Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel (Book 7) recap

After opening with stories from before and just after his own birth, Greg spends this book angling for a date to the school's Valentine's dance while his out-of-work uncle Gary moves into the family basement. The date search fails until Abigail, a girl whose escort pulled out, agrees to be taken to the dance by Greg and Rowley together. The evening sours and a chickenpox scare breaks the dance up early; by the time the dust settles, Rowley and Abigail are a couple and Greg is the odd one out - the third wheel of the title. The book ends with Greg dateless and Rowley attached, while home life with Uncle Gary carries on.

Previously: Greg Heffley's journals have carried him deep into middle school, through schemes, holidays, and disasters, always alongside his cheerful best friend Rowley and always under the same roof as his tormenting older brother Rodrick, his untouchable little brother Manny, and his well-meaning parents.

Greg opens this journal further back than usual, recounting family lore from before and just after he was born and his earliest years. In the present, his uncle Gary - out of work and out of luck - moves into the Heffley house and takes up residence in the basement. At school, a Valentine's dance is announced, and Greg turns all his energy toward the problem of finding someone to go with, with his usual mix of scheming and self-sabotage.

The date problem resolves itself sideways: Abigail, a girl in Greg's year, loses her escort when her original date pulls out, and Greg and Rowley end up taking her to the dance together. The evening goes wrong in stages, and a chickenpox scare finishes it off, scattering the dance and sending the trio out early. In the aftermath, it is Rowley and Abigail who come out of the night as a couple, and Greg who is left as the third wheel of the title. The book closes with Greg dateless, Rowley attached, and life at home - Uncle Gary included - rolling on regardless.

The book ends in the wake of the Valentine's dance. Greg's long campaign for a date produced only a shared arrangement: he and Rowley escorting Abigail together after her original date dropped out. The dance itself unravelled, finished off by a chickenpox scare that broke up the evening and sent everyone home early. The clear winner of the night is Rowley, who ends the book as Abigail's boyfriend; Greg ends it as the leftover third of the trio, dateless and mildly bitter about how the arithmetic worked out. At home, Uncle Gary is still living in the basement and the family is unchanged, leaving Greg's world exactly as unsettled as usual going into the next book.