• Rowley ate half of The Cheese instead of eating the whole Cheese.
• Greg was the one who got sick and had a younger photo of himself sent into the school rather than Rodrick.
• Greg instead of Uncle Joe told Manny about the potty monster.
• In the movies, Nutty was mentioned but there was no mention of him dying.
• Rodrick cheats on the Mom Bucks System, not Greg.
• Manny is the one who says "I'm peeing" instead of a random toddler.
• The Muddy Hand is in a story rather than a movie.
• Greg set Manny up for finding the magazine instead of Manny randomly finding it.
• The Hills family are shown to be members at the Country Club while in the book they aren't.
• The Reading Is Fun Club had various people in the book, but it had only 3 in the movie.
• In the book, Frank gives Sweetie to Gramma in the end, but in the movie, Sweetie is still with the Heffleys till the end of the movie and it is unknown if they gave Sweetie away or not.
• Patty Farrell is included in Dog Days while she was not heard of since The Last Straw.
• Greg smashes his father's hand with a mallet once, but in the book, Rowley smashes Greg's hand with a mallet more than once.
• In the fourth book. Frank Heffley is nearly arrested, but in the movie Robert Jefferson is the one who almost gets arrested.
• Patty Farrell is Greg's arch-enemy unlike the books.