Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #6)

A blizzard keeps Greg stuck indoors with his family. With tensions rising and patience wearing thin, will he make it out without completely climbing the walls?

Greg’s in trouble―and trapped inside with his family during a blizzard. In this sixth installment of the #1 international bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, school property is damaged, Greg’s the prime suspect, and cabin fever is setting in fast.

Perfect for readers ages 8–12 who love snow-day drama and hilarious family dynamics.

Collect all the books in the #1 bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (#1) | Rodrick Rules (#2) | The Last Straw (#3) | Dog Days (#4) | The Ugly Truth (#5) | Cabin Fever (#6) | The Third Wheel (#7) | Hard Luck (#8) | The Long Haul (#9) | Old School (#10) | Double Down (#11) | The Getaway (#12) | The Meltdown (#13) | Wrecking Ball (#14) | The Deep End (#15) | Big Shot (#16) | Diper Överlöde (#17) | No Brainer (#18) | Hot Mess (#19) | Partypooper (#20) | Fight or Flight (#21)

See the Wimpy Kid World in a whole new way with the #1 bestselling Awesome Friendly books, told from the perspective of Greg Heffley’s best friend Rowley Jefferson: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal | Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure | Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories

Jeff Kinney is a famous American author and illustrator, best known for creating the incredibly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. Born on February 19, 1971, in Maryland, he spent his childhood reading comics and dreaming of becoming a newspaper cartoonist. While studying computer science at the University of Maryland, he created a comic strip called Igdoof, which ran in the campus newspaper and confirmed his love for storytelling and drawing.

After college, Jeff tried to get his comic strips published in real newspapers, but he faced many rejections. He didn't give up on his passion, though. In 1998, he started brainstorming ideas for a new story about a middle schooler named Greg Heffley who struggled to fit in. Jeff worked on this project in secret for eight long years, filling sketchbooks with ideas, jokes, and drawings before ever showing it to anyone.

In 2004, he finally shared his work, publishing Diary of a Wimpy Kid in daily installments on a website called Funbrain. The online comic was a massive hit, attracting millions of readers. This success caught the attention of a publisher, and in 2007, the first printed book was released. It quickly became a bestseller, turning Jeff into a household name. The series has since sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide and has been adapted into several successful movies.

Besides writing books, Jeff is also a talented game designer. He created the popular children's virtual world Poptropica, which was loved by kids all over the globe. Today, he lives with his family in Plainville, Massachusetts, where he owns and runs an independent bookstore called An Unlikely Story. Through his funny, relatable books and his lifelong love for reading, Jeff Kinney continues to inspire millions of children to discover the joy of books.

In Cabin Fever, the hilarious and highly relatable sixth installment of Jeff Kinney’s massively popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, readers are once again plunged into the chaotic world of middle schooler Greg Heffley. This time, the stakes feel significantly higher as the looming approach of the Christmas holidays brings an extra layer of pressure to Greg's already complicated life. The holiday season means that the threat of the "Santa Scout"—a creepy elf doll that Greg's mother brings out to monitor his behavior—is watching his every move. Greg is acutely aware that he needs to be on his absolute best behavior if he wants to receive the presents he desperately desires. At the top of his wish list is virtual cash for "Net Kritterz," an addictive online pet simulation game where he is tasked with feeding and caring for a digital chihuahua. However, Greg’s virtual pet is currently living in squalor because Greg doesn't have the real-world money to buy it digital luxuries, pushing him to come up with a quick money-making scheme.

Desperate for cash, Greg teams up with his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, to host a neighborhood "Holiday Bazaar." Their grand plan is to create a festive event filled with homemade games and attractions to rake in money from local kids. To make the bazaar a reality, they need to advertise, which leads them to create their own posters. Unfortunately, their chosen medium for the posters—neon green poster board and thick markers—is not exactly waterproof. When Greg and Rowley try to hang their advertisements on the brick walls of their school during a light drizzle, the rain washes the neon green dye completely off the paper. The dye bleeds onto the school's brick exterior, leaving massive, glowing green blotches that look suspiciously like deliberate vandalism. Panic immediately sets in as Greg realizes they have essentially defaced school property without meaning to. The boys flee the scene, but Greg accidentally leaves behind a crucial piece of evidence that ties him directly to the crime.

The following days at school are an absolute nightmare for Greg. Vice Principal Roy launches a full-scale investigation to find the culprits behind the green blobs. The tension is palpable as the school administration asks for anonymous tips, and Greg becomes increasingly paranoid that the police are going to track him down and throw him in juvenile detention. His anxiety peaks when he is finally called into the principal's office. The school has connected him to the incident, and while Greg is forced to scrub the bricks clean, Vice Principal Roy aggressively presses him to reveal the name of his accomplice. In a rare moment of loyalty, Greg refuses to rat out Rowley, choosing to take the heat himself. He assumes that his life is officially over and that the authorities will be showing up at his front door any minute to haul him away. However, before any further disciplinary action can be taken, a massive, historic blizzard strikes the town, forcing the school to close and trapping the entire Heffley family inside their home.

The blizzard shifts the narrative from a school-based anxiety thriller into a claustrophobic, comedic survival story. With the roads completely impassable, Greg's father gets stranded at a hotel near his workplace, leaving Greg's mother alone to manage Greg, his older brother Rodrick, and his younger brother Manny. As the snow continues to pile up, the family's situation goes from cozy to disastrous. Cabin fever quickly sets in, exacerbating the usual sibling rivalries and driving everyone up the wall. To make matters worse, a series of domestic catastrophes begin to unfold. The power goes out, leaving the house in freezing darkness, and the basement begins to flood, threatening the family's stored possessions. Food supplies dwindle rapidly, forcing the family to ration their meals and scavenge for whatever unappealing edible items remain in the back of the pantry.

Through it all, Greg is convinced that he is enduring the ultimate karmic punishment for his accidental school vandalism, but the true torment comes from within the house itself. The freezing conditions become unbearable, but in a classic Wimpy Kid twist, Greg soon discovers that the suffering is entirely one-sided. While he, Rodrick, and his mother are shivering in the cold, Greg finds out that Manny has been living in absolute luxury. The toddler had secretly flipped the breaker switches, cutting off the power to the rest of the house so he could hoard all the heat, lighting, and remaining food in his own room. Manny's justification for the betrayal—that nobody ever taught him how to tie his shoes—is both absurd and perfectly in character for the spoiled youngest child, leaving Greg utterly exasperated.

Eventually, the snowplows arrive, breaking the family out of their frozen isolation. When the police finally show up at the Heffley residence, Greg is absolutely certain they are there to arrest him for the green blobs at school. Instead, the police are simply asking for community volunteers to help shovel out the neighborhood. Relieved beyond measure to avoid jail time, Greg eagerly volunteers to shovel the walkway of the local church so that its soup kitchen can open and the town's holiday toy drive can proceed. His entirely self-serving attempt to avoid arrest and get out of the house accidentally turns him into a local hero, with his picture landing on the front page of the town newspaper. The story concludes with Greg dodging trouble yet again, surviving the ultimate test of cabin fever, and finding a brief moment of unexpected glory amidst his typical string of bad luck.