Jeff Kinney on his iconic, now 20-book 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series : NPR's Book of the Day
- Posted on December 23, 2025
- By NPR
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Jeff Kinney on his iconic, now 20-book 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series : NPR's Book of the Day

Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has sold more than 300 million books since the first installment was published in 2007. The star of the series is the famous line drawing, Greg Heffley, a frequently frowning, middle-school-aged antihero. Now, Kinney is out with Partypooper, the 20th book in the series. In today’s episode, Here & Now’s Robin Young travels to An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Massachusetts, the bookstore Kinney owns with his wife. There, Young and Kinney discuss the inspiration behind Greg, whom Kinney says is a “funhouse” version of himself.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday