Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, announced his 12th book, one of the most successful children’s book series across the globe, at the 10 Years of Lol.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway will release on Nov. 7 at the end of this year, but Kinney showcased the cover design at the Carnegie Hall during a presentation for kids across the New York City boroughs on Thursday.
Kids screamed as illustrator/author and friend, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, called Kinney on stage. Kinney talked about how long it took for him to get published this time ten years ago.
The event was also broadcasted live across the world for fans who wish to tune in for the reveal of the next book, just in time for the next film Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul which releases May 19 with a whole new cast from the previous ones.
This year’s new book features Heffley family on a plane, as they take on a new adventure. The book is translated in multiple languages and is loved by children all over the world. So this was definitely a good start to the new international tour for Jeff Kinney in honor of his ten year anniversary.
Krosoczka: So you had a book signing, I know the story and I experienced this too right. You have this book signing and you’re thinking maybe hundreds and hundreds of people will want to get books with my name and how many people attended that book signing?
Kinney: The very first one was just a few people at a bookstore here in New York City and they were all my family members, not a single stranger. But I had lots of book signings where nobody showed up at all or maybe just one person. So I had this big presentation ready to show and then one kid would show up and I would sit there and give them my presentation. That happened lots of times.
Krosoczka: So knowing your story, I think of the word persistence, so you wanted to be a cartoonist for comic strips, didn’t quite work out. No one would pick up your stuff. But you kept at it, and developed this story for several years, until thankfully somebody meaning Abrams picked up your book and it was published ten years ago today….. How do you organize all of these ideas?
Kinney: Well I wanted to show you, I actually have my idea pages from my sketchbook, this was my original sketchbook where I filled up 77 pages with ideas, and you can see really it’s everything that happened in my life that was funny. So my Diary of a Wimpy Kid stories are really just ordinary stories. I wrote down every funny thing that happened to me as a kid.
