A U T H O R B I O * R E A D A L I K E S is an online game Big Nate: In A Class By Himself by Lincoln Peirce developer, designer, the creator of Poptropica.com and the #1 New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of the wildly popular Diary of a Wimpy Supremely confident middle-school Kid series. student Nate Wright manages to make getting detention from every one of his Born in Maryland in the 1970s, Jeff teachers in the same day seem like an spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C. area and achievement. moved to New England in 1995. As a young reader, Jeff was inspired by the books of Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Piers Anthony and J.R.R. Tolkien. Jeff attended the University of Maryland in the early $ # $ # $ # $ # $ # 1990s. It was there that he ran a comic strip called Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer Holm "lgdoof" in the campus newspaper and knew that he wanted to be become a newspaper strip cartoonist. Although Jeff started writing down ideas for in 1998, it wasn't until spring of 2007 that Ginny starts out with ten items on her his book was published — and quickly became a New to-do list for seventh grade, but notes, York Times bestseller, eventually reaching the number cartoons, and other "stuff" reveal what one spot. In 2010, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was made into seems like a thousand things that go a movie starring Zach Gordon as Greg Heffley. wrong between September and June, both Jeff lives in Plainville, Massachusetts with his wife and at school and at home. their two sons.

$ # $ # $ $ # $ # $ “Laugh-out-loud.” The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger -Publishers Weekly

Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends “Loved it.” describe their interactions with a paper -Rick Riordan finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether or not the puppet can “A megahit” really predict the future. Includes -Sue Giffard, School Library Journal instructions for making Origami Yoda.

(Source: Scholastic.com, 2015) (Source: NoveList Plus, 2017) * D I S C U S S I O N Q U E S T I O N S * * S U M M A R Y * 1) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School is a graphic novel 12) Do you think this book is funny? Why or why not? Life was better in the old days. Or was it? whose story is told with cartoons and words. How do the Discuss a part of the book that made you laugh and explain cartoons affect the story? Besides the cartoons, in what why you thought it was funny. If something similar hap- That’s the question Greg Heffley is asking as his town ways do you think the book is different from other novels pened in your own life or to a friend, what would your reac- voluntarily unplugs and goes electronics-free. But mod- you have read? tion be? ern life has its conveniences, and Greg isn’t cut out for an old-fashioned world. 2) With the series title Diary of a Wimpy Kid, what do 13) In the book, Greg says that “Grown-ups are always you think the author is trying to tell you about Greg talking about the ‘good old days’ and how things were so With tension building inside and outside the Heffley Heffley? How would you define ‘wimpy’? much better when THEY were kids. But I think they’re just home, will Greg find a way to survive? Or is going “old jealous because MY generation has all this fancy technology school” just too hard for a kid like Greg? 3) What characteristics and behaviors do you associate and stuff they didn’t have growing up.” Do you agree? Why with Greg? What characteristics and behaviors do you or why not? Author/illustrator Jeff Kinney recalls the growing pains want people to associate with you? Why? of school life and introduces a new kind of hero who 14) The Wimpy Kid series has more than 150 million books epitomizes the challenges of being a kid. As Greg says in 4) Who is Greg’s best friend in the book? What are the in print and has been translated into 45 languages. What his diary, “Just don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this characteristics of a good friend? about these books makes them so popular internationally and ‘Dear Diary’ that.” Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley with kids across cultures? says he won’t do and what he actually does are two very 5) What does the phrase “old school” mean? How does different things. Greg go “old school” in the book and why?

6) Greg’s mom, Susan, thinks that her family is too obsessed with technology. How does technology play a role in your life? Do you think that you could go 24 hours or more without it? Why or why not?

7) In what ways can technology be a positive thing in life? What are some ways in which technology can have a negative impact on people’s lives?

8) Why didn’t Greg think that it was a good idea for his Grandpa to move in?

9) Describe Greg’s relationship with the rest of his fam- ily. How is your relationship with your parents or your siblings similar or different?

10) Describe Hardscrabble Farm. Would you like to go to a place like that? Why or why not?

11) Who was Silas Scratch? How does his story affect Greg and the other campers at Hardscrabble Farm?

(Source: Wimpykid.com, 2017) (Source: Wimpykid.com, 2017)