No Brainer

Test scores at Greg Heffley's middle school have collapsed, and the school has landed in the news for the wrong reasons. The superintendent fires the principal and calls Mr. Bottoms, a retired principal, back to fix the place. Then the district threatens to close the school and send its students elsewhere.

Greg is horrified, though the thought of a new school is not what bothers him. What he cannot stand is the chance of being split from his best friend, Rowley.

Greg ends up at Slacksville Middle School, where expectations sit even lower than his own. He becomes a minor celebrity there for being able to tell time. He also gets a girlfriend, Sophie, and her family connection may hold the key to rescuing his old school.

This is a comic middle-grade novel and the 18th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It is told in Greg's own voice, with a light, jokey tone throughout. The stakes are small and school-sized: a friendship, a building and a boy who is suddenly the smartest kid around.