Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

Cover Art
Author	Jeff Kinney
Illustrator	Jeff Kinney
Cover artist	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Genre	Comedy
Publisher	Amulet Books
Publication date	November 15, 2011
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	218
ISBN	978-1-4197-0296-9
Preceded by	The Ugly Truth
Followed by	The Third Wheel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is a 2011 bestselling and award winning children's book and the sixth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, written by American author Jeff Kinney.^[1] The book was released on November 15, 2011 and was the fastest selling book of 2011,^[2] giving him the third strongest opening week sales for a children's author.^[3] Cabin Fever had a first printing run of six million copies, which Amulet Books stated was one of their most significant titles for that year.^[4] In 2012 Kinney won a "Best Author" Children's Choice Award from the Children's Book Council for Cabin Fever.^[5] The book was followed by 2012's The Third Wheel.

Plot

Greg's problems regarding the arrival of Christmas and the concept of Santa Claus's surveillance of good or bad children and pondering as to how this could be. His mother stumbles upon a doll known as "Santa's Scout" and uses it as a tool to prompt her children into good behavior; however, Greg's paranoia regarding the subject of the doll is taken advantage of by Rodrick, who uses it to prank his brother.

Meanwhile, Greg is preoccupied with a gaming website known as "Net Kritterz" and tending to the needs of his virtual pet and the website's required paid features. So he and Rowley devise various moneymaking ideas, which all backfire or fail. They soon decide to publish their own tabloid newspaper called the Neighborhood Tattler, but find difficulties in selling and advertising it, (Greg tries to sell it at school but the papers get confiscated by Vice Principal Roy,) and Greg fears that Rowley's additions to the newspaper will only damage their chances of selling copies.

Temporarily, they abandon their project to start their own holiday bazaar after Greg buys "Drummies" (which are actually just pieces of fried chicken) at his local supermarket that are cheaper than the ones sold at his school's holiday bazaar, and decide to hang up posters advertising the bazaar on the walls of the school on a rainy day. However, the colored ink on the posters melts through into the brick walls, and the boys' antics are witnessed and published in the community newspaper, as their attempts at advertisement have inadvertently vandalized the school. Fears of being discovered fill Greg with paranoia, worrying that he will be arrested, and dreads the day where his identity will be unveiled.

Eventually Rowley snaps and informs the school via an anonymous tip they were the ones who accidentally vandalized the school, but does not admit his involvement. Greg confesses to his and Rowley's responsibility with the accidental vandalism. Vice Principal Roy gives him a choice: Greg could name the "Me" person and both take the punishment together or Greg could just take the punishment himself. Greg decides it be best to take it himself, and that it would be to clean the walls, but then Greg finds out that the real punishment is a trip to the police station (which he misses). A sudden blizzard isolates the Heffleys within their home, resulting in a power outage that spoils their food and causes a basement flood. Frank, Greg's father, in the meantime, is stranded at a hotel near his own workplace, and the family lives in hunger and boredom for the following few days until Rowley comes over and reveals to Greg that his house still has electricity along with the rest of the town with the exception of apparently Greg's own household. A quizzical Greg checks the family's electricity box, only to find that the power has been shut off in all rooms of the house excluding Manny's bedroom, and soon discovers that Manny has been living luxuriously in his bedroom surrounded by food, warmth, and toys without notifying his family because nobody taught him how to tie his shoes. The electricity is returned to the house, and Frank calls the family telling them the roads have been cleared and he returns with food for his family.

The following day is Christmas and Greg discovers himself on the cover of the newspaper for anonymously shoveling the walk-way leading up to the Church (however, only to recover a tag he did hang upon the giving tree requesting money) that allows a soup kitchen to be opened, and he chooses to exploit himself on the front cover of his own tabloid newspaper in order to receive gifts that people may send to him.

Reception

Critical reception for Cabin Fever was positive,^[6] with the book being nominated for a 2012 Harvey Award for a "Special Award for Humor in Comics".^[7] Publishers Weekly and Entertainment Weekly both praised the entry, with Publishers Weekly writing that although the snow storm doesn't occur until later in the read, "it’s unlikely that anyone will mind".^[8][9]

Cancelled animated adaptation

In December 2012, Jeff Kinney announced that he was working on an animated adaptation of Cabin Fever to air around Christmas 2013. The adaptation would explain how Manny managed to redirect the power for all to his room and no one else's.^[10] In August 2013, Kinney stated it would be a half-hour television special, and would air on Fox in late 2014. As of 2017, no updates of the project have been announced.^[11]

References