WimpyCool

Have any of you seen the “Dog Days” ice cream truck at your local library yet, on its cross-country tour? It’s already been to many cities in California, Las Vegas Nevada, Phoenix and Laveen Arizona, Kansas City Missouri, Topeka Kansas, Omaha Nebraska and Des Moines Iowa. It’ll be in Chicago Illinios today. If you’ve seen it, comment and let us know what it was like. Were there lots of kids? Was the ice cream good? Did they give anything away?

The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” Ice Cream Truck Tour is happening now through the end of August!  For a schedule of all of its stops, a look at a map of the whole tour, and to check out pictures from stops that it has already made, check out the Abrams site (here).

Who can you see playing Greg’s Dad, or Rodrick or Rowley?

Steve Zahn

Well, Steve Zahn, an actor whose voice was heard in the movies Chicken Little, Stuart Little 1 and 2, and Dr. Doolittle 2, has just been chosen to play Greg’s Dad.

Devon Bostick

Devon Bostick, from the movie Princess on the ABC Family Channel, has been chosen to play Rodrick.

Robert Capron

Robert Capron, from Bride Wars, will play Rowley.  News is that Jeff Kinney is also an Executive Producer on the movie, as reported (here).

Zachary Gordon

Eleven-year-old Zachary Gordon, from “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and “Bubble Guppies”, has been cast as Greg Heffley in the new “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie.  Chloe Moretz, from “500 Days of Summer”, is negotiations to be in the movie too.  Rachel Harris, from “The Hangover”, will be playing Greg’s Mom.  Thor Freudenthal, from “Hotel for Dogs”, will be directing and Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will be producing.  The screenplay was written by Jeff and Jackie Filgo (from “That 70’s Show”), and Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs (from the new 90210).  The movie begins shooting in Vancouver on August 12th, and there’s an open casting call for extras there.  The movie is still set to be released by Fox 2000 on April 2nd 2010.

Here’s book 4’s cover!  The initial run of 3 million copies, about Greg’s summer vacation, are still scheduled for release on October 12th, 2009.  Also, to promote “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days”, a Wimpy Kid ice cream truck will visit libraries across the country, starting in Sacramento, CA and ending in Boston, MA, during August 2009!  You can get all the details about the whole tour and book 4 release on the official Wimpy Kid site.

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books are 4 out of the Top 10 Children’s Bestsellers for the first half of 2009, January through June.  “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw” is number 5, the original “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is number 7, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It-Yourself” is number 8, and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” is number 10. The whole list can be seen (here).

Have you checked out Astro-Knights yet?  It’s amazing!  It has all of the same fun as the other islands – cool places to explore, secret rooms, clues to figure out – and more.  And just when you’re thinking that it’s a great place, you get to hop into a rocketship and go out into space for even more adventures on other worlds.  Check it out (here).  Another great island – Reality TV Island – opens later this summer.

An elementary school principal in Utah promised his students that he’d sit on the roof of their school if they all read 2 million minutes during the school year.  So when they did, up he went, and sat up there reading “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”.  The whole story is (here).  Can you imagine your principal doing this?

This video was made by a friend of Jeff Kinney, author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, who made the books “The North Star”, “The Dot” and “Ish”. His site is (here).

And here are the numbers to prove it.  In 2008, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2: Rodrick Rules” sold 1,222,091 copies, and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It-Yourself Book” sold 635,240 copies!  Even the original “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, which was first published in 2007, still sold 1,171,687 copies in 2008.  That means that the whole series sold more than 3 million books in 2008!  A list of all of the children’s books’ sales for 2008 is (here).

This issue will be selling in July, and features “The Stinky Dead Kid” in two stories, “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” and “Guitar Demon”.  All of the details are (here).

In Nickelodeon Magazine’s April 2009 Annual Cartoon Issue. The whole issue should be packed with great comics and cartoons. Here is a peek at what we can expect to see (here).

Several copycat books have come out trying to gain some of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s” success, but booksellers and kids seem unimpressed. The story is (here).

Scholastic News has a description (here) of Jeff Kinney’s recent appearance at New York ComicCon to launch the latest “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book.  It includes pictures and comments by Jeff Kinney about the huge crowd, his book series, and going to middle school.

The story and pictures are (here).