Wimpy Kid 'movie diary' out in May

Puffin has announced the latest in Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series as a “behind-the-scenes look” of the upcoming film.

The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter is written and illustrated by Kinney and features original cartoons and set photos from the 20th Century Fox film offering a “behind-the-scenes look” at “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul”.  It will be published on 18th May and the film is released on 26th May 2017.

A Puffin spokesperson said: “Readers of The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter will find out what it takes to film a flock of seagulls invading a minivan, a robo pig, and an animatronic three-year-old, and discover everything that goes into making a feature film.”

Francesca Dow, m.d. of Penguin Random House Children’s, said: “We are thrilled to be publishing Jeff’s brand-new movie diary in May. Millions of Wimpy Kid fans around the world and moviegoers of all ages will be in for an absolute treat with this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, told with Jeff’s wonderful humour.”

The 11th book in the series was released in November. Kinney told The Bookseller last year that he considered giving up book 10. He said: “After Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School [released in November 2015] I took a pause and was thinking about the future,” he says. “Should I continue? Or should I stop and do something else?”

According to PRH, Wimpy Kid has been sold in more than 62 editions in 53 languages and appears on bestseller lists around the world and there are 180 million books in print worldwide.