The Deep End

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End is a middle-grade graphic novel written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. Published in 2020, The Deep End is the 15th in the 19-part Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. In the realist graphic style, the series is presented as the journal of protagonist Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler who narrates and illustrates his everyday life. The series has been adapted into a television series and a movie trilogy. Jeff Kinney is an international bestselling author and continues to write the Wimpy Kid series. The series is the fourth best-selling series of all time globally, as of 2020.

The Deep End features Greg and his family Managing Expectations on their summer vacation, learning the importance of Appreciating Family along the way, and Handling Fear and Anxiety associated with growing up. The book deals closely with the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred as the book was being written, although the pandemic is not referenced directly.

This guide uses the 2020 Amulet Books edition. Citations are to page numbers in this edition.  

Plot Summary

Middle-schooler Greg Heffley narrates and illustrates the story of his family’s summer vacation. The Heffley family is stuck living in Greg’s grandmother’s “Gramma’s” basement following a construction problem with the family’s own home. The family is living on a tight budget and in close quarters with no television and little to do. Greg recognizes that his family is arguing due to the isolation and suffocating atmosphere. Greg’s mom wants to go on a vacation to ease the tension, but Greg thinks it will only make things worse. He thinks about the bible story of Noah waiting on the ark for the floods to diminish and pushes himself to be patient. After a while, the family is offered to borrow an old RV by Greg’s great-grandmother, and the family decides to take a camping trip in the wilderness. The Heffleys pick up some camping gear and are warned about bears, bugs, and getting lost. The camper itself is full of old things and has to be cleaned out. When the family gets going, however, Greg starts to enjoy the journey until his mom announces that screen time is over. The family tries to find a place to stop for the night, but successively end up in a piranha hatchery, a farm, and a baseball field. Greg finds it impossible to sleep with everyone snoring around him.

The next morning, Greg suggests going to a wilderness park nearby. This sounds fun at first, but Greg’s mom insists on doing things that Manny, Greg’s three-year-old brother, can do too. The Heffleys end up going tubing on the river, which is crowded with rowdy people and, when they hit a shallow section, Greg’s tube deflates. He is left borrowing Manny’s but loses it in some rapids. His bathing suit comes off, and he floats down the river, walking back to camp alone with only a drink cooler covering his private parts. Greg’s dad senses the family tension after the wilderness park and suggests heading to a national forest, which is more isolated. It seems peaceful and beautiful at first but a prank, a scary story, and a bear attack spook the family. Manny shoots off a flare gun to scare off the bear, but the family is asked to leave the park after risking a forest fire. The Heffleys end up in a campground called Campers’ Eden, on a lot barely big enough for their RV. Other campers closely surround the family. That night, a skunk appears on the campground and makes its way to the Heffley’s camper. From inside, they watch as it sprays all their food. By the time the Heffleys have new food and a new fire going, the campground insists on lights out for the night.

The next morning, Greg is woken by a man using a chainsaw outside. He begrudgingly heads to the coin-operated, multi-person showers and waits in line for his turn. After getting his hair soaped up, his quarter runs out, and when he goes to put in another, his stall is taken. Greg ends up rinsing his hair at the laundromat instead. Afterward, Greg’s mom takes the family to the lake, which is overcrowded and chaotic. They go for a canoe ride together but are targeted by some teenagers on a nearby hill who are pelting watermelons into the water. As tension rises in the family, Greg’s mom finally agrees to let everyone go off on their own, but she insists that Greg try to make some friends. She finds a group of boys who are headed to the river to go fishing and asks them to let Greg go along. Greg is anxious as the boys seem to argue and wrestle constantly. After being targeted by the teens with watermelons, the boys devise a plan to get back at them, using condiments and soda in their squirt guns and causing a mess. Greg disappears before they are caught.     

After this chaos and trouble, Greg wants to stay at the camper, but his mom insists on taking the family to a nighttime pool party. The party is not much different from the lake, with everyone doing their own thing and having little regard for one another. It is crowded, noisy, and unpredictable. After finding out that one of the boys told the camp director that Greg was responsible for the condiment mess, Greg panics when he sees the camp director arrive at the party. He dives into the pool and sits at the bottom in order to hide from the director but, when a lightning storm approaches, he has no choice but to leave the pool. Realizing his family has gone back to the camper, Greg runs through the storm in panic. He makes it back safely. A skunk is inside the camper and sprays the inside and the Heffley family. The next day, Greg goes to the store to get cleaning supplies, but finds it almost empty. The storm has destroyed the access bridge, isolating the campers and causing a mass panic. Food and water dwindle quickly and, by nightfall, people are attacking campers and trying to steal supplies. The Heffley family decides to take the camper across a shallow portion of the river. The Heffleys get stuck halfway, the sewage tank explodes, and the family has to climb up onto the roof. When the camper dislodges and starts floating down the river, the family jumps off. Manny takes the wheel and steers it into the bridge, temporarily recreating the bridge. He shoots off a flare, and everyone from the campground rushes over the bridge. After the camp is empty, the Heffleys enjoy a couple of days of peace in nature and one another’s company. Greg considers the lightning bolt a miracle that brought his family together.