Jeff Kinney
Jeff Kinney
American author and cartoonist who created the Diary of a Wimpy Kid children's book series. He is also known for establishing the popular children's website, Poptropica.
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChildren's Author
Date of Birth19 February 1971
CityFort Washington, MD
CountryUnited States of America
fondly four older resources sharing siblings single tense though younger
I had an older brother, an older sister and a younger brother, and though I look back fondly on my childhood, I think that when you've got four siblings sharing the same resources and a single kids' bathroom, it's going to get a little tense at times.
filmmaking full production satisfying seeing
I think the most satisfying part about filmmaking is seeing a production in full bloom. When I write, I write in isolation.
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The key to any good comic strip or television sitcom is to reset the board at the end of the episode because people like familiarity.
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On our swim team, they had something called the 'developmental meet.' I didn't know it was a meet only for the worst kids so that they could get a ribbon, and I'd show up with my friend who was also a terrible swimmer, and we would be amazed that the best kids hadn't bothered to show up. I didn't get it until after college.
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I can tell you that the book 'The Ugly Truth' is about puberty and all the awfulness that comes with that time in a person's life. It was definitely some different subject matter to be writing about, especially knowing some of my audience are second and third graders.
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I'm keeping my day job, because Poptropica is something that really energizes me. I'd love to create a TV series or write a film that's not in the 'Wimpy' universe, but I know it will be difficult to create something from scratch. But I love creating good comedy for kids, so I hope to have another successful venture in the future!
collective kids
It seems that when anything aimed at kids catches on, it causes the collective antennae of the older set to go up.
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Looking back, I realize my favorite stories weren't in books, they were in comics. On top of being a history enthusiast, my father was also a comics fan, and he kept his stash in the top drawer of his dresser, in easy reach of a kid making a beeline to the bathroom.
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I feel lucky I didn't become that newspaper cartoonist I wanted to be because in the U.S. so many newspapers have suffered circulation declines, and some have folded. What's fun about being an author is I reach a much bigger audience, and there is something special about launching a book you've penned.
school yearns
I've never run into a person who yearns for their middle school days.
bad hours kids line
I'm not very charismatic or telegenic. I feel bad for the kids waiting three hours in line for their book to be signed.
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I write for kids because I think the most interesting (and most humorous) stories come from people's childhoods. When I was writing 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' I had a blast talking on the phone to my younger brother, Patrick, remembering all of the things that happened to our family when we were growing up.
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Many of Judy Blume's books - which I devoured when I was growing up and where I found characters that were believable because they were a lot like me - caused considerable consternation when they were first published, but now they're widely accepted as an essential part of the children's literary canon.
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I can't divorce myself from my childhood. I try to write as much fiction as I possibly can, but there are so many things that are touchstones of my childhood like being on the swim team and playing soccer and the particularities of sports season and environments that make their way into my books.