The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) [Hardcover]

Jeff Kinney (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Go behind the scenes with Jeff Kinney and the making of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie!

If you've ever wondered how a movie gets made, you're not alone. Author and illustrator Jeff Kinney didn't know either, but when his bestselling series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was turned into a live-action movie by 20th Century Fox, he learned how a book gets adapted into a major motion picture.

Complete with photographs, script pages, storyboard sketches, costume designs, and original art by Jeff Kinney, The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary is the perfect companion to the bestselling series.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

If you're a fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series—and, statistically speaking, you probably are or know someone who is—you're aware that the live-action film based on the illustrated middle-school travails of Everyboy Greg Heffley has arrived. Movie tie-in books tend to be either mass-market novelizations or coffee-table affairs, both of which have found audiences. This title, in contrast, is the same size, binding, and font as the original novels and gives a very down-to-earth and enthusiastic explanation of how the film adaptation of Wimpy Kid came to the screen. Kinney understands tweens' life traumas, as well as their fascination with moviemaking, and he imparts its secrets without getting too technical or gossipy. In a friendly, conversational tone, he follows the main character (Greg, of course) and the young star who portrays him on the screen, Zachary Gordon, through all stages of the filming process, from green light to red carpet. Along the way, Kinney covers Hollywood pitchmen, script creation, director selection, casting (budding actors will be especially interested in the process), location scouting, the creation of props (Who knew this much work went into a fake piece of moldy cheese?) and special effects, costume design, stunt performances, and more. More than 200 behind-the-scenes color photos are included in a title that's sure to delight series devotees and film buffs alike. Grades 4-8. --Andrew Medlar

About the Author

Jeff Kinney is an online game developer and designer, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. In 2009, Jeff was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. He spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C., area and moved to New England in 1995. Jeff lives in southern Massachusetts with his wife and their two sons.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Amulet Books; Mti edition (March 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810996162
• ISBN-13: 978-0810996168
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Crafts & Music > Performing Arts > Film

More About the Author

Jeff Kinney is an online game developer and designer, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. In 2009, Jeff was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. He spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C., area and moved to New England in 1995. Jeff lives in southern Massachusetts with his wife and their two sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Photos and cartoons grace movie companion, March 17, 2010

By 

Julie Neal (Sanibel Island, Fla.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) (Hardcover)

This book is for middle-school fans of the best-selling Wimpy Kid series, starring smart aleck preteen Greg Heffley. Presented as a hardback diary, it is a companion to the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie which hits theaters on March 19th. It gives the inside story on how the live-action movie was made, with a behind-the-scenes viewpoint.

As with previous Wimpy Kid books, this one is filled with funny cartoons that illustrate the text. Unlike the others, this Movie Diary has nearly 250 color photos. Now readers don't have to picture Greg as the skinny stick-figure cartoon anymore; he's a real boy, actor Zach Gordon. Among the photos are Greg's family, friends and enemies; costumes; casting; movie props; blue-screen shots; even the catering trailer from the movie set.

Scattered among the pages are real items from the filming, such as script pages, storyboards, costume sketches, floor plans and call sheets. It is interesting to get this glimpse of backstage paraphernalia.

The book shows Greg's evolution as a simple rough sketch to the current wimpy backpack-wearing cartoon. It also shows how Zach was transformed into Greg.

The book's best quality is the tried-and-true strength from the earlier books: the loose, seemingly simple cartoons on nearly every page.

On the downside: There is no table of contents or index.

Previous Wimpy Kid books include:
Diary of a Wimpy Kind
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book

-- Julie Neal, author of The Complete Walt Disney World 2010

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not sure...., March 18, 2010

By 

J. Stone - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) (Hardcover)

After the series of Why Some Cats are Rascals The Wimpy Kid series is the second favorite series of my kids and we have all books of both series. I also got this book today but I am not sure if the movie will live up to our expectations. The series of books was great and I wouldn't like that the film spoil the success... Well, we'll see it tomorrow evening. For now we just cross the fingers...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read, March 12, 2011

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (revised and expanded edition) (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) (Hardcover)

This book is about how they made the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book into a movie. It explains how many people and work it takes to put together a movie. It also includes a lot of behind-the-scenes photos and scripts. The book also talks about some of the actors and behind the sciences workers and how they found all of those people. I think that it really helps you understand how a movie is made. It is also very cool, because when I watch the movie, I know some things about it.

I think that what worked well is how they also used some cartoon drawings to explain how it was made. For example, they used cartoon drawings to show all the people needed to make a movie, compared to the one person needed to write a book. I think that made it kind of funny. One thing that kind of left me disappointed was that they only focused on all the main characters, and I would have liked it if they had talked amore about some other characters and their backgrounds and maybe how they found them or where they live.

I think that the book is very well written to describe how a movie is made, and it is also funny. I hope that they make another movie diary for the next Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. If they do, then I will want to read it, but there probably won't because it would be kind of hard to because it might just be more of the same stuff.

I think it is very cool how they have a special teacher on set so that the actors don't fall behind in their school work. Something kind of ironic I learned from the book is that Greg and Rowley were missing their actual first days of middle school when they were acting out their first days of middle school. I like how in the end of the book, they have a photo gallery of photos from the movie and photos from back stage. I would give this book five stars.