Join Your TownEntertainment 
By John Andre
Andrew Hanwell and Christopher Kirk pose with author Jeff Kinney.
Local problem solver
By Andrew Hanwell and Christopher Kirk
Fri Apr 18, 2008, 01:28 PM EDT
With millions of kids all over the world dealing with different middle school problems, somebody has to write about them. That man is Jeff Kinney of Plainville.
Mr. Kinney wrote a very funny book called “Diary of A Wimpy Kid.” Published early last year, this book almost immediately hit the top of the “New York Times” best seller list and has been there ever since. He’s also got a second Wimpy Kid book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules,” which came out in February and is currently number one on the best seller list.
Mr. Kinney is definitely not a “wimpy kid.” But when we asked if he was ever a wimp, he responded, “I had my moments,” like the time he admits to wrapping himself in toilet paper, like the character in his book. Most of his “moments” were a little too personal to share. Still, that didn’t keep him from giving us a good laugh.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” wasn’t even designed for kids. Mr. Kinney was actually aiming this book to be something for adults to laugh about and make them remember their childhoods. Some might think: What a shocker! But he didn’t even want to be an author when he was a kid. When he was growing up, Mr. Kinney wanted to be a cartoonist.
But nobody would syndicate his cartoons after he graduated from college.
“I’m not the best artist, so I don’t blame them,” says Mr. Kinney. But he was still disappointed that no one would publish his cartoons so he decided to write a “novel in cartoons” for adults and publish it on the Web site he worked for on www.funbrain.com.
He got the idea for the main character, Greg, from his mom. Well sort of: Mr. Kinney’s mom always wanted a son named Greg, so he thought it would be cool to make the main character the brother he never had. That is how he got the main character Greg.
Mr. Kinney didn’t just write a rough draft and a final copy, like we do in school. It took him 10 hard, long and stressful years. “I wouldn’t call it fun, but it was fun coming up with new ideas,” he says.
He didn’t even start writing this New York Times best seller until he filled a 77-page notebook full of ideas. Writing this book wasn’t even his full time job. During this process, he worked for a kids’ education Web site, helping develop games, books and other things for a company that produces www.funbrain.com. So he only had nights and other spare time to work on his notebook.
Once this process was done, he decided to work on a “story board” where he would lay out his pictures and ideas in story form. He was planning to cut up all of his ideas from his notebook and put them on magnets and stick them on his refrigerator, so he could move them all around. But he found out it would cover three refrigerators that way. So to play it on the cheaper side, he decided to lay it out on project boards.
Once that was over, he decided to show off his work. Since it was a novel in cartoons, he brought several pages to the New York Comic Con, a convention. There he met the representative of a publisher (Harry N. Abrams Inc) who said the book Mr. Kinney had made was exactly what the publisher was looking for. “I was shocked. I had no idea this would happen,” says Mr. Kinney.
The success of Mr. Kinney’s books has led to many great things. He goes to many book signings all over the country to help promote his books. In the past, he said, “I’ve gone to my book signings and only one or two kids have shown up.” Now, he says, hundreds of kids come. On his book tours he says he misses his family, but he enjoys meeting other authors and illustrators. “The favorite person I have met is probably Brian Selznic,” says Kinney. (Mr. Selznic is also an author and illustrator of children’s books.)
Mr. Kinney also likes going to schools to tell kids about his book. Right now, he is able to go places and not be swarmed by fans because a lot of people still don’t recognize him. But that may change. He’s so successful that he recently sold movie rights for his book to Fox, which is making a movie that should come out sometime next year. It will be a mix of animation and real people.
In his spare time, Mr. Kinney likes spending time with his family. He says that’s one thing he doesn’t do enough of. Their most favorite place they have gone so far is Disney World.
The rest of us have seen only two Wimpy Kids books so far. But don’t worry. There are at least three more coming. Mr. Kinney’s hoping for a total of five books in the series. Let’s see what happens in the next book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw,” coming next January.
Kirk and Hanwell are fifth graders at Martin School and staff writers of 5-S Press, a newsletter produced by teacher Anne Sullivan's class.
