Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down
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| Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down | ||||||||
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 Doubling down just doubled the dip in quality.
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down is the eleventh book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. It was published on November 1st, 2016. Its trailer was released on October 17th of the same year.
Plot
The pressure’s really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his “creative side.”
As if that’s not scary enough, Halloween’s just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.
When Greg discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can he get his mom off his back by making a movie... and will he become rich and famous in the process? Or will doubling down on this plan just double Greg’s troubles?
Bad Qualities
- The book can't find out what it wants to be about since it changes its plot a lot, such as:
- Halloween approaching and Greg and Rowley attending a Halloween party.
- Greg meeting Maddox Selsam, a boy with no electronics.
- On the topic of Maddox, he is supposed to be a major character and the main antagonist of the book, but he only appears on 14 pages.
- Greg joining the school band.
- The part where Greg takes part in the Balloon Brigade.
- The part where Greg is in the university, and a college student asks help from him to prepare for her test, which is kind of nonsensical because no college student ever asks help from a middle school student for preparation.
- Greg thinking about the adults and Rodrick who lied to him and actually obeys them.
- The parts where Greg reads the Spineticklers books and imagines about them were uneccesary, yet they happen several times throughout the book.
- The actual plot is the part about Greg trying to make the movie didn't happen until the very end.
- There's a lot more emphasis on the pet pig rather than Greg.
- The story has a lot of Greg torture, most notably when he gets grounded for basically being trapped.
- There are tons of filler in the book, and it's dragged on for way too long.
- Because of this, it takes a while for the actual plot to get started, which is Greg and Rowley making a movie.
- Like most Diary of a Wimpy Kid books after The Long Haul, this book has an unrealistic and nonsensical climax which makes part of the book unrelatable. In the climax, when Greg and Rowley are filming a movie, the gummy worms they used were eaten by geese, and then Greg and Rowley are afraid of the geese, and Rowley decides to use Manny's toy to drive them away. A scared Rowley then climbs a tree, and Greg tries to get him down, when his father arrives. Rowley gets rescued by the fire department and the video of Rowley's rescue becomes viral for unknown reasons, and then Rowley is famous and receives his own tv show while Greg is stuck cleaning the mess in the boiler room.
- It rehashes material from previous books, like when they banned the Spineticklers books, which also happened in The Long Haul, but instead they banned the Underpants Bandits books.
- It introduces Jake McGough, who is an unlikeable character who tripped Greg during the Fall concert and made his father, Frank, believe that he and Rowley were hiding and having fun instead of participating in the concert, and Greg was punished unnecessarily.
- Speaking of Frank, he was also unlikeable in this book as he grounds Greg for slacking off at band, even when the latter tried to tell him about him being stuck in his bedroom.
Good Qualities
- The Cheese Touch is mentioned again, which hasn't been mentioned since Rodrick Rules.
- The idea of Greg and Rowley making a movie is good for the Wimpy Kid series, even though it's bland.
- There are still some funny moments in the book, just like with all Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.
- The cover looks really nice as it has a nice light red on the front and back with some yellow stripes on the spine.
- The scene where Rowley hides up in a tree with Manny's toy car can be funny.
- It thankfully disregards all the events from Old School, henceforth making it non-canon.
Reception
Double Down has garnered mixed-to-positive reviews with critics noting the dip in quality since The Ugly Truth. However, the book would go back to its usual critical acclaim in The Getaway.
However, the book has been panned by some Wimpy Kid fans. Some consider it to be the worst in the series due to more emphasis on the pig, the boring and confusing plot, and the video making plot not happening until the end.