The Hollywood trades are reporting that Fox 2000 has optioned Jeff Kinney's bestselling illustrated novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, for a live action movie.  Kinney's novel is a collection of his popular online Webcomic/diary that employs word balloons and illustrations along with printed diary entries to provide a consistently humorous account of struggles of smart-alecky middle school boy. 

 

Abrams published the first Wimpy Kid collection in April of 2007 and the book eventually became a New York Times #1 bestseller, no mean feat for any kind of graphic novel or graphic novel hybrid, and the reason is simple -- the book is just plain funny.  Abrams just published the second of five planned books in the Wimpy Kid series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules ($12.95) earlier this month.  While these volumes are perfect for reluctant readers and for the 9-14 age group, they are also wonderfully enjoyable for anyone who has suffered through the indignities of Junior High.