Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a children's novel by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney, based on the FunBrain.com version. It is the sequel to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, followed by The Last Straw. The hardcover was released on February 1, 2008. Rodrick Rules was named New York Times bestseller among awards and praise. A live-action film based on the book was released on March 25, 2011, and an animated film adaptation was released on Disney+ on December 2, 2022.

Plot
The book starts with Greg explaining how bad his summer vacations were with his brother Rodrick annoying him, who knows a secret that Greg is trying to keep. Greg is initially excited to return to school, but finds out that he still has the Cheese Touch from last year. He gets away with passing it on to a new kid. Later, it is clear that Greg and Rodrick are always broke, so their mother Susan starts a "Mom Bucks" to get Greg and Rodrick to get along with each other. Rodrick, at first, mismanages the money on his Heavy Metal magazines, while Greg carefully and sensibly manages the cash. Rodrick has an upcoming science project, and that he would prefer to do it on 'Gravity', but clearly shows no effort, and asks his family members to do it for him.

Rodrick later gets the flu, and after Susan and their father Frank leave the house for the night, he calls every friend he knows, and has a party. A month later, Greg notices Rowley has play money identical to that of "Mom Bucks" and takes it home to put under his mattress. When Greg fails to do his history homework, he must borrow an assignment from Rodrick and pay him $20,000 in Mom Bucks. Unfortunately, Susan finds out about the stolen Mom Bucks when Rodrick tries to cash in the lot and she confiscates all of Greg's Mom Bucks, including his real ones.

After Thanksgiving, Rodrick's party is uncovered by a photo and despite denying that he had it, he is grounded from leaving the house for a month. Greg is accused of being an 'accomplice' to Rodrick (because he didn't tell their parents about it and thought he was covering for Rodrick), and is banned from playing video games for two weeks, even though he had been locked in the basement the whole time and had nothing to do with the party. Rodrick then starts preparing for the talent show, despite his punishment. Frank then ends his punishment two weeks early because listening to Rodrick's band every single day was driving him totally bananas. After Greg hurts Rowley by putting a dumbbell in a pillow that Rowley kicks during a sleepover, Greg must perform in the talent show with a first-grader, Scotty Douglas, who Rowley was partners with. They don't qualify, but Rodrick's band does. Rodrick, eager to continue to the talent show, hands in his Gravity science project earlier, but then is forced to do it again, since his project lacked several requirements. Rodrick tries to tell the teacher clearly about it, but then the teacher claims that it was a fairly easy experiment and did not make clear sense.

Frank tries to persuade to Rodrick to give up the show, but Rodrick insists on doing it, so that he can send it to record label companies and bail out of school so he and Löded Diper can get noticed. During the talent show, Rodrick has his band's performance taped so he can send it to the record companies, but the video is rendered useless after it is found that Susan (who was taping the video) had talked the whole time and everything she said was heard on the tape. Rodrick accuses Greg and they get into a fight, but their parents send both to their rooms. Later, Rodrick tells Greg that his "secret is out". Greg says that at Leisure Towers, the retirement house where their grandfather lives, Rodrick took Greg’s diary and made a run for it, but tripped on a board game. Greg grabbed the diary, ran to the toilet, and tried to destroy it. Unfortunately, he accidentally went into the women's bathroom, where he was forced to hide until he was removed by security. However, Greg ends up getting popular for what he did because the story had gotten extremely twisted from going to the women's bathroom in the retirement home to infiltrating the girls' locker room in Crossland High School.

The story ends with Greg helping Rodrick with his science project, because he feels sorry for the video of Löded Diper at the talent show which has been an worldwide internet hit due to Susan dancing in it.

Reception
Rodrick Rules received positive reviews. Positive attention was given to the book for its effective portrayal of Greg Heffley, and for its humor. The books' strategy of using illustrations as a means of exposition was also praised.

Sequel
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is the second book in the series. The third, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw was released on January 13, 2009.

Live-action film
Brad Simpson stated he anticipated a sequel movie if the first film was a success. "Our writing staff are writing a sequel right now, "Rodrick Rules," which would be based on the second book" ... "And, you know, we hope that the people to see a second movie, so that we are in position of going again right away and making another film. I certainly know that the fans would like to see all the books made into movies."

Fox 2000 greenlit the sequel and Zachary Gordon returned as Greg Heffley. Steve Zahn (Frank Heffley), Devon Bostick (Rodrick Heffley) and Rachael Harris (Susan Heffley) also returned. The film was directed by David Bowers and the screenplay was written by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. Principal photography began in Vancouver in August 2010. A few new characters appeared in the film, including Peyton List as Holly Hills. The film was released on March 25, 2011.

Animated film
On December 3, 2021, an animated film based on the first book was released on Disney+. On Disney+ Day 2021, Kinney revealed that the first sequel, based on Rodrick Rules, was released on December 2, 2022.