Love is in the air for Greg Heffley.

The noisy fifth grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest.

An unmanageable, but lovable, eleven-year-old misfit learns to believe in himself when he gets to know the new school counselor, who is a sort of misfit too.

Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket for a tour of Mr. Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his or her own way.

Relates three times that nine-year-old Iggy got into trouble, two of which he does not regret and one for which he is very, very sorry.

Greg is worried about being suspected of damaging school property while he is snowed in with his family in a cabin during Christmastime.

"Twelve-year-old Jacky "Ha-Ha" Hart is a class clown with a penchant for pranking--and when she's required to act in the school play to appease her frustrated teachers, she must conquer her stutter"--

Supremely confident middle school student Nate Wright manages to make getting detention from every one of his teachers in the same day seem like an achievement.

Both Nate Wright and school bully Randy Betancourt have crushes on the new girl Ruby, and altercations between the two boys result in peer counseling sessions that eventually lead to an unlikely friendship and their becoming teammates on the school's ultimate frisbee Mud Bowl team.

From her upside-down house, the eccentric Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle issues to parents her marvelous cures for such common children's diseases as Won't-Put-Away-Toys-itis, Answerbackism, and Fighter-Quarrelitis.