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
I take comedy very seriously, and I feel very competitive.
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.
amazing kids meet
To come out and meet kids who have my books in their hands is kind of amazing.
I don't think of cartoons or comics as being for kids.
early fourth grade judy looked peter reached realistic science
I gravitated to Judy Blume early on. 'Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing' was my favorite, with a realistic and relatable protagonist in Peter Hatcher. When I reached the fourth grade, I made the leap to science fiction and never looked back.
average government helped ordinary typical worked
I had a very normal, very typical American childhood. My father worked for the government at the Pentagon and my mother was an educator, so we had a very average upbringing, but that's helped me in my writing because I'm writing about ordinary things.
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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.
divorce fiction playing possibly season soccer sports swim
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.
audience book definitely knowing life matter puberty second subject third time truth ugly
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.
books difference keen kids legitimate loved push
Kids and adults have a difference of opinion when it comes to what constitutes legitimate reading. Adults often push books that they loved as children, which, ironically, were often books that their parents weren't particularly keen on.
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Kids can sniff out when they are being preached to, and they don't like it. So while my books aren't amoral, they are not infused with morals or a message, either, and kids like that.
hand heavy kids sniff
Kids can sniff out a moral. They can feel the heavy hand of an adult.
cartooning middle pencil sketches until
In middle school, I started to draw, and my pencil sketches were huge. They were these 4ft by 3ft drawings, and I got a lot of attention for that, so that was very validating. But I didn't start cartooning until I was in college.
comedy create creating difficult future good hope keeping love series successful tv venture
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!