By Frank James

I've seen my kids reading books in the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series and after All Things Considered host Michele Norris' interview with author Jeff Kinney, I now have a better idea why they and countless other children have enjoyed the DOAWK books: they're fun, just like their author.

As Michele told Kinney during the interview, a day earlier she asked on air for children in NPR's audience to send in questions for the children's book author. We wound up getting 400 or so submissions. Here's a sampling of questions and Kinney's answers.

From Ethan Herbst, River Edge, N.J.: "My name is Ethan and I'm 7 years old and I want to know what happens to the muddy hand!"

Look under your bed tonight, and the muddy hand will be there waiting for you!

From Kenneth Raudales, Fort Mill, S.C.: "What is the funniest part in the books for you?"

Fregley's note to Greg is the funniest part in the book for me. Fregley has been terrorizing Greg by chasing him around during a sleep-over, and then Greg locks himself in the bathroom. So, Fregley slips a note under the door and it says, "Dear Greg Heffley, I'm very sorry I chased you with my booger. Here, I put it on this piece of paper so you could get me back."

From Aliya Reames, Boise, Idaho: "Can you do anything to help NPR be more fun for kids to listen to?"

I used to have the same complaint before I started doing interviews on NPR. So, the best thing that Aliya can do is write a book and get herself on one of the programs to see if she can make it more fun.

While Kinney said he wasn't necessarily wimpy as a kid, he allowed as to how he had some wimpish qualities.

He recounted this gem:

"When I was on the swim team, I used to hide out from my coach, and hiding out in one of the stalls, I would literally wrap myself in toilet paper so as not to get hypothermia. I keep thinking that that was where Greg Heffley was born."

Sounds like a reasonable theory.

categories: Art

8:17 - October 22, 2009

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