Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
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| Author | Jeff Kinney |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jeff Kinney |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| 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 5, 2014 in the UK[1] and an exclusive extract to the book was released on 19 July 2014.[2]
Plot
Soon after summer vacation starts, Greg narrates that his mother Susan announces that the family are going on a road trip.
While packing for the trip, the family found out that they have too many belongings, Greg's father Frank suggests they use his boat to store the extra essentials. During the drive, Susan takes out a Flat Stanley and takes some pictures with it. After the drive, the Heffley family arrive at a grocery store, where Susan sends Greg's older brother Rodrick to purchase food. The Heffleys then arrive at a run-down motel, at which point it is revealed that Rodrick purchased frozen pizza and cinnamon rolls instead of the sandwich supplies. When Rodrick tried to microwave his pizza, he discovers too late that the "microwave" turned out to be a safe instead. With their dinner locked up, Susan told Greg to buy some food from the vending machine, and the family end up eating breath mints and sugar wafers for dinner.
Later that night, Greg and Rodrick decide to go to the pool, but find that it has been empty for some time. There is a hot tub nearby, but the Beardo 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 cushions leaving Greg to try to sleep in the closet. He is only asleep for a few minutes before being woken by the kids from the hot tub 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". Greg runs back to safety to his family's room.
The next day, the Heffleys go to a country fair, where Greg finds that the Beardos are there as well. Rodrick submits to a foulest shoe competition one of his shoes and wins, but doesn't get the shoe back. Manny wins a competition for guessing a hog's weight, but the prize turns out to be a piglet, which the Heffleys are forced to take. 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 in the room, forcing the family to pay not only for the snacks, but also an extra $50 because of the hotel's no animal policy.
On their third day, Greg's Dad gets an emergency call from work. In the meantime, they go to various places, such as a popcorn museum and one with carvings of every U.S President out of butter. While driving, Dad gets a call from one of his international clients, asking the family to stay quiet. But almost immediately chaos ensues, Greg is bitten by the pig, and Dad's call is ruined. They ended up taking the pig to a petting zoo, which makes Manny very upset. Later Greg goes to a vet because of a pig bite. Manny tries to run away three times and is forced to be on a leash. Dad uses cellophane and tape to "fix" the sunroof, but it doesn't hold up for long when a storm breaks out and the handmade sunroof breaks. Mom parks the 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 for picking things. The method works, and they also get in hot water with a funeral procession, but Mom doesn't want to stop her plan.
On the fourth day, they try to figure out where to go, but they have too many places to choose from. They choose the beach, but a seagull flies into the car, and in the ensuing chaos they rear-end a car on the bridge and break their car's radiator. Their car is towed to a mechanic's shop for repairs. Greg is surprised to see a water park that he was thinking about doing not far away, but many misfortunes happen, including when they found that their seat and valuables may have been stolen by the Beardos. The Heffleys call the police, but to of no avail. 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.
All the stuff in the boat flies out, and they spend two hours trying to retrieve the contents, but many items are still missing and some items aren't theirs. The family finds some loose cash in the car to buy a quick dinner. Then the family tries to find a place to sleep. Greg's father guides the car into the wilderness where he was sure there was going to be a town (for some strange reason). Suddenly because of the blasting air conditioning, the cinnamon rolls Rodrick had purchased previously exploded sending slime onto the back of Rodrick's head. Rodrick panics thinking that the slime was his brains, and gets even more upset when Manny licks the stuff off his fingers. After a cleanup, the family finds a grocery store and parks in the parking lot for the night.
The next morning, the whole family accidentally lock themselves out of the car. They send 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 the car fails, he lets 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, they do not follow instructions given by the repairman, causing the car to break and they get a flat tire.
A car with two brothers pull over to offer some help. The family try to communicate with them, but soon discover that they can only speak Spanish. Luckily, since Manny paid attention to the Spanish CD, he explains all the trouble on the trip in Spanish which takes the other members by surprise. The two men give the Heffleys a ride back home, with a brief stop at the petting zoo to get the pig back.
After they arrive home, Mom and Dad have to cancel their credit cards and buy new phones. The boat is given to the brothers who helped them. While looking through his belongings, Greg finds the key to their locker was in his shorts the whole time, and was wrong about the number. He thinks of several ideas for what to do now, but worries he will pick the wrong choice.
Sequel
A sequel was announced in late March 2015, with the title, color, and cover of the book being revealed on April 27, 2015. Called "Old School", it was released on November 3, 2015.[3]
References
External links
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