Diary of a Wimpy Kid Creator, Jeff Kinney joins Mumsnet for a Q&A- ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

To celebrate the release of the brand new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book: CABIN FEVER, we're inviting Greg Heffley fans to send in their questions for author Jeff Kinney. When the Q&A closes, we'll send over your questions to Jeff and if your question is one of ten to be answered, you will win a copy of CABIN FEVER.

CABIN FEVER catches up with the Heffley family who are stuck inside when a fierce blizzard hits....the big question being; will they weather the storm?

If you haven't yet encountered the Wimpy Kid books, they are a mixture of comic-strip and novel and have sold over 50 million copies worldwide, as well as being turned into two feature films. They diarise the hilarious exploits of goofy student, Greg Heffley, his family and friends. Jeff Kinney began a comic strip whilst at Uni called 'lgdoof' which ran in the campus newspaper. He then spent six years writing the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which was published in daily installments on the educational website, Funbrain.com. In 2008 the diaries were published together as the first book in the series.

If your children are Wimpy Kid fans, send in their questions for Jeff before the end of day on Tuesday 25th October. You don't have to give any details about your child, although their age may be useful. We'll be announcing the winners and linking through to the ten questions and answers on publication date, 16th November.

did you really have a party when your mom and dad were away and did your older brother write a cool message on the bathroom door and did you have to swap the door?

My 7 year old son just typed the above question(s!) for Greg; he even elected to use the American spelling for 'mum'. He was really excited to hear about the Q&A and said he should try to ask an open question as Greg would "have to do bigger answers and say more".

My 10 year old daughter loves 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' and wants to know if you have any plans for a story board/comic strip type of book as she loves the expressions on Greg's face and although she is a competent reader she always loves comics like Beano and Dandy for that reason?

P.S. In her excitement she thought this was to meet Jeff Kinney in person. She will settle with asking a question though.

First of all, huge congratulations on writing such brilliant books that have managed to appeal to all of us from kids to ancient parents!

While I'm particularly keen on Rodrick's 'sorry women' comment in Book/Film 1, I do still have a chortle at Grandad's board game and the sound fiscal policy responsiblity comments - which shows how sad I am.

Still, I have reasonably normal children and here are the questions from the boys (their sister is in the Patty camp so less likely to ask anything . . . )

DS1 (12): Do you get absolutely furious when you see all of the books which are ripping off 'Wimpy Kid'? (This concern came about after our last bookstore trip which did, indeed, show an alarming number of copycats, which offended him hugely.)

DS2 (6): Do you think I should have my own copies of the books rather than share them with my brother, because that would be much better? (That question isn't going to set the critical literary analysis world alight, is it?)

Thanks - and keep them coming!

Where did you get the inspiration for your books?

Keep up the good work! Theo age 8

My 10 year old son loves your books and chose Diary of a Wimpy Kid to review for his creative homework (as did most of the class!). He would like to know - Which character was the most fun to write?

This Q&A is now closed. We're going to be sending over the ten selected questions to Jeff by the end of the week and linking to his answers, as well as announcing the ten winners of Cabin Fever, on publication day: November 16th.

Have i missed this or will it be linked on this thread today ? thanks

Jeff Kinney's answers are now back. See:

Jeff Kinney Q&A

Congratulations to the ten Mumsnetters whose questions were answered, you have each won a copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, which is published today. We'll be pm-ing you with more details.

Oh how exciting. The DCs were thrilled to see their names in lights (sort of).