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by Jeff Kinney
Boys don’t keep diaries—or do they?
The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to
It’s a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you’re ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.
In book one of this debut series, Greg is happy to have Rowley, his sidekick, along for the ride. But when Rowley’s star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend’s newfound popularity to his own advantage, kicking off a chain of events that will test their friendship in hilarious fashion.
Author/illustrator Jeff Kinney recalls the growing pains of school life and introduces a new kind of hero who epitomizes the challenges of being a kid. As Greg says in his diary, “Just don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that.” Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley says he won’t do and what he actually does are two very different things.
Since its launch in May 2004 on Funbrain.com, the Web version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been viewed by 20 million unique online readers. This year, it is averaging 70,000 readers a day.
"Starred Review. Kinney ably skewers familiar aspects of junior high life, from dealing with the mysteries of what makes someone popular to the trauma of a "wrestling unit" in gym class. Ages 8-13." - Publishers Weekly.
"Readers can expect lots of middle school humor and exaggeration. Kinney manages to inject enough humor in the simple drawings to make them an integral element in the book." - VOYA.
"The first of three installments, it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers, but more experienced readers will also find much to enjoy and relate to in one seventh grader's view of the everyday trials and tribulations of middle school." - School Library Journal.
"The simple line drawings perfectly capture archetypes of growing up, such as a preschool-age little brother, out-of-touch teachers, and an assortment of class nerds. Lots of fun throughout." - Booklist.
This information about Diary of a Wimpy Kid was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jeff Kinney is an online game developer, designer, the creator of Poptropica.com, and the #1 New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of the wildly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
Born in Maryland in the 1970s, Jeff spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C., area and moved to New England in 1995. As a young reader, Jeff was inspired by the books of Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Piers Anthony, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Jeff attended the University of Maryland in the early 1990s. It was there that he ran a comic strip called "lgdoof" in the campus newspaper and knew that he wanted to be become a newspaper strip cartoonist.
Although Jeff started writing down ideas for Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 1998, it wasn't until spring of 2007 that his book was published — and quickly ...
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