Screams of joy for Wimpy Kid writer surprise visit
Owen Humpreys/PAThe author of the 300-million-selling Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series was met with screams of joy and surprise from children on a visit to a school.
Youngsters at Seaham Trinity Primary School in County Durham had been expecting a lecture from the regional inspector of textbooks about taking care of library books, when Jeff Kinney bounded on to the assembly stage.
The school is one of 600 schools supported by the National Literacy Trust's World of Stories programme on a mission to get children reading for pleasure.
American Kinney said that "every kid deserves to be a reader and see themselves in the pages of a book".
He was celebrating the publication of Partypooper, the 20th book in his Wimpy Kid series and spoke to children about his hugely popular creation and how to become an author.
He said: "It's so important that we do what we can to ensure that children are excited about reading and feel a sense of achievement when they finish a book that aligns with their interests.
"I felt a real connection with the kids, many of whom I can see writing their own stories later on.
"Every kid deserves to be a reader and see themselves in the pages of a book."
Owen Humpreys/PAHe also said that when he was a child he did not meet any author and wanted to inspire youngsters to "envisage" themselves as illustrators and writers.
Deputy head at the school Glenda Cowgill said: "We do sometimes have a battle with children with reading for pleasure.
"We want to get them reading from a young age so with events like these it really hooks them in and gets them wanting to read.
"Our kids love Jeff and are huge fans of the books."
Asked by the children what his favourite scene in the series was he said he loved the gigantic snowball fight illustration in his book The Meltdown, which took 14 hours to perfect.
They also asked if he was going to write more books to which he replied: "I am going to keep writing.
"I get to travel all over the world and meet kids like you which is really special.
"I don't have any new ideas so if you have any let me know."