Diary of a Wimpy Kid was an instant success. The first book was published in 2007 and immediately found its way to The New York Times Bestseller list. By the time the second was on the shelves, there was a great fan following.
The author of this brilliant series is Jeff Kinney. Born on February 19, 1971 in Maryland, the U.S., he went to Bishop McNamara High School. He was an avid reader and read through the usual favourites like Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, J.R.R. Tolkien and more. After school, he went on to study at the University of Maryland. While at university, he thought of a comic strip called Igdoof, for the campus newsletter, “The Diamondback”. The cartoon strip was well received by readers and this encouraged him to become a cartoonist.
He moved to New England in 1995 and began work on The Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 1998. He brought out the idea of a middle-school weakling who wrote and illustrated his personal life. The boy was named Greg Heffley. In May 2004, Funbrain, an educational browser game and Kinney released an online version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid . The website made daily entries until June 2005. He worked on his book for almost eight years, before his publisher saw it. But from then on, the Wimpy Kids came out in quick succession. By 2010, Wimpy Kid had sold more than 42 million copies.
To the silver screen
From print, Wimpy Kid leapt straight onto the screen. Century Fox released the movie in March, 2010. Kinney was the executive producer. The second book — Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was also made into a movie and was released in March, 2011, and the next one, a year later.
Reading his books, one would assume that Kinney was an assiduous diary keeper in his younger days. But, the fact is that as a child he never did! However, now he writes a journal.
Kinney was now topping the list of the New York Times best selling authors. His name was featured as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, in the Times magazine. He went on to winning the Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award in 2009. This award is won by the author who gets the most votes from children.
But Kinney is not just a writer. He is also a cartoonist, producer and game designer. He has a children’s website Poptropica.com.
According to one reviewer, “The real and deeper appeal of Greg’s story is the unapologetic honesty of his adolescence; he comes across as a real kid, and his story is one that will appeal to all those real kids who feel just like him.”
He now lives in Plainville, Southern Massachusetts with his wife, Julie and their two sons, Will and Grant.
Check ‘em out
The Last Straw
Dog Days
The Ugly Truth
Cabin Fever
The Third Wheel
Hard Luck
