Saturday, June 18, 2011

Jeff Kinney

The sixth book in Jeff Kinney's popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series will be released November 15 with a first printing of six million copies.

From the author's Q & A with Barbara Chai at the Wall Street Journal:

Can you give us some details about the new book, “Cabin Fever”?

Sure. The sixth book is about the Heffley family being snowed in for the holidays. That idea of the claustrophobia of your own home and family. The “Wimpy Kid” universe has been expanding gradually – in the last book, I introduced this whole extended Heffley family. This time, I thought it would be fun to contract it and focus on the family dynamic. The book is also thematically about the idea of when you’re growing up, you forge an identity for yourself. You become defined by that identity. As you move on in life, no matter who you become, the people you grew up with really know you the best. That’s really what “Cabin Fever” refers to, the idea of being sort of trapped by the identity that you’ve created for yourself.

Will it also be 224 pages?

Yes. I think it’s based on signatures. A book is printed and a signature is 16 pages. I wanted to make all the books the same length. I think it’s fun. They look nice on the shelf, when they are all the same size.

Are there more books in the works?

There..[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue