Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

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 received critical acclaim from critics and fans alike and is generally considered the best book in the series. The book was followed by 2012's The Third Wheel.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
AuthorJeff Kinney
IllustratorJeff Kinney
Cover artistJeff Kinney
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDiary of a Wimpy Kid
GenreComedy
PublisherAmulet Books (US)
Puffin Books (UK)
Publication date
November 15, 2011
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages224 (217 story pages)
ISBN978-1-4197-0296-9
Preceded byThe Ugly Truth 
Followed byThe Third Wheel 

Plot

The story starts before Christmas, when Greg Heffley wants to behave well to get really good gifts for the holidays. In addition, his mother obtains a doll which she calls "Santa's Scout" that is meant to keep track of how he behaves and make his behavior better. Greg is afraid of this doll because his brother makes fun of him using it.

Greg starts playing an online game called "Net Kritterz" that is based on treating a virtual pet and requires paid features. Susan doesn't want to give Greg money for him to spend on the site and says he has to earn money on his own. Greg tries some bad ideas for getting money until he finds out that he can buy "Drummies", tasty fried chicken snacks that are sold in his school's holiday bazaar, for less than his school sells them for, so he decides to start his own holiday bazaar and invites his best friend Rowley to do it with him. They first attempt to build a cardboard home-made version of Pac-Man, which fails to work. They realize they'll need to advertise their bazaar and they try to ask the local newspaper to do it. However, they find out that advertising is very expensive, so they try to establish their own newspaper. When a string of conflicts and failures prevent them from making their paper a reality, they decide to hang up posters that advertise their bazaar in their town, starting with the school, but rain causes all the ink to bleed on the school's walls, leaving multicolored stains that won't come off. After narrowly escaping with only their face shapes noted, the school administrators and police search for the cause of the "vandalism": they ask the whole student body to tell them who did it anonymously. Scared of getting caught, Rowley leaves a note at the principal's desk anonymously saying "Me and Greg Heffley vandalised the school." The vice principal asks Greg if he would like to name his partner involved, but Greg decides to take one for the team to avoid sending his friend into trauma, and agrees to scrub the dye off himself. When Greg discovers a note from the police at home having visited to nobody home and stating to return later, he believes the vice principal went back on his word and has sold his name to them, causing Greg to contemplate how he'll have to avoid his arrest.

A sudden blizzard hits their town, shutting the family in their home and resulting in Frank staying in a hotel during work. At one point, the electricity goes off and his family becomes extremely cold, nearly running short on food. After several days, Rowley comes and tells Greg that everyone else in their street has electricity, so Greg checks the power box. Greg realizes that the power is shut down in all of the rooms except for Manny's, his little brother's room. Greg finds Manny living luxuriously in his room surrounded by food, warmth, and toys without notifying his family because, as Manny claims, nobody taught him how to tie his shoes. Greg switches the power back on to the entire house, the blizzard soon ends, the snow is plowed out, and Greg's father comes home with food just in time.

Before Christmas, Susan asks Greg to take a gift to the police station to place in their toy drive box. Afraid of spending the holidays in prison, Greg manages to do so stealthily, but when he's near the church, he realizes he asked for money at the Giving Tree earlier, requesting for his gift to be placed under the recycling bin, and shovels the snow from the entire driveway. He eventually finds the bin, but disappointed to see no cash. When Greg comes home, the police arrive to his horror, but as it turns out they were only asking for toys for the toy drive. After awkwardly showing them a used toy to which they reject, they soon leave. Christmas finally arrives, as Greg breathes relief that he's not wanted by police after all, enjoying the holidays with the gifts he got. Later on, he discovers the newspaper praising his act of clearing the church driveway to allow a soup kitchen to operate, although the face mask he put on during his stealthy toy donation prevents his actual recognition.

Reception

The book received critical acclaim and is generally considered the best entry in the series,[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]

Proposed television special

In December 2012, Jeff Kinney announced that he was working on an animated adaptation of Cabin Fever to air around Christmas 2013.[10] In August 2013, Kinney stated it would be a half-hour television special, and would air on Fox in late 2014.[11] No updates of the project have been announced ever since.

References
  1. "Author Jeff Kinney's hot streak not wimping out". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  2. "6 Million Copies Were Printed Of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  3. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid becomes a top book seller". BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  4. "Next 'Wimpy Kid' Book to Get Six Million-Copy First Printing". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  5. "Kinney, Selznick Nab Children's Choice Book Awards". School Library Journal. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  6. "Multimedia Review: May 2012". School Library Journal. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  7. "The 2012 Harvey Award Nominees". School Library Journal. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  8. "Review: Cabin Fever". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  9. "Review: Cabin Fever". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  10. "DIARY OF A WIMPY KID GETS ANIMATED MOVIE". Red Carpet News TV. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  11. Minzesheimer, Bob (2013-08-08). "Narrator hits 'Hard Luck' in eighth Wimpy Kid book". USA Today. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
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