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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009
Diary of a wimpy reporter
Here’s a little trick I’ve learned over the decade I’ve written about education for a living. When you get the chance to interview someone involved in producing stuff that kids know more about than you do (books, T.V. shows, movies, video games, etc.), it’s best to just get out of the way and let some kids ask the questions. Oh, and this way you get the day off, too. (That was a joke.)
This afternoon, I had a very pleasant chat with Jeff Kinney, the 37-year-old New Englander who authored the highly popular book series, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” How big is the series? Two of the books finished 2008 in USA Today’s top 25 best sellers. Only two other authors accomplished that feat — Barack Obama and Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight book series. His promoters are calling “Wimpy Kid” the new Harry Potter and a movie already is in the works.
But when it came time to ask questions, I let the kids go first. Here are Kinney’s answers to questions posed by Kettering fourth grade fans of the series:
Where did the name of the first book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” come from? — Davida Kelley
Believe it or not, the title came before the book. Kinney said as he got the idea to turn notes and ideas that he had been jotting down into a coherent story he thought about what the story would be about and he came up with the name of the book. Then he started crafting the stories of Greg together into one narrative.
Which is your favorite “Wimpy Kid” book? —Jessie Niehus
Kinney said the original “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” took him nine years to write. It was a labor of love and a longstanding dream to get the book published. For those reasons, the first book will always be special to him. Plus he also said he really likes the running “cheese” gag in the first one.
What did you want to be when you grew up? —Claire Elliott
It was Kinney’s dream to be a cartoonist, especially after a comic strip he wrote for his college newspaper, the University of Maryland Diamondback, was a hit on campus. He applied to lots of newspapers but nobody would hire him because they said his art work was not professional enough. His stroke of genius was to write a book that looked and sounded like it was written by a fifth grader. That way his stick figure-like drawings worked instead of looking too amateurish.
What made you want to write Diary of a Wimpy Kid? —Matthew MacNealy
“The book is a tribute to childhood,” he said. He picked middle school as the setting for the books because he thought it was the age in life that was most “ripe for comedy” and because he remembered middle school as a dangerous time when kids who had hit their growth spurts towered over those (like Kinney and Greg) who had not yet.
What is your favorite school memory? Is it in one of the books? —Sean Doore
“No,” he said. “I had a teacher, Mrs. Norton, who was a matronly, 70 year old woman who actively encouraged us to be funny and to go for quality laughs. There was one quiet kid in the class named James and on the last day of school she said, ‘James you have five minutes to do whatever you want.’ James got on a table started tap dancing and doing a Groucho Marx routine. I thought that was really cool, that she knew he was dying to perform and she was tuned into that. I think Mrs. Norton caused a change in me by bringing out my sense of humor.”
Where do you get the names for your characters? —Maddie McCaffrey
Kinney, who has two brothers, said his mother always liked the name Greg even though none of her children had that name. So he named his main character Greg for her. The other characters, he said, were basically randomly named, although he tried to choose names that worked as good counterpoints to the other characters.
Why do you call Greg a wimp? —Claire Elliott
A wimp is a physical description, Kinney said, it is not about personality. So small kids are “wimpy” by nature, not necessarily by attitude.
What was your favorite book growing up? —Megan Pierce
“Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,” by Judy Blume
Where are you from and where do the books take place? —Sean Doore
Kinney grew up in suburban Maryland and now lives in suburban New England with his wife and two children, ages 3 and 6. He said he intentionally does not say in the books where Greg lives or how old Greg is so the reader can put Greg in the place or at the age they imagine him. But, generally, Greg attends a suburban middle school that could be about anywhere.
What is your favorite food? —Sean Doore
Fried chicken.
Do you think you’ll write a fourth book? —Jacob Chokey
Actually, there are four books already — three novels and a do-it-yourself workbook diary. Kinney said he plans to write five Wimpy Kid novels for certain and might write as many as seven if he doesn’t run out of ideas.
Have you written other books outside the series or do you plan to? —Jenna Mueller
Not yet, but he hopes to some day, Kinney said. He is sure he will try to write something else when the series is complete but he has no idea what.
When is the Wimpy Kid movie coming out? —Austin Dyer
The movie project is just getting started, so it will be a while. In fact, the filmmakers are searching the nation right now for a middle school age boy to play Greg. Are you, or is somebody you know, perfect for the role? You’re in luck! You can send in an audition tape through the Web site iamthewimpykid.com.
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