許多人的中學生活是悲慘的,特別是男孩子--正要轉大人的青春期身材跟聲音,跟女生之間相處的尷尬,與父母的衝突,在學校被同儕排擠的痛苦……每件事情好像都在跟自己作對。被教育要做個「男子漢」、不可以懦弱愛哭的男學生,也沒有好對象可以傾訴這些苦澀的感受跟不適應。
Diary of a Wimpy Kid的主角--沒膽的怪咖Greg Heffley,就是一個身處於尷尬青春期的國中男生。他寫日記時,在第一句話就強調這不是所謂的dairy,而是JOURNAL。他的日記裡不會有所謂的"dear diary this" and "dear dairy that",他一點都不想被別人認為很娘。 (或許他認為所謂dairy是女孩子的東西。JOURNAL就像星艦迷航記(Star Trek)的艦長,每天要寫日誌那樣,是一件很Man的事吧)
為了強調他不娘這件事情,Greg還強調,寫日記根本不是他想做的事情,完全是媽媽的意思,因為媽媽要他在寫日記跟少做一件家事兩者間擇一,他只好選擇寫日記啦,這樣他就可以少做一件他討厭做的家事了-譬如刷馬桶。不過這件事情可不能讓他哥哥知道……
Greg的生活冒險與學校經歷是由美國漫畫家Jeff Kinney所創作出來的,Diary of a Wimpy Kid漫畫系列在2004年開始在Funbrain.com這個專為兒童與老師設計的網站中連載,由於故事內容貼近生活、用語幽默、加上線條簡單的趣味圖像風格,受到廣大青少年讀者的歡迎,成書之後狂掃各大書店暢銷榜,銷量已經超過百萬本,作者打算出版一系列共五本書,加上一本"Do-It Yourself"的DIY主題書。
看這個Wimpy Kid的漫畫日記,不但幽默好笑又精彩,貼近美國文化的用語對話,還可以讓學到實用的英文會話!
Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into a new year and a new school where undersize weaklings share the corridors with kids who are taller, meaner and already shaving.
Desperate to prove his new found maturity, which only going up a grade can bring, Greg is happy to have his not-quite-so-cool sidekick, Rowley, along for the ride. But when Rowley's star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend's popularity to his own advantage. Recorded in his diary with comic pictures and his very own words, this test of Greg and Rowley's friendship unfolds with hilarious results.
作者簡介
Jeff Kinney
生於1971年,畢業於美國馬里蘭州立大學,取得computer science/criminal justice雙學位。大學時期,即在校園報紙《Diamondback》以漫畫專欄「Igdoof」初試啼聲,旋即獲得《華盛頓郵報》和《巴爾的摩太陽報》的介紹。
《遜咖日記─葛瑞的中學求生記》是他第一部正式出版的作品,甫上市即躍居全美暢銷書排行榜,更獲得《出版人週刊》、Borders' Original Voice、美國獨立書商協會等殊榮,並創下240萬本的銷售佳績。本書並售出25種語言的國際版權,並由美國福斯電影公司(Fox 2000)買下版權,即將拍攝成電影。
儘管因《遜咖日記》一夕成名,Jeff仍維持原來的生活型態,身兼網路出版公司的設計總監、電腦工程師及全職爸爸數職,與太太Julie和兩個兒子Will和Grant住在麻州南部。
Jeff Kinney is the author of the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Diary of a Wimpy Kid was his debut novel and the comic adventures of his protagonist, Greg Heffley, began online in 2004 on funbrain.com where 70,000 children read about him every day. To date the series has sold over 11 million copies in the US alone. Jeff is an online developer and designer. He lives with his family in southern Massachusetts, USA.