By: Aly Marx This week’s author spotlight is on Jeff Kinney, the author of the popular series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. As a child, Kinney had several passions; he liked to read, draw, play jokes, and program computer games. In college, he wrote comics for his university’s newspaper. He titled his comic Igdoof, which became a massive hit in many schools. After college, Kinney originally dreamed of being a newspaper cartoonist, but syndicates rejected his comics because they thought that the drawings were unprofessional. This issue caused him to start keeping a journal of anything that happened to him and any funny ideas that he came up with. Because of this, he got the idea to do his comics in a diary form from a child’s perspective, so that his doodles would be like ones a kid would do, creating the basis for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It took him four years to come up with all of the ideas for his books, and four more years to write the rough draft! He originally thought that Diary of a Wimpy Kid would be an adult’s book, reminding the audience about what it was like to be in middle school. Once Kinney finished the draft, he went to Comic-Con to try to find a publisher. He began unsuccessfully but eventually found Charles Kochman from ABRAMS to publish his work. But instead of for adults, they wanted to publish it for kids. For a while, publishers did not believe that boys liked to read, and ABRAMS hoped to change that thought. It worked, and showed even more children that reading can be fun! In 2007, Kinney published the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Although it got off to a slow start, after a month of being published, the book made it onto the New York Times Best Seller list! People kept on enjoying the newest books in the series as they came out. Kinney says that the Heffley family from his books were much like his own in an exaggerated version, making the characters more believable. Diary of a Wimpy Kid has won the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award four times and all of the books in the series have been printed in 45 different languages. Additionally, there have been four Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies made based on the books. In 2009, Jeff Kinney was on Time magazine’s 100 most influential people list for his impact on literature. In 2015, the author opened a bookstore with his family, called An Unlikely Story, in Plainville, Massachusetts, where he works today. Kinney’s books have been a huge success and extremely popular with children of all ages. Author: Jeff Kinney Books: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (15 book series) Website: https://wimpykid.com/ Source: Kinney, P. (2019). Who Is Jeff Kinney? Penworthy Company, LLC, The. Comments are closed.
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Violet M What would you like to suggest? The Great Shelby Holmes 3 By Elizabeth Eulberg. Why? I have read other books in the series and I really like them. Varsha What would you like to suggest? I would suggest reading The Aru Shah series. I think it is really fun, and it gives you a taste of hinduism. It has humor, and heart. In short, it's plain amazing!!!! What book did you read? Song For A Whale What did you think? I loved the book! Iris's journey to find this whale is amazing, and I loved it with all my heart. Roz What would you like to suggest? Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is great, there is adventure in every page! you will also learn some interesting facts about the Greek religion! It is the first of like 5 books, but don't let that discourage you! you can really feel what the people are going thru. it is a first person novel. anyway, I would seriously consider getting it. What book did you read? Harriet the Spy What did you think? I liked it. Safia What would you like to suggest? I would like to suggest NOT to read the second book of the Stories Thieves series. I would like to suggest to read A Pinch Of Magic, by Michelle Harrison. I would really recommend Harry Potter for people who have been reading- and love reading- fantasy, adventure, and who LOVE suspense! I know that almost EVERYBODY has heard of this book, but have you actually READ it? If you have watched the movie, then you don't know the full story, or the story correctly. I the movie, there have been A LOT of changes, due to many things. So, if you read the book, you can get the tiniest detail. You can also read the parts that have been SKIPPED in the movie because they were small. If you REALLY think you TOTALLY CANNOT read it, take me as an example. I didn't even DARE touch it, because I thought it was the WORST book on Earth, for NO reason (I guess I did have a reason, I thought it was TOO overrated). And guess what? I ended up reading the WHOLE series multiple times and even sending a letter to J.K Rowling ( with a reply!!!!!) ! So, overall, I REALLY recommend Harry Potter, especially fans of Fantasy and Adventure. Bye! What book did you read? The One and Only Ivan What did you think? Great! |