Most everybody knows that when it comes to bullies, it’s generally fight or flight. But Greg can’t imagine getting into a fistfight. For one thing, he likes being able to breathe through his nose.
Most everybody knows that when it comes to bullies, it’s generally fight or flight. But Greg can’t imagine getting into a fistfight. For one thing, he likes being able to breathe through his nose.
Greg Heffley is smart enough to know where he stands in the middle school population. He’s definitely not part of the top pecking order. That group is generally populated by the school’s bullies. Guys like Zander Wrexham, for instance.
Zander has gotten held back so many times that he’s supposed to be a high school junior by now. He’s the kind of oversized bully who’s so tough that he doesn’t even need to do any bullying. He just sits down in the cafeteria and kids hand over their snacks in advance.
Nope, Greg isn’t part of Zander’s lofty gaggle.
Neither, however, is he at the bottom of the pecking order. That spot belongs to Jarrett Jollifee, who everyone calls the bully magnet. Bullies swarm to Jarrett like flies on a mission. He must give off some kind of scent or something. Whatever it is, somebody oughta figure out how to bottle it and turn it into something useful, like a bully trap.
Anyway, Greg is somewhere in between those two tiers. In between, but unfortunately, not unseen.
Greg had read that when an animal is backed into a corner, it has to decide between “fight or flight,” which means it has to deal with the threat or try to escape. Of course, that’s not a tough choice for Greg.
When Greg is indoors, he always keeps his eye open for emergency exits and nearby stairways. Outdoors, he’s on the lookout for doorbell cameras and handy manhole covers. But those options aren’t always the best. I mean, it would be terrible to grow old and gray in a sewer because he lost his way one day after a panicked escape.
Greg has got to come up with a third option to the fight-or-flight conundrum. Then it hits him: He’ll use his intelligence! While crouching in the shadows (near exit doors), he’ll study the baddies. Greg puts together a three-ring binder chock-full of notes on his school’s biggest bullies—along with his hard-earned strategies for how to outsmart them.
It’s pure genius. He’s mapped out their movements, their patterns. He’s catalogued their crimes. Hey, if someone like Jarrett knew this stuff, it could probably save the kid a wedgie or two. But Greg isn’t sure he should share it. I mean, if everyone knew these secrets, he would lose his advantage.
However, when Greg’s ingenious binder accidentally falls into the wrong hands, his world starts to unravel. Somehow, the information ends up on the vice principal’s desk. Bullies are now being pulled in for detention.
That might sound like a good thing. But it’s actually not. It means that it’s now a race against time before the bullies figure out who the binder maker is: the Snitch!
Gulp!
Maybe Greg Heffley is too smart for his own good.
Greg mentions a school bully who attends church and joyfully sings songs with his family. But that kid instantly goes back to his bullying ways on Monday morning. Greg wonders if microbes go to heaven.
Greg uses the biblical story of David and Goliath to convince a friend to stand up against a bully.
Greg talks about a role-playing fantasy game that he and his friend Rowley play that incorporates wizards, druids and orks.
Mr. Finch and Miss Starling are two teachers who ask Greg to deliver messages between them. Greg mentions that he knows they like each other, but the school policy doesn’t allow dating between teachers. However, that policy is eventually changed, and those two teachers get married.
Greg’s mom is protective and tries to steer her son clear of violent video games. She encourages Greg in his studies, but she likes learning things much more than he does. In fact, she even attends school with him at one point and jumps in with answers to all the questions (until the visiting parents are asked to leave).
The principal and vice principal incorporate anti-bullying policies at school. However, Greg points out the many ways that the videos, signs, cameras and bulletin boards tend to create more bullying issues than they solve.
Greg’s middle school posts a list of “banned words” that won’t be allowed in class, including “dumb, dummy, stupid, jerk, fool, nerd, dork, doofus, idiot, nitwit and fartface.” And, of course, this prompts Greg to use those words. (Though, only for the joke of a single scene.)
After Greg’s mom plays a fighting video game with Greg, she immediately decides that he should no longer be playing them. But she steers the family to a nature channel show that ends up being much more shockingly violent—comically riffing off the violence of predatory animals and insects.
As far as the bullies are concerned, we see larger bullies grabbing smaller kids, giving them wedgies, squirting liquids on them and their food and threatening them for snacks and money. After the bullies see Greg’s notebook and spot his “bully rankings,” the thumpers start fighting each other to up their rank.
Ultimately, though, the big bully, Zander, accidentally gets hurt, and he becomes part of a motivation for the school’s bullies to begin changing their intimidating school-life ways.
Early on, Greg wonders if tranquilizer darts might be helpful with the bully population, but he rules that out as being “probably illegal.”
A kid is stung repeatedly by bees. Kids poke holes in ceiling tiles and do other destructive activities.
There’s some toilet humor sprinkled through the story in the form of people dealing with spilled messes and bad smells. A kid sitting in a bathroom stall is exposed when the stall door is comically yanked open. (He covers up with his stick-figure arms.)
Greg runs from a bully and spots Mr. Finch and Miss Starling smooching behind the school.
Have you ever dealt with bullies at school? It’s all played for jokes in this story, but what do you think is the best way to deal with a bully in real life?
Greg’s good buddy, Rowley, is taking karate classes. But his teacher has a very specific policy about not using those skills for fighting. What do you think are the biggest benefits of defensive martial arts?
The bible says a lot about dealing with conflicts in calm and wise ways. Take a look at Exodus 14:14 and John 14:27. What do you think these verses are telling us?
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Fight or Flight is yet another book in Jeff Kinney’s graphic novel series that comedically looks at issues that kids deal with in their lives.
This entry wonders over bullies, martial arts, musicals, school clubs and a variety of other school day tropes. And it ultimately encourages kids to find thoughtful ways around their problems, using friendship and kindness as their guide. There’s some bullying and potty humor in the story mix but nothing truly offensive.
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Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
