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Rowley Jefferson (Awesome Friendly Kid)

by Jeff Kinney

The Rowley Jefferson (Awesome Friendly Kid) series by Jeff Kinney has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend (2018). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2.

Books
5 known books (2 novels + 1 short story + 2 collections)
Published
5
First published
2018
Status
ongoing
Shelved under
Humour
Last checked

Start here: Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend (2018) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend

Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend (2018)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend

    Short story

    Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend is a short World Book Day tie-in by Jeff Kinney, published in 2018 at 112 pages, narrated by Rowley Jefferson from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Kinney expanded it the following year into Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal, which follows it here.

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  2. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal

    Novel

    Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal is the first full-length book in Jeff Kinney's Rowley Jefferson series, published in April 2019 at 217 pages, expanded from the short Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend that preceded it. It's followed by Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure.

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  3. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure

    Novel

    Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure is the second full-length book in Jeff Kinney's Rowley Jefferson series, published in August 2020 at 224 pages. It follows Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal and precedes Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories.

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  4. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories

    Collection

    Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories is a short-story collection by Jeff Kinney, published in March 2021 at 224 pages, the third book in the Rowley Jefferson series. It follows Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure and precedes its own sequel collection, Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2.

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  5. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2

    Collection

    Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2 is, as of this catalogue, the most recent book in Jeff Kinney's Rowley Jefferson series: a second short-story collection, published in August 2026 at 224 pages. It follows Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories.

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About the Rowley Jefferson (Awesome Friendly Kid) series

Rowley Jefferson -- Greg Heffley's loyal, easily-excitable best friend from Diary of a Wimpy Kid -- gets his own diary in this spinoff series, and the results are pointedly different from Greg's. Where Greg schemes and complains his way through middle school, Rowley is cheerfully oblivious, endlessly kind, and prone to wildly overselling ordinary events as epic adventures, which makes his version of shared events with Greg land as a funny, good-natured contrast to the original series' more cynical voice.

Jeff Kinney started the series with a short World Book Day tie-in, then expanded Rowley's voice into full-length books: a coming-of-age journal, an over-the-top fantasy adventure Rowley imagines himself into, and two collections of spooky campfire stories Rowley claims to have written himself. The same scribbly cartoon-diary format carries over from the main series, but Rowley's earnest, guileless narration -- and his tendency to get major details of his own stories wrong -- is the joke throughout.

Frequently asked questions

How many Rowley Jefferson books are there?

Five, counting the short 2018 World Book Day tie-in: Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend, Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal, Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure, Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories, and Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2.

Do I need to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid before the Rowley Jefferson books?

It isn't required, but it helps -- Rowley's diary retells some of the same events from the main series from his own, more good-natured point of view.

What order should I read the Rowley Jefferson books in?

Publication order works well: the short Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend, then Rowley Jefferson's Journal, Awesome Friendly Adventure, and the two Spooky Stories collections.

Is Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend the same book as Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid?

No, though they're closely related. Diary of Greg Heffley's Best Friend is a much shorter 2018 World Book Day exclusive that Jeff Kinney enjoyed writing enough to expand into the full-length Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal the following year.

Is the Rowley Jefferson series finished?

It's ongoing -- Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2 was published in August 2026, with no further entries announced as of this writing.

Reading order last verified .