Summary

New middle schooler Greg Heffley begins his journal on the first day of class. He is upset because his mother bought him a book with the word “diary” on the front instead of a plain journal like he’d asked. He also clears up the fact it was his mother’s idea for him to start a journal, not his, but thinks that if he’s ever famous, he can just hand out copies of his journal instead of having people ask him questions. He thinks middle school is a bad idea because there are boys who are well matured in the same class with those who haven’t even hit puberty yet, a situation that he says factors into the bullying problem. Greg suggests classes should be determined by a person’s size, not age.

It is his first day of school and...