Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is the third book in the Wimpy Kid Series written by Jeff Kinney. It was released on January 13, 2009 in the US.Summary

Plot:

The book starts with Greg's New Year's Day. The follow-up is Greg's Christmas, which is similar to Christmas in the first book; Greg gets nothing he likes from anyone. Uncle Charlie gives Greg a "laundry hoop" and Greg's mother, inspired, starts making Greg do his own laundry.

Due to Greg's laziness, he does not do his laundry and does not plan to either. This plays a huge role later in the story. Mentioned early in the story, Greg's father is becoming fed up with Greg's "wimpy" ways. Also, the "worst teenager on our street", Lenwood Heath gets shipped out to military school, sparking an idea in Frank's head that plays a huge role in the story. Later, the Heffleys see Lenwood at a ticket booth with a crew cut, proper and incredibly polite.

This causes Frank to decide to enroll Greg into military school, Spag Union, which takes place during Greg's summer vacation. Greg tries in vain to change his father's mind, such as doing activities such as soccer and Boy Scouts. However, they do not work. Therefore, Greg tries to impress Holly again, but it does not work at all. Finally, he settles for the sad fact he has to settle for Spag Union. But his summer won't be bad if he took some memories with him.

One day, his dad finds Manny's old blanket, Tingy, and throws it away. Manny gets revenge when he uses his dad's Civil War battlefield as a play set. Then Manny walks up to Greg and says "Ploopy!" Greg doesn't know what it means, so he asks to his mom, but she's talking on the phone. She says, "What is a ploopy?!" which was the exact thing Greg wanted to know. Then Manny starts calling Greg "ploopy" to get whatever he wants.

On Easter Sunday, Greg gets in the car, accidentally sitting on Manny's chocolate Easter bunny. He gets out of the car with chocolate on the back of his pants. Then Mom says that they can't skip church when Rodrick takes off his pants and says "He can wear MY pants!" Mom gives Greg her Easter sweater to tie around his waist.

In Easter church service, he looks at Manny , who is playing with the things Mom and Dad brought to entertain him, and then thinks about the day when Manny threw a fit at preschool when his mom cut his sandwich in half, not in quarters the way he likes it. Mom had to drive all the way there to make the extra slice. Then he whispers in Manny's ear, "Ploopy!!" Manny starts crying and Mom can't calm him down, so they have to go home.

Also mentioned earlier in the story, the Heffley's neighbors, the Snellas, are having a half-birthday for their youngest child Seth . During the party, the adults in the neighborhood have to perform silly acts and Mr. Snella sends the videotapes to America's Funniest Families, a spoof of America's Funniest Home Video's, to win the $10,000 prize.

It is revealed that Frank hates the performing and will do anything to get out of it. On the day of the party, Manny throws Seth's present into a tree because he knew that Greg would snatch it away. It was a blue knit blanket. When Greg goes and retrieves it, his pants fall down revealing Wonder Woman underwear which he wore because it's one of the only clean garments he has left.

Frank, who happened to be next in line to perform gets away as Mr. Snella points his camera to an embarrassed Greg. He repays Greg the next morning by not sending him to military school, suggesting there are other ways that Greg can stay fit.

The story ends abruptly as Rowley and Greg are sitting on the curb and meet a girl named Trista . Greg thinks Trista is cute and imagines that she and himself are in Rowley's swim club in swimsuits with Rowley serving them drinks. The book ends with Greg saying that it is corny to end with a happy ending, but he is out of paper and writes "The End" in big letters.

Summary:

The Last Straw rounds out the second semester of Greg Heffley's seventh grade school year, and is mainly about Greg's father being fed up with Greg's 'wimpiness', and threatens to send him to Military School.