Jeff Kinney stopped by the Today show to discuss his latest book.
The author/illustrator’s Fight or Flight, scheduled for publication Tuesday by Amulet, is the 21st installment of his bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series of children’s books. In the new novel, protagonist Greg Heffley must confront a bully at his middle school.
“This one’s actually about bullying, which is kind of a strange topic for me,” Kinney said of his new book. “I didn’t want to make light of it, but I wanted to have fun with it and do it in an outsized way. Greg Heffley comes from a long line of cowards; he is proud to be a chicken. And the reason he has survived is because he studies bullies like a zoologist. He knows their hunting grounds, the time of day they’re active, their territories, all these things.”
Today show co-host Al Roker noted that Kinney’s work has been featured on The Simpsons and Jeopardy!, and still has cultural relevance nearly two decades after the first book in the series was published.
“It really is cool, and I feel really lucky,” Kinney said. “Now it’s almost 20 years I’ve been doing this, so you start to seep into the culture in a different sort of way, and it’s a nice place to be.…When you see these pictures of, like, Dr. Seuss or Charles Schulz, these guys with gray hair and glasses that are a little bit bent over, that’s what I’m heading for. I’m heading for my final form now.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
