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Rekha Dixit
Rekha Dixit

BOOK

Jeff Kinney on how he created Wimpy Kid

Jeff Kinney may not be the best of orators. But that didn't count, the audience was not looking for eloquence. With over three fourths of the gathering under the age of 20, this was a very different talk in the Penguin Annual Lecture series in Delhi.

wimpy-kid

The author of the best selling children's series Wimpy Kid was floored by the young audience as they were of him. Kinney spoke about how he created Wimpy Kid—he wanted a career as a cartoonist and after three years of being rejected by syndicates, he realised that his art work was of the standard of a 12 year-old-boy. So he decided to be a 12-year-old and tell the story.  Even that took some years, but when Wimpy Kid reached the bookshops, Kinney became an instant star. That he and his series have maintained the top position since 2007 goes on to show that it was not a fluke, he had hit the right formula.

Kinney is himself awed by the success of his books, which have been printed in 52 languages, “some of which I haven't even heard of, and some, like Latin, which aren't even spoken.'' He said he realised that people across the globe were connecting to his books, even though they reflected a culture different from the readers', because, in essence, he was telling the story of childhood. It is a universal story. 

Then, Kinney had the audience hooked when he began demonstrating how he creates his cartoons, how he makes the siblings different and yet, shows familial resemblance.  It was at the interactive session that the author was overwhelmed and his audience asked incisive questions—Why all his books were of 217 pages, which character he identified with and how his childhood was. Who did say reading was going out of fashion?

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