Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is undoubtedly a household name. It seems that almost every child falls instantly in love with the world, characters, and storylines he has created. And you need to look no further than the publication statistics to prove this.
This incredible series sits on the top spot sharing the spotlight with popular series such as Peter Rabbit and Star Wars with over 150 million copies of the series sold thus far. And that number is always ever increasing.
And in this article, we’re going to introduce you to all the familiar faces you’ll see throughout the series. These popular characters have been captivating the minds and hearts of children for a very long time.
So, without further ado, let’s meet the gang.
1. Greg Heffley
Greg is the narrator of the series, so you’ll definitely see a lot of him. Our main protagonist tells the tales of his time during middle school, though we never specifically know his actual age.
However, don’t expect to fall instantly in love with Greg. Though he has a few positive attributes, even the author himself has said that he is not intended to be an overly sympathetic character.
His short-sighted and fairly self-centered mindset proves he is fairly immature and often causes conflict throughout the storylines.
2. Rowley Jefferson
Rowley Jefferson is often considered the best friend that Greg doesn’t really deserve. Despite Greg viewing Rowley as fairly immature, Rowley enjoys Greg’s company because he finds him very funny and entertaining.
However, upon closer inspection, it becomes evidently clear that Rowley is both the more talented and popular individual of the pair. He also brings out the better side of Greg at times and makes him more accountable for his actions.
3. Manny Heffley
Known as the baby of the family, Manny is Greg’s younger brother. He often falls victim to many of Greg’s pranks that he does out of spite due to the fact that he is typically the parent’s ‘favorite.’
Really, of course, this is because Manny is much better-behaved than Greg. But that doesn’t stop the older brother from being jealous of him, seemingly never being in trouble and receiving several rewards for such behavior.
4. Rodrick Heffley
Rodrick is Greg’s older brother and the source of all of Greg’s torment. Essentially, Rodrick provides a glimpse into Greg’s future if he continues down his current path. Greg sees him as all that is wrong with the world – rude, obnoxious, and loud.
5. Frank Heffley
Here we have the head figure of the Heffley household – Greg’s father. Much like our protagonist, he’s not the most likable character throughout the series.
He’s often seen with anger issues that can arise out of nowhere which makes you less sympathetic for his constant stream of misfortune.
There seem to be some pretty strict and conservative rules with gender norms for Frank too as he is seen not allowing his boys to play with Barbie dolls.
6. Susan Heffley
Of course, with all these flawed characters, you need a ray of sunshine to balance things out. And that comes in the form of Greg’s mother Susan Heffley.
Now don’t get us wrong, she isn’t without flaws. But generally, you still can’t help but love her. She always tries to encourage her children to follow their passions, is incredibly supportive, and is often the voice of reason. Even if she can get a bit overprotective.
She’s also not the one to mess with…that is if the family members want to escape a grounding.
7. Fregley
Ah, Fregley. He’s certainly an…eccentric character. He has the label as the ‘weird kid’ in the playground. And it certainly doesn’t help matters when he pushes Greg to touch one of his boogers…ew!!
Greg also only actually befriends Fregley because he wants to get back at his best friend Rowley for finding a new friend himself. Pretty mean, right?
8. Patty Farrell
Patty is a classmate of Greg’s. She’s a bit of a goody-two-shoes and is very clever. And of course, Greg resents this.
Then the situation escalates to a whole other level when Patty points out to the teacher that she hasn’t covered the class map before a Geography pop quiz.
There goes Greg’s plan of cheating.
And so he conspires to get his revenge on Patty during the school play.
9. Mr. Ira
Mr. Ira is in charge of the school newspaper. When he decides to start a contest for a cartoonist for the next issue, Greg jumps at the chance to show off his skills. And in fact, he even goes as far as to win the competition.
However, when Mr. Ira insists on changing Greg’s vision to make the cartoon more relatable to a dedicated and hardworking student, he makes a new enemy. And Greg soon quits the newspaper.
10. Mr. Winsky
Mr. Winsky runs the school’s Safety Patrol that best friends Rowley and Greg are involved in. Of course, you should never expect Greg to take the role seriously…and of course, he doesn’t.
When a few children are terrorized one morning, Mr. Winsky instantly blames Rowley for Greg’s wrongdoings. But he must do some further investigation to get to the real culprit of the issue.
11. Bryce Anderson
Bryce Anderson is the coolest kid in his grade. All the boys want to be him. The girls want to be with him. Stating that he has a cute bottom. We get the impression that Bryce isn’t exactly the nicest kid on the playground.
He only ever bothers with Rowley when he himself becomes popular, he never has a stable relationship and often manipulates those around him.
12. Holly Hills
Holly Hills is the younger sister of Heather Hills who becomes a major love interest for our main protagonist. She is deemed by the rest of her grade as the most popular girl but the fourth prettiest. Though she’s the prettiest single girl of the bunch.
However, the character in the novel is very small and limited with just one single line. Her popularity stems more from the film adaptations where her role is further developed.
13. Heather Hills
Heather Hills is Holly Hills’ older sister and becomes the infatuation of our main protagonist Greg. She is actually in Greg’s older brother’s year at school.
Again, though, her role in the novels is much smaller than that of the on-screen adaption.
14. Chirag Gupta
Chirag Gupta has recently moved back to the school which most students seemed excited about. But things take a turn for the worst for Chirag after Greg suggests a prank that turns out to be more harmful than anticipated.
The class decides to ignore Chirag as if he had never returned, which obviously leaves him feeling lonely, ostracized, and frustrated.
15. Gammie
Gammie is Greg’s great-grandmother. She’s the oldest member of the family by far at 95 years of age. She’s a very lovable character, often gifting the family with her words of wisdom.
She loves company and creating meals for others to enjoy. And even gives Greg a run for his money when it comes to pranks.
For example, after Greg plays a prank on her she gets her revenge by writing out a handwritten apology letter to ensure that Greg feels guilty for his mischief.
16. Mrs. Canfield
Mrs. Canfield is one of Gramma’s neighbors that Greg takes advantage of. He fools her into believing that he has excellent recommendations for his lawn-mowing services.
Of course, Greg provides very poor service and conflict soon ensues when she refuses to pay him for the poor job.
17. Amazing Andrew
Amazing Andrew makes a guest appearance at the gang’s school in The Third Wheel book, during the grand finale of his show he hypnotizes many students into believing that their arms are completely glued together.
The students then try to attempt some hypnosis themselves which causes all kinds of chaos when their hands become glued together and the magic work won’t undo the trick.
Soon after the school teacher must search for the Amazing Andrew to save the children.
18. Teddy Caldwell
Teddy Caldwell appears in The Ugly Truth and is a minor yet fun character. He’s another mischievous student who is often up to trouble.
During a school lock-in, the students and teachers play a harmless ice-breaker game where Teddy admits to some of his misdemeanors. However, Greg soon realizes that this game has been put in place to catch out any of the naughty students.
Final Thoughts
Can you believe that these 18 characters only touch the iceberg of the many amazing friendly (or not-so-friendly) faces that you’ll meet throughout the series?
There is so much character development throughout these novels with life lessons to be learned along the way too.
So, if you haven’t read the amazing series that is The Diary of a Wimpy Kid yet, purchase the books today…we promise you won’t regret it.
I have been reading books for as long as I can remember, and have fallen deeply in love with more books than I can count!
With this site, I hope that you can find a novel to get you out of a reading slump, or to get you hooked on a series. So, pick up one of our recommendations today. I promise you that you won’t regret it!
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