What is the order of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books?

Twenty-one books make up the main Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, all by Jeff Kinney. The order is Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick Rules, The Last Straw, Dog Days, The Ugly Truth, Cabin Fever, The Third Wheel, Hard Luck, The Long Haul, Old School, Double Down, The Getaway, The Meltdown, Wrecking Ball, The Deep End, Big Shot, Diper Överlöde, No Brainer, Hot Mess, Partypooper, and Fight or Flight.

Do you have to read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in order?

No. Every book tells a self-contained story, so a child can start almost anywhere. Reading in order still helps, because Greg's friendship with Rowley, Rodrick's band, and the running gags develop across the series.

What is the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, published April 1, 2007. It introduces Greg Heffley in his first days of middle school and sets up Rowley, Rodrick, and Manny.

What age are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books for?

Amulet Books lists the series for ages 8 to 12, and Common Sense Media recommends the first book for age 9 and up. Strong readers often start at 7, and plenty of older kids keep reading for the humor.

What is the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book?

Partypooper, book 20, released October 21, 2025, is the newest book on shelves. Fight or Flight, book 21, follows on October 20, 2026.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Books in Order (All 21)

Q: How many Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are there?

Twenty-one books are in the main series. Twenty are out now, and the twenty-first, Fight or Flight, is dated October 20, 2026. Jeff Kinney has also written three Rowley Jefferson spin-offs plus activity books and movie tie-in diaries that carry no series number.

Your child finishes the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book on a Saturday and wants the next one by Sunday morning. How many Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are there, and which title comes after Rodrick Rules? The full run of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in order stretches from 2007 to this October, and it is easier to keep straight than the library shelf suggests.

Does the order of the Wimpy Kid books matter?

Order matters less here than in most children's series. Every title closes its own story, so a child who grabs book 9 off a friend's shelf will follow it without help. Nothing carries over that a new reader has to be told first.

Greg Heffley also never gets older. The series has run since 2007 and he is still in middle school, which is why book 20 opens on the same kind of week as book 2. Fans have argued about that for years, and we took up the question in should Greg Heffley go to high school.

The two things that carry over

Two threads reward reading in order: Greg's friendship with Rowley, and the running jokes. Rowley drifts away and comes back several times, and the Valentine's dance in book 7 sets up the fallout in book 8.

Running gags are the other payoff. The Cheese Touch from book 1, Rodrick's band Löded Diper, and Manny's demands get funnier the more times you have met them. A child reading in order laughs at lines a child starting at book 15 reads straight past, which is part of why the series appeals to every age.

A hand pulling one book forward from a long row of plain, matching books on a low wooden shelf

All 21 Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in order

The main series counts 21 books, all written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney for Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams (full list). Publication began on April 1, 2007 and has held to roughly one book a year since. Seventeen of the first twenty arrived in October or November, which is why the series feels like an autumn habit.

#	Title	Year	What happens
1	Diary of a Wimpy Kid	2007	Greg starts middle school and schemes his way toward popularity.
2	Rodrick Rules	2008	Greg's older brother holds a summer secret over him all year.
3	The Last Straw	2009	Greg's dad threatens military academy while Greg chases Holly Hills.
4	Dog Days	2009	A long summer of boardwalk trips, the pool, and a new family dog.
5	The Ugly Truth	2010	Puberty, a school lock-in, and a new dentist all land at once.
6	Cabin Fever	2011	A blizzard traps the family while Greg frets over school vandalism.
7	The Third Wheel	2012	Greg and Rowley end up taking the same date to the Valentine's dance.
8	Hard Luck	2013	Rowley pairs off with Abigail, so Greg lets a Magic 8-Ball run his life.
9	The Long Haul	2014	The Heffleys take a summer road trip that goes wrong in every state.
10	Old School	2015	An electronics-free weekend and a field trip to an old-fashioned farm.
11	Double Down	2016	Greg tries instruments, then filmmaking, hunting for a talent.
12	The Getaway	2017	The family swaps its holiday traditions for a tropical resort.
13	The Meltdown	2018	A street-wide snowball war breaks out in Greg's neighborhood.
14	Wrecking Ball	2019	An inheritance funds a home renovation and the family considers moving.
15	The Deep End	2020	A camping trip strands the Heffleys at a crowded RV park.
16	Big Shot	2021	Greg's mom pushes him onto a basketball team after a bad field day.
17	Diper Överlöde	2022	Greg joins Rodrick's band and finds out what touring costs.
18	No Brainer	2023	Greg's middle school faces closure unless test scores climb.
19	Hot Mess	2024	A family vacation turns up secrets behind Gramma's famous meatballs.
20	Partypooper	2025	The family forgets Greg's birthday, and he cashes in on the guilt.
21	Fight or Flight	2026	Greg's secret binder of notes on school bullies falls into the wrong hands.

Where book 21 stands right now

Fight or Flight is not on shelves yet. Amulet Books gives October 20, 2026 as the publication date and ISBN 978-1-4197-8270-1, for ages 8 to 12 (Abrams).

The setup is a secret binder of Greg's notes on the school's biggest bullies, which falls into the wrong hands. A preorder is the safest way to have it on the day, because the autumn releases move fast at school book fairs.

Where the Rowley Jefferson spin-offs fit

Rowley gets a shelf of three books, narrated in his voice instead of Greg's. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal came out on April 9, 2019, Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure on August 4, 2020, and Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories on March 16, 2021.

Those dates sit alongside main-series books 14 to 16, and that is a sensible place to slot them in. None of them is required reading. The first one retells events from Rowley's side, so it lands best after a child has finished several of Greg's books.

The other books with the Wimpy Kid name

Activity and tie-in titles fill out the rest of the shelf. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book hands a child blank pages and prompts for their own diary, and the Wimpy Kid Movie Diary books cover the making of the films.

None of those carry a series number. Treat them as extras that a child can pick up at any point, and do not let a store display convince you that a numbered book is missing because a Movie Diary sits where you expected it.

How to start a child on the series, step by step

A good start takes about a week and costs one book.

Buy or borrow book 1 only. A single book is the test. If it comes back read in two days, the series has landed; if it sits unopened for a week, pushing book 2 will not help.
Read the first ten pages out loud. Greg's voice is the whole draw, and a child who hears it once can hear it alone. Stop in the middle of a joke and hand the book over.
Let the drawings count as reading. Kinney's cartoons carry as much of the story as the text, so a reluctant reader who studies them is reading. Common Sense Media recommends the first book for ages 9 and up and points to its pull for kids who say they hate books (review).
Keep the next two on the shelf. Momentum dies in the gap between books. Two waiting copies carry a child from Rodrick Rules into The Last Straw with no library trip in between.
Allow skipping and rereading. A child who wants to jump straight to the snowball fight in The Meltdown should jump. Order is a convenience, and rereading one favorite four times is normal at this age.
Watch for the stall, then swap. Interest usually fades on a book whose setting bores them, such as the RV park in The Deep End. Move them to the next title rather than waiting it out.

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A parent and a child reading side by side on a couch, seen at a distance in warm afternoon light

The step most parents skip

Talking about the books is the step that gets dropped. Greg is a poor role model on purpose, and a child who is never asked about it takes his choices at face value.

Two questions do the work. Ask what Greg should have done instead, and ask whether Rowley deserved it. Both take thirty seconds at bedtime and turn the humor into something a child thinks about.

The movies versus the books

Films exist for a handful of the books, and they cover far less of the series than parents expect. Four live-action films came out in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2017, and a run of animated films has appeared on Disney+ since 2021 (film series).

Coverage is thin. Eight released films have adapted six of the twenty-one books, so a child who has seen every one of them has met a small slice of what is on the shelf.

Which film matches which book

Two films adapt book 1: the 2010 live-action version and the 2021 animated one. Rodrick Rules got the same double treatment, in 2011 and 2022. The 2012 film Dog Days blends books 3 and 4, the 2017 film adapts The Long Haul, the 2023 animated Christmas film adapts Cabin Fever, and the 2025 animated film adapts The Last Straw.

Common mistakes when buying the series in order

Buying a long series goes wrong in a few predictable ways.

Trusting the artwork instead of the title. Not every edition prints a number on the spine, and box sets are often shelved by cover color. Match the title against the list of 21 before you pay.
Assuming the newest book is the last one. A new title arrives most autumns, so a set bought in 2024 is already two books short. Check the count against the publisher's page before you call a collection complete.
Buying a Do-It-Yourself book by accident. The activity books look like the novels from across a store. Look for a numbered title on the cover.
Paying for a box set that stops early. Many multi-book sets cover books 1 to 5 or 1 to 12 at a price that looks like the whole series. Count the spines in the photo.
Treating the spin-offs as missing numbers. The three Rowley books sit outside the main sequence, so a child who never reads them has still read the whole series. Fans disagree about which titles earn their shelf space, and we weighed that in the best and worst Wimpy Kid books.

A child at a desk drawing cartoons in a blank notebook under warm lamplight, seen over the shoulder

The edge case: a reader who stalls at book 3

Book 3 is the most common stopping point. The Last Straw leans on Greg's father and the threat of military academy, and a child who came for school jokes can find it slow going.

Jumping ahead to Dog Days or The Long Haul usually restarts the habit. Both are summer books with short scenes, and a child can come back to book 3 a year later without missing anything.

Your Wimpy Kid reading checklist and what to read while you wait

Confirm the count. Twenty-one books in the main series, twenty of them available now.
Start at book 1, keep book 2 within reach. The first two set up Rowley and Rodrick, and they carry the most reread value.
Slot the three Rowley books in after book 13. They match the publishing dates and give a tired reader a change of voice.
Mark October 20, 2026 on the calendar. Fight or Flight closes the current gap, and a preorder beats a sold-out book fair.
Give the wait a project. A blank notebook plus the Do-It-Yourself prompts turns a reader into a writer, and our walkthrough of a Wimpy Kid style DIY book covers the format.

Ranking the 21 is the other good waiting game, and the best Diary of a Wimpy Kid books is a fair place to start the argument at dinner.

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