Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot makes waves in Big School

International best-selling writer and illustrator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Jeff Kinney, visited Wolverhampton Grammar School in November 2021 as part of the UK leg of his global tour to celebrate the release of his new book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid DriveThru Experience on the evening of Wednesday 17th November saw families from Wolverhampton and cities across the UK enjoy a fun and interactive outdoor experience themed around Jeff’s new book. The experience enabled families to drive through sports-themed scenery and participate in basketball and football challenges before reaching the finish line where Jeff personally delivered signed books and posed for photographs with his fans.

The following morning, Wolverhampton Grammar School, Puffin Books and Authors Aloud UK organised a virtual event which was live streamed to over 80,000 school children from 800 schools across the country. Head Librarian at Wolverhampton Grammar School, Zoe Rowley, interviewed Jeff about his new book and his journey to becoming a global best-selling sensation.

Students in Years 6 and 7 from Wolverhampton Grammar School had the pleasure of being part of the live audience in Big School, and competition winners from the Junior and Senior School were fortunate to be able to ask Jeff questions about his life and what inspired him to write the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Intriguing questions were also posed to Jeff from school children as far away as Bristol, Cornwall, Coventry, Nottingham, Swindon and Plymouth.

Zoe Rowley commented: “The virtual event was a huge success and we felt extremely honoured to welcome Jeff to our School as part of his global tour to celebrate the release of his new book. Interviewing Jeff in front of our students and the children who joined us from their classrooms was one of the highlights of my career; to be presented with a unique Team Wimpy top and welcomed into the team by Jeff was a personal favourite moment too!”.

Jeff Kinney is the number one New York Times best-selling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and the Awesome Friendly Kid series. He is a six-time Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award winner for Favourite Book and has been 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, where he and his wife own a bookstore named An Unlikely Story

In 2007, Jeff published his first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, introducing readers to Greg Heffley and his family, his best friend Rowley Jefferson, and the dreaded Cheese Touch. More than 250 million copies later, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has become a beloved book all around the world.

Schools from across the City of Wolverhampton and the wider West & East Midlands were invited to join the free event as part of the range of projects the School conducts to help inspire reading for pleasure. The School has previously welcomed Claire Balding and Humza Arshad to its campus, alongside David Baddiel who launched his book The Taylor Turbochaser at the Grand Theatre in November 2019 in front of 1,200 children who all received a signed copy of the book as a free gift, thanks to support from The Merchant Taylors' Company.