Jeff Kinney: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Fact/Opinion

100

Where did Jeff Kinney grow up?

Massachusetts

200

What was Jeff Kinney's first job, before he was an author?

Cartoonist

300

What are three jobs that Jeff Kinney has today?

1. He designs websites.

2. He designs movies

3. He writes and illustrates his own books.

400

What is the name of one text structure feature the author used to make the book interesting? HINT: This word describes a conversation between two people!

What is an interview?

500

What hobby from Jeff's childhood inspired him to use the same format for Diary of a Wimpy Kid? 

Doodling/writing in a diary

Making Inferences

100

"From the time I started writing until the time that I got published was, I think, eight years. At least eight years."

How would you describe Jeff Kinney?

hard-working

200

"These books look like you could put them together in a day or two, but they take about nine months of really hard work."

After reading this paragraph, how would you describe Jeff Kinney?

Patient and determined

300

What do you think Jeff means when he says, "It's hard to drum up a joke out of thin air?"

It's hard to come up with a joke on the spot.

400

"I came up with the title Diary of a Wimpy Kid one night. I knew I had something. I took a long time writing it. From the time that I started writing until the time that I got published was, I think, eight years. At least eight years."

How would you describe Jeff Kinney as an author?

Patient, hard-working

500

Which of these sentences would be evidence to show that Jeff Kinney is creative?

1. I've got an idea, but we'll just see how it plays out.

2. "...it's really fun to create something new and funny and original.

3. "I think I'm most like Greg. He's an outlet for me to express the feelings I'm not so proud of as an adult."

2.

Predictions

100

Jay was in a pie eating contest. He wanted to win. The winner would be the person who could eat the most pie in twenty minutes. The winner would get a prize. After twenty minutes, no one had eaten as many pies as Jay. Make a prediction about what will happen in the contest.

What is "Jay will win the contest and get a prize"?

200

Julie and her mother went shopping. First, they went to the bank. Inside the bank there was a large box where money was kept. Julie's mother told Julie not to touch the box or an alarm would go off. Julie touched the box by mistake. Make a prediction about what will happen.

What is "An alarm will go off"?

300

Tami loved biking. She had biked in all kinds of weather. She had been planning this bike trip for weeks. Today was going to be great. She woke up early and looked out the window. It was raining! Make a prediction about whether or not Tami will go on her bike trip today.

What is "Tami will go on her bike trip even though it is raining"?

400

Rose filled a large glass with some milk for her younger sister, Pamela, to drink. However, Pamela wanted to drink from a smaller glass. When Rose left the kitchen, Pamela got a smaller glass. "I'm going to pour all the milk from the big glass into the small glass," Pamela said. Make a prediction about what will happen.

What is "Pamela's glass will be too small to hold all of the milk, so she will make a mess"?

500

The earth's movement of turning around the sun once each year is called the earth's revolution. The four seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall are caused by this action. The four seasons do not always happen at the same time at different places around the world. One reason for this is that the earth is tilted as it moves. Make a prediction about what would happen to the seasons if the earth stopped revolving.

What is "If the earth stopped revolving, we wouldn't have seasons"?

Main Idea

100

There are many different kinds of bears in the world. Black bears live in North America. Grizzly bears also live in North America. They are very dangerous. The white Polar bear lives in the Arctic. The biggest bear is the Kodiak bear that is found in Alaska. What is the main idea of this text passage? A. Bears live in North America. B. Bears are dangerous. C. There are many kinds of bears.

What is "There are many kinds of bears."

200

Bats are fascinating animals. They are not birds, they are flying mammals. Some bats eat fruit, others eat insects. Bats are experts at flying. They use a system called echolocation to fly quickly in the dark. Which is the main idea of this text passage? A. Bats are flying mammals. B. Bats are fascinating animals. C. Some bats eat fruit.

What is "Bats are fascinating animals."

300

Many types of bacteria are helpful. For example, some are able to take nitrogen from the air. They then put it into the soil. This makes the soil better for growing plants. Some bacteria are helpful in making cheese. Other bacteria are helpful in making vinegar. What is the main idea of this text passage? A. Bacteria puts nitrogen from the air into the soil. B. Bacteria helps make food. C. Some types of bacteria helps humans.

What is "Some types of bacteria helps humans."

400

Our solar system is very large. It includes the eight planets that turn around the sun. These planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. There are also hundreds of thousands of smaller planets in this system. They are called asteroids. Each asteroid is much smaller than any of the eight large planets. What is the main idea of this text passage? A. Our solar system is made up of the Sun, the nine large planets and many asteroids. B. Pluto used to be a planet but now is a dwarf planet. C. There are eight large planets in our solar system.

What is "Our solar system is made up of the Sun, the nine large planets and many asteroids."

500

Honeybees form large hives. There are thousands of bees in a hive. One bee is the queen. She lays the eggs. Some bees gather nectar and pollen from flowers to make honey. Other bees protect the hive. Some bees keep the hive clean. Still other bees help the queen. Each bee has a special job to do in the bee hive. What is the main idea of this text passage? A. Bees work together to make honey. B. Each bee has a job to do in a beehive. C. The queen is the most important bee.

What is "Each bee has a job to do in a beehive."

Summarizing

100

Which event happened first?

1. Jeff Kinney decided to write and draw books for kids.

2. Jeff Kinney started to create flip books in second grade.

3. Jeff decided to write crossword puzzles for the newspaper.

2. Jeff Kinney started to create flip books in second grade.

200

It's very mathematical. To make a good book, I need maybe 700 ideas, so it's about 4 hours each night of just thinking. 

In your own words, summarize what Jeff Kinney is trying to say in this paragraph.

Making his books takes hard work!

300

Which event came first?

1. Jeff came up with Diary of a Wimpy Kid one night. 

2. Jeff started doodling in his journal to take time away from playing video games.

2.

400

After college, I tried to get my cartoons published, but for about three years, I had no success. My "aha!" moment came when I realized my illustration style didn't look professional enough. I couldn't draw consistently.

How would you summarize this paragraph?

Jeff struggled to make realistic cartoons.

500

Jeff's father introduced him to cartoons as a kid. Jeff started drawing flip books in 2nd grade. In middle school, he created games. In high school, he wanted to write crossword puzzles for the newspaper.

Summarize these events in order using transition words.

First, Jeff's father introduced him to cartoons as a kid. Then, Jeff started to draw flip books in 2nd grade. Next, in high school, he wanted to write crossword puzzles for the newspaper.