Cabin Fever

Written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney and originally published in 2011, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is the sixth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Jeff Kinney is an author and cartoonist who combines his talents to create a widely successful series that blends humorous narration with simple cartoon illustrations. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is a middle grade, fictional graphic novel that focuses on the series’ protagonist, Greg Heffley, a flawed but earnest boy whose daily experiences are filled with humorous misadventures that involve Learning From Mistakes and Getting Along With Family and Friends. Greg’s narrative is written in a diary form that bounces between past memories and the present moment. Kinney has been honored with the Best Author Children’s Choice Award for Cabin Fever, and in 2023, Disney adapted the story into an animated film.

This guide refers to the 2023 Amulet Books hardcover edition of the graphic novel.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of bullying.

Plot Summary

Twelve-year-old Greg Heffley and the rest of his family (Mom, Dad, his older brother Rodrick, and his younger brother Manny) are preparing for the Christmas season. Greg finds this time of year stressful because he constantly feels like he is under surveillance. His mom always reminds him about behaving for Santa, and she puts out a creepy elf doll that watches Greg wherever he goes. 

At school, Greg’s classmates have just finished an anti-bullying campaign that he finds to be quite effective, aside from the fact that students still tease each other all the time. Greg and his best friend Rowley were bullied by a local boy nicknamed “Nasty Pants” for a while, but the boy turned out to be five years old, which was embarrassing for both Greg and his dad. Now, all the playground equipment is gone, so recess is boring and pointless, and Greg’s irritation is only heightened by Rowley’s tendency to skip around whenever he is bored. Greg doesn’t know how to skip, so he hates when Rowley does it.

With Christmas around the corner, Greg thinks about his wish list. He remembers one year when he forgot to make a list, and his parents gave him a doll called Baby Alfrendo to prepare him for Manny’s arrival. Greg actually enjoyed taking care of the doll and grew quite attached to it, but one day, he lost it. This year, Greg hopes for money to spend on his favorite internet game, Net Kritterz, in which he dresses and spoils a virtual pet chihuahua. Greg spends so much time on the game that his mom insists that Rowley come over to play instead, but every game they play ends in some sort of disagreement. Now, Rowley accompanies the Heffleys to church, but he misbehaves the whole time, and Greg and his mother are glad when Rowley finally goes home.

Greg asks his mom for money for Net Kritterz, but she tells him to earn it himself and suggests that he go door-to-door, shoveling snow. Greg has had bad experiences with his neighbors in the past, so he goes to the next street over and spends an hour with an elderly woman who just wants company. When Greg finally finds someone who wants their driveway shoveled, it starts to snow harder, so Greg tries clearing the driveway with a hose, inadvertently covering it with ice. The man slips soon afterward, and Greg has to come back with his father to sand the driveway down. When Greg’s father tells him that he had poor judgment, Greg is reminded of an incident a few weeks ago, when Greg’s father got a fancy new sports car and Greg accidentally scratched the paint while attempting to clean a sticker off the driver's door. Greg’s dad couldn’t afford to replace the paint, so he ended up trading in the sports car for a used minivan.

At church the next day, Greg puts a request on the church’s giving tree, asking for someone to put money in an envelope and leave it under the church recycling bin outside. He does this in secret, knowing that his parents would tell him to refrain from such a request. Meanwhile, Greg’s school starts banning junk food and energy drinks. Greg knows that he and his peers’ habits are unhealthy, and this is further proven by the fitness test they take in gym class. Some of the girls insist on doing the same test as the boys, while Greg considers requesting to do the girls’ version instead. He and some other boys end up painting abdominal muscles on their stomachs with mascara to appear stronger, but it runs off when they start sweating.

Greg still needs money for his virtual chihuahua, but now he has to buy Christmas presents, too. He is used to getting money from his mom for that purpose, but this year, she decides that he is old enough to buy them on his own. Greg considers selling an autographed graphic novel to earn money for gifts, but he finds out that his mother plagiarized the autograph without his knowledge, rendering the book worthless. Greg’s mother almost makes up for her dishonesty by helping Greg with a last-minute Secret Santa gift at school, but she manages to embarrass him in the process. 

Later, Greg and Rowley decide to create their own version of a holiday fair by making a Pacman game out of cardboard. It unfortunately breaks, but they do succeed in creating a newspaper to alert the locals about the fair. The newspaper also contains some of their comic strips and a fake advice column, and a local pizza parlor sponsors the paper.

The boys hand out copies to people they see and make posters to hang on the school wall. They choose a bright green color for the posters, which ends up bleeding onto the wall and becoming impossible to wash off. The boys run, leaving the scene before they are discovered. Their “vandalism” is covered in the newspaper, and students at school are questioned about the issue. Rowley eventually comes forward, but he only reveals Greg’s name. Greg decides not to tell on Rowley and spends a few hours bleaching the ink off the wall. At home, Greg finds a note from the police sergeant promising to return later, and he becomes terrified that he is going to be arrested.

Shortly before Christmas, a massive blizzard strikes, and Greg’s family is trapped inside their home for several days. Greg’s dad is staying at a hotel near his office because the roads are closed, and he is unable to get home. Over the next few days, Greg has to manage taking care of Manny, who breaks their mother’s glasses. Greg must also manage his boredom and deal with hunger as food runs low. When the power goes out along with the heat, the Heffleys start to freeze. Shortly afterward, the snow causes a huge flood in the basement, which ruins many of the family’s old memorabilia and forces Rodrick to move in with Greg temporarily. Rodrick is messy and unclean, and Greg can’t stand sleeping in the same room as him. In the flood, Greg finds his Alfrendo doll, confirming that his dad probably hid it from him.

When Rowley shows up at Greg’s door and tells him that everyone else’s power is working fine, Greg discovers that Manny turned the power off to every room but his own. The roads are finally cleared, and Greg’s father comes home with food for everyone. The police visit also turns out to be nothing more than a drive-by donation drive for Christmas toys. Greg takes a gift to the church at the last minute and decides to shovel out the sidewalk so that he can check for cash under the recycling bin. He finds nothing and goes home disappointed. On Christmas morning, Greg and his siblings open presents, and Greg gets a genuine, signed copy of his graphic novel. The family goes to church together, and Greg’s “good deed” of shoveling out the church sidewalk is published in the local paper—which Greg then happily takes credit for.