Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
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| Author | Jeff Kinney |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jeff Kinney |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English (but currently available in 45 languages.) |
| Series | Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| Genre | Child, Young Adult, Humor |
| Publisher | Amulet Books |
Publication date |
November 4, 2014 (U.S.A) November 5, 2014 (U.K) |
| Media type | Print (paperback, hardcover) |
| Pages | 217 |
| ISBN | 978-1-4197-1189-3 |
| Preceded by | Hard Luck |
| Followed by | Old School |
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul is a children's novel written by Jeff Kinney and is the ninth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. On April 28, 2014, Kinney announced the book's name, as well as its cover. The book was released on November 4, 2014 in the US and was released on November 5, 2014 in the UK[1] and an exclusive extract to the book was released on 19 July 2014.[2]
Plot
Greg narrates that his mother Susan announces that the family are going on a road trip (inspired by a magazine she read called Family Frolic), interrupting him and his brothers watching television on a day during summer vacation.
Whilst packing for the trip, the family find out that they have too many belongings, so Greg's father Frank suggests they use his new boat he bought to store the extra essentials. After the drive, the Heffley family arrive at a grocery store, where Mom sends Rodrick to get food. Mom does not discover what Rodrick bought until they get to a very run-down motel, at which point it is revealed that Rodrick botched up Mom's grocery list and got food he likes to eat, like gum, soda, cheese curls, pizza, and cinnamon rolls, the latter two of which need microwaves, while none are present in the motel room. Rodrick promptly proceeds to lock the frozen pizza inside the room safe, mistaking it for a microwave oven. Eventually Mom is forced to use her cash in the vending machine, telling Greg to get the healthiest stuff he could find. The family ends up eating sugar wafers and breath mints for dinner.
Later that night in the motel, Greg and Rodrick decide to go to the pool, but find that it's empty. There is a hot tub nearby, but a family is using it and they can't convince the family to let them use it. They return to their room to find that the rest of the family has fallen asleep, taking up the bed. Rodrick proceeds to make a bed for himself out of the sofa cushions, leaving Greg to try to sleep on towels in the closet. He is only asleep for minutes before being woken by the kids from the hot tub earlier ramming a cleaning cart into a wall. Greg yells at them for causing noise, making the smallest kid cry and his father come out. Greg nicknames the family the "Beardos" because the father has a big beard. Greg runs back to his suite before the man can find him.
The next day, the Heffleys go to a country fair, where Greg finds that the Beardos are there as well. Manny wins a competition for guessing a hog's weight, but the prize turns out to be a piglet. The family plans to spend the night at a hotel suite this time, but it has a strict no-pet policy so Mom smuggles the baby pig in the cooler until reaching their room. The pig ends up causing a big mess, forcing the family to pay for the damage as well as an extra $50 for violating the hotel's policy the next morning.
On their third day on their trip, Dad gets an emergency call from work. In the meantime they went to various places such as a popcorn museum, and a carvings of every U.S President out of butter. Then Dad got a call from one of his international clients. But instantly, chaos occurs and ruins the work call. They ended up taking the pig to a petting zoo. Later Greg went to a vet because his finger was bitten by the pig. Manny tries to run away three times because he was angry about Mom taking the pig away. Later, a storm breaks out, and they had to park their car in an overpass to rethink their plans over. Mom convinces the rest of the family that because the trip was terrible so far, they will use a method of deciding which way to go or picking things. The method works, but when they almost collide into a line of funeral cars, they decide to rethink their plan.
On the fourth day, they try to figure out where to go, but they have too much places to choose. They ended up going on their way to the beach, but a seagull flies into the car, and in the ensuing chaos they crash into a car on a bridge. Their car is towed to a mechanic's shop for repairs. surprised to see a water park that Greg was thinking about doing not far away. Many misfortunes happen, including when they found that their seat and valuables may have been stolen by the Beardos. The Heffleys call the police, only to find they need the Beardos' license plate number to find them, which they don't have. With no money or phones, they go to the mechanic's and get their car back, which was the only valuable item the Beardos didn't steal. They tried to find a campsite to spend another night, but fail.
All the stuff in the boat flies out, and they spend two hours trying to retrieve the contents, but most of them aren't found. The family finds some loose cash in the car to buy a quick dinner. They end up sleeping in the car, except Dad, who in the boat. The next morning, the whole family accidentally locked themselves out of the car. They sent Manny in from the sunroof, but make a mistake when they remember that he had been trying to run away. After his attempt to drive to car failed, he let them in. After a while, they find the motel where they spent their first night. They find the Beardos there again, and rummage through their stuff, trying to find their belongings, but find nothing belonging to them. Dad decides to use their bathroom, while the family goes back to the car. Dad soon comes running out of the room into the car as the Beardos' father chases him. In the attempt to get away, the car breaks down.
A car with two brothers pull over to offer some help. The family try to communicate with them, but soon discover that they don't know how to speak English. Luckily, since Manny paid attention to the Spanish CD, he explains all of the trouble on the trip in Spanish. The two men give the Heffleys a ride, Manny retrieves the pig, the van is sent to the mechanic, and they all get back home. At the end, Greg finds out that their belongings were not stolen at all, and hopes to have an accident-free rest for the summer break.
Sequel
A sequel was announced in late March, with the title, color, and cover of the book being revealed on April 27, 2015. The upcoming book is called Old School, and is set to come out on November 3, 2015.[3]
References
External links
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