Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer is the 18th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. It is a sequel to Diper Överlöde and the predecessor to the upcoming Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess. The book was unveiled on May 17, 2023, with the hardcover releasing on October 24, 2023.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer

Author	Jeff Kinney
Illustrator	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Series	Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Genre	Children's literature Graphic novel
Publication date	October 24, 2023
Pages	224
ISBN	978-1-4197-6694-7
Preceded by	Diper Överlöde
Followed by	Hot Mess
Website

Plot

Greg gives his opinions on the human brain and says kids mostly use their brains when it comes to school. He also talks about how wild the kids at his school are and how he wishes they would stop fooling around and "get down to business" once school starts. He also talks about how most teachers at his school teach the class "stuff you can't even use."

After the middle school's test scores plummet to the point where it is featured on the news, the superintendent fires the current principal, Mrs. Mancy, and asks the old principal, Mr. Bottoms, to come back. Mr. Bottoms makes a lot of changes to the school, such as cutting some classes and creating a club called the High Flyers Club which encourages kids to get better grades, which just results in more cheating on tests to get good grades.

After a lunch lady, Ms. Podsner, creates a new food, named the "fudgedog" (a fudge-covered tofu dog), the test scores plummet once again (as it is revealed visits to the nurse's office skyrocketed ever since fudgedogs were introduced to the school), resulting in fudgedogs being taken off the menu. They eventually made a return but in a different style ("fudgedog fingers").

Mr. Bottoms comes up with plans to save money and electricity for the school, which ends up causing more problems. After a while, the school's newspaper releases an article stating that the state is threatening to close the school if the students don't do well on another standardized test coming up the next week. The article also says the students will be sent to two schools in neighboring towns if the school does shut down. Greg finds out he will be going to the better of the two schools, Fulson Tech, but tries to cheer his friend Rowley up after finding out Rowley will be sent to the middle school in Slacksville, Greg's rival town. But after Alex Aruda, one of the smartest kids, is enrolled in a private school, the list flips, resulting in kids going to Slacksville when they were originally going to Fulson Tech and vice versa, causing Greg to panic. The school doesn't do well on the test (due to bees invading the classroom) and the school closes.

Greg gains popularity at Slacksville's middle school for being able to tell the time (as the quality of education in Slacksville was even lower than the education at Greg's former school). He receives the nickname "Time Lord" and gets a girlfriend named Sophie during the first week. Greg finds out Sophie's dad is Larry Mack (the founder of Greg's former school)'s son, Larry Mack Junior, who thinks of Greg as a bright kid and he gained it because of the education he received at his old school, resulting in Larry Mack Junior reopening the school under the name Larry Mack Junior Middle School. Everyone who went to Slacksville and Fulson Tech are forced to come back. A sentient cleaning robot seen earlier in the book is the temporary principal.

Reception

The book received generally positive reviews. Common Sense Media gave the book 3 out of 5 stars.

Sequel

A sequel, titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess, was announced in January 2024 and will release on October 22nd of that year.