I remain unsure of the recommendation on the back that this is for the 9+ audience, as I think anybody of primary school age would be perfectly happy and safe with its contents. The wit coming through the digital stick cartoons still seems borrowed from The Simpsons school of comedy timing, with an instant cut-away to sarcastically prove our diarist narrator's point, or elsewhere say a thousand words in a dozen lines. It comes across as slightly scattershot, random, but allows for the mildest form of absurdity, as seemingly insignificant details have great bearing out of the blue. It's a typically atypical school holiday, and throughout beats of the story echo when we least expect them. I found this a much more sustained book than Rodrick Rules.
The midnight horror movie that becomes not much of a secret, or a success the various trips out with dad, mum, or the whole family, that are generally quite significant failures and the watermelon seed that does not become a watermelon growing in Greg's belly (though better to be on the safe side.). They don't fathom how embarrassing a junior reading circle for the neighbourhood is. He can't work out why people won't invest hundreds of dollars in his get-money-the-lazy-way schemes when he has a debt to pay off. Here then, the wimpy kid is not so much wimpy, or picked on, as misunderstood by his parents.
The last thing he needs, then, is his mother, on a family togetherness trip, and on a budget, with bad ideas of what Greg should be doing instead. Greg here doesn't want to notice it, and would prefer to spend his days curtains drawn, face glued to late night TV or a computer game, hand either clicking away at a controller or shovelling in snacks. It is a truth universally acknowledged that school summer holidays are only enjoyable if you want to enjoy summer.
Summary: It's summer holidays for our diarist - cue awkward trips to the pool, worries about bad birthday presents, naivety about money.
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